Bright Futures

Starred review from October 27, 2008
At the start of the superb sixth Lew Fonesca hard-boiled whodunit (after 2006’s Always Say Goodbye
) from MWA Grand Master Kaminsky, 17-year-old Greg Lagerman, a student at a school for the gifted, hires Fonesca, who’s been working as a process server in Sarasota, Fla., since losing his wife to a hit-and-run driver in Chicago, to exonerate a friend, 17-year-old Ronnie Graell. Graell stands accused of bludgeoning to death an eccentric wealthy politician whose most recent crusade was against a college financial-aid program. Given that the bloodstained suspect was found next to the corpse, Fonesca has his work cut out for him. The gumshoe’s initial probes soon place him in the crosshairs of an unknown assailant. Kaminsky provides enough twists and turns to keep most readers guessing, but the book’s power comes from the compelling portrayal of Fonseca, who still suffers emotionally from his wife’s death, but continues to strive to move forward.

It's not so much a question of who wanted a local Sarasota naysayer dead, but which of the many people who hated him actually killed him. In BRIGHT FUTURES, Stuart Kaminsky's latest novel featuring the kindhearted non-detective Lew Fonesca (he has no license), the hapless investigator tries to prove that the person in jail for the killing is the wrong man. Narrator Michael McConnohie has Fonesca's easygoing manner down pat, and he also brings to life the other members of Fonesca's crew, including an aging ex-detective, a sort-of girlfriend, and a strange Chinese man who has attached himself to Fonesca to make up for having killed his wife in a car accident. BRIGHT FUTURE is a wonderful excursion into a strange world that ends all too soon. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

April 15, 2009
In this sixth and final entry in Edgar Award winner Kaminsky's Lew Fonesca seriesfollowing "Always Say Goodbye", also available from Sound Librarythe soft-boiled Sarasota, FL, detective must clear the name of a surly teenager accused of bludgeoning a wealthy eccentric. Series reader Michael McConnohie captures Fonesca's sober masculinity, as well as the women, teens, and men who cross his path. McConnohie needs only to master the pronunciation of "Tamiami" to keep from shattering the mood for listeners familiar with the Sunshine State. Highly recommended for public library mystery collections. [Audio clip available through www.bbcaudiobooksamerica.com.Ed.]Judith Robinson, Dept. of Lib. & Information Studies, Univ. at Buffalo

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