Edited Out

March 6, 2017
Copperman’s sequel to 2016’s Written Off manages to keep the quirky conceit of the series fresh and charming—an agnosticism over whether investigator Duffy Madison somehow became a living person five years ago through crime writer Rachel Goldman’s creation of him as her protagonist, or whether he is an amnesiac who assumed Duffy’s persona after reading Rachel’s books. Duffy takes Rachel to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to investigate the cold case of the disappearance of Damien Mosley, whom Rachel suspects of having become Duffy, in order to help her get over the difficulties with writing that the arrival of Duffy in her life has caused. A plot just complex enough to sustain the story keeps the oddball relationship between reluctant Rachel and driven Duffy centered, as the investigation jumps delightfully between bumbling and inspired, while Rachel, in moments of authorial self-reflection, expresses frustration with the character traits that she’s given Duffy. Copperman provides a bit of sleuthing and suspense grounded in low-key, character-driven fun. Agent: Josh Getzler, Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency.

March 15, 2017
A mystery writer continues to be plagued by one of her characters.As Rachel Goldman (Written Off, 2016) continues to insist, she's a mystery writer, not a detective. But that line is increasingly blurred as Duffy Madison, who claims to be the real-world incarnation of her fictional investigator, continues to inveigle her into excursions into his murky past. This time Duffy talks Rachel into traveling to Poughkeepsie, where the fictional Duffy spent his youth, to track down Damien Mosley, who may or may not have been a classmate of Duffy's. (She can't ask Duffy because he insists that his existence started only five years ago, when Rachel began the Madison franchise.) Rachel reluctantly agrees to help, hoping that Damien will turn out to be Duffy, Duffy will somehow regain the lost memory of his earlier life, and she can get back to writing her self-imposed 1,000 words a day. Earlier interviews with Damien's friends, especially Louise Refsnyder, who waited tables at Rapscallion's, where Damien tended bar, and high school classmate Rod Wilkerson, look promising. But the investigation quickly goes south when Duffy concludes that he can't be Damien, because Damien was murdered nearly 15 years ago. Copperman, whose autistic sleuth, Samuel Hoenig (The Question of the Felonious Friend, 2016, etc.) can be quite charming, doesn't yet have a handle on whether to play his new detective straight, fantastical, or just plain nuts. If he doesn't jump soon, his new franchise threatens to go quickly from whimsy to tedium.

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April 1, 2017

Mystery author Rachel Goldman's fictional character Duffy Madison is a missing-persons consultant. Her latest book is giving her some trouble since a real-life police consultant is claiming to be Duffy, insisting that she created him because, like the Duffy of her books, he has no memory before five years earlier. An investigation into his past identifies a man who, like her character, went to the same high school, had the same initials, and disappeared five years ago. Duffy is convinced he was murdered. This sequel to Written Off features the same witty, dry humor.--LH

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