Biggie and the Fricasseed Fat Man

September 28, 1998
Fiona "Biggie" Weatherford (Biggie and the Mangled Mortician, 1997, etc.) is a fixture in tiny Job's Crossing, Texas, where she and her grandson J.R. team up to detect in quintessential down-home style. This time, Biggie, who narrates, is threatened with losing J.R. to his maternal grandparents, who arrive in town the night of the grand opening of Firman Birdsong's chicken restaurant. After Firman's dead body, covered in gravy, is discovered during the gala, Biggie and J.R. learn that the boundary creek between Firman's property and that of his toy-gun-toting neighbor has been filled with eggs. Instead of going to the funeral, the intrepid detecting duo check out the crime scene. They find out that 50-year-old Firman wanted to marry much younger waitress Fairy Lee, whose husband, Dub, had threatened to kill the older man. The people in town have their own suspects, including Dub but also Firman's brother, who inherits his wealth, and the suspicious newcomers, J.R.'s grandparents. When Firman's neighbor is shot to death, Biggie realizes she must reconsider the clues she's gathered, but it's only when J.R., convinced that Biggie is more interested in detecting than in saving him from his detested grandparents, runs away, that the murders are solved. Bell sticks to a formula, but it's one that involves the tried and true: low-key country humor, Southern eccentricities and lots of saturated fat in the food.

Short, amiable, and colorful, this comic murder mystery stars Biggie, a Texas grandmother, as detective and J.R., her 10-year-old grandson, as a kind of Watson. There are echoes of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, but on a much lighter note. A tubby restaurateur is found dead on the grand opening of his new establishment in a small East Texas community. While Biggie, the community problem-solver, investigates, trashy relations try sneakily to gain custody of her young charge. Amplifying the fun is Jeff Woodman, who impersonates the precocious J.R. with tongue-in-cheek gusto. The local suspects and neighbors are heard through a boy's (and comic author's) perspective, but the engaging Woodman nicely skirts superciliousness and mockery. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine