Feelers

Starred review from January 5, 2009
Officially, Morty Martinez cleans out the houses of dead people in this highly amusing mystery from Lefty Award–winner Wiprud (Pipsqueak
). Actually, as Morty explains in his charming if egotistical voice, he’s a “feeler” who searches for the money that senior citizens tend to stash around their homes. Morty’s overjoyed to find $800,000 on one job in Brooklyn, until the discovery attracts the covetous attention of other feelers and a greedy ex-cop who believes the cash is part of the hidden loot from an armored car heist. Meanwhile, one of the armored car robbers comes looking for the money after being released from prison, where he became a hair-trigger killer with an ice pick. Challenged to stay alive while hanging onto his prize, Morty prepares for a luxurious retirement in Mexico, where he looks forward to a new career as a Latin lover. That readers know Morty survives his various travails doesn’t lessen the suspense as he faces one catastrophe after another.

November 1, 2008
A guy who cleans out dead people 's houses turns up $800,000 worth of trouble.

Those in the know call Morty Martinez one of the best feelers in Brooklyn. He has a nose for which houses are most likely to conceal unsuspected valuables that his home content removal service can then vacuum into his savings account. It 's all perfectly legal, but that 's not much reassurance to Morty when he finds a flock of coffee cans packed with U.S. currency while he 's cleaning out the Trux home on Vanderhoosen Drive. No sooner has Morty squirreled the cash away in a self-storage locker than he 's besieged by competitors who 'd like the money even more than he would. There 's professional rival Pete the Prick and his enforcers, the fearsome Balkan Boys. There 's mannerly Danny Kessel, who after 15 years in prison for his role in an armored car heist kills a man with an icepick his first day out. There 's retired Brooklyn cop Charlie Binder, who 's had an eye cocked for the $5 million snatched from that armored car ever since Danny went down. Morty 's also besieged by a shapely hairdresser named Fanny, but she may just be after his body —which is what he 's going to end up as if he doesn 't find some way to distract his pursuers, for instance by getting them to pursue each other instead of him.

Wiprud (Tailed, 2007, etc.) switches his point of view so often and suddenly that you 'll risk whiplash. But you 'll gasp with laughter and surprise all the way to the hospital.

(COPYRIGHT (2008) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2009
Morty Martinez is a feeler; he empties homes in Brooklyn for resale and hopes to find stashes of cash left by deceased occupants who didnt trust banks. He also lives in hope that a big find will allow him to assume his birthright, a hacienda in Baja California befitting his conquistador ancestry. When a job presents him with an $840,000 windfall, he quickly learns that a recently released Sing Sing prisoner, a retired cop, a devious and clever hairdresser, and a rival feeler are all after the same score. Actually, its more complicated than that, and Wiprud uses a lengthy letter Morty writes to a Mexican priest to tell his story. This epistolary form works well and allows the author to endow Morty with occasional Runyonesque speeches, bring a dozen quirky characters to life, and paint a vivid portrait of life in East Brooklyn. Although the body count rises steadily, this is a rollicking, high-energytale that recalls Donald Westlakes comic caper novels.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)