Hearse of a Different Color

Starred review from February 1, 2001
HWisecracking undertaker and amateur sleuth Hitchcock Sewell makes a welcome return in this second in Cockey's highly entertaining and well-written series. When the murdered corpse of Helen Waggoner is dumped on the front steps of Baltimore's Sewell & Sons Family Funeral Home, which Hitch runs with his Aunt Billie, it's especially perturbing because a wake is in progress. Hitch's new girlfriend, Bonnie Nash, an inept television weathergirl, convinces Hitch to help her make a career move to investigative reporter by finding out who killed Helen. Naturally, complications arise. Helen's young son, Bo, goes to live with her estranged sister, Vicki, who is being harassed by the boy's jailbird father. The search into Helen's background leads Hitch and Bonnie into the Baltimore netherworld of strip joints, prostitution and pornography. When an up-and-coming lawyer and the owner of a strip joint are murdered in a similar style, the investigation expands. The lawyer represented Dr. Richard Kingman, whose wake Helen's body interrupted, and Hitch discovers a connection between Helen and the Kingman family. As with Cockey's first Hitch Sewell mystery, The Hearse You Came In On (2000), the plot is circuitous, with Hitch and Bonnie making many incorrect assumptions as they work their way through this thoroughly enjoyable novel. (Feb. 7) Forecast: Cockey's colorful Baltimore settings should attract readers who enjoy Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan series, while his breezy, casual tone, hilarious situations, very quirky, sharply drawn characters and neighborhoods will appeal to fans of Janet Evanovich. Cockey has a more serious side too, offering insightful commentary on family relationships and sibling rivalry, All this adds up to a book that's a natural for handselling, with readers' awareness cultivated via a six-city author tour and teaser chapters in the mass market edition of The Hearse You Came In On, due out on Feb. 1.

February 1, 2001
Trouble comes home to thirtyish Baltimore undertaker Hitchcock Sewell (The Hearse You Came in On) when someone dumps the murdered body of a pretty waitress on the front steps of the family funeral parlor. Hitch helps his girlfriend Bonnie, a television weatherperson who wants to move into hard news, find out what happened to the victim, who leaves a three-year-old son and an estranged sister. Their search soon turns up switched identities, ditched creepy boyfriends, strippers, and dirty movies. Delightful prose, provocative humor, and engaging characters move this right to the top. Most appealing.

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2000
A mortician-sleuth? Yes, it's a screwball premise, but there's never a shortage of dead bodies. In Cockey's second Hearse novel, following " The Hearse You Came in On" [BKL Ja 1 & 15 00], the stiff once again turns up on undertaker Hitchcock Sewell's Baltimore doorstep. That a wake is already in progress when the uninvited guest arrives proves discomfiting to the mourners, all the more so when Hitch later learns that the dead woman on the doorstep was the mistress of the guy in the coffin. The plot unwinds in a pleasingly complex fashion, but the focus here is on bittersweet comedy rather than intricate puzzle-solving. Hitch has a little of Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr in him; both are unwilling sleuths and waggish narrators, irreverently describing the follies around them, and both make excellent, straight-faced sidemen to their platonic female sidekicks. (Taking the role of Bernie's gay gal pal Carolyn in this series is Hitch's ever-randy ex-wife, Julia.) The blue-collar Baltimore ambience provides just the right backdrop for a comedy series that has definitely come into its own.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)