Runaway Man

May 6, 2013
This promising first in a new PI series from Handler (The Snow White Christmas Cookie and eight other Berger and Mitry mysteries) introduces Ben “Benji” Golden of Golden Legal Services. The small agency, founded by Benji’s father, Meyer Golden, an ex-NYPD homicide detective, is now owned by Meyer’s widow, Abby, a former pole dancer. Joining her is the agency’s secretary, Rita, once a lap dancer. Benji, Abby, and Rita make a formidable team as upscale lawyer Peter Seymour learns when he hires them to locate missing Bruce Weiner, a student at Manhattan’s Canterbury College. Finding Bruce leads to murder and involves the low-profile detective with some of New York City’s most high-profile families. Gorgeous Sonya Posner, introduced to Benji by a match-making friend, provides some romantic distraction. Benji holds his own with the big shots and a skilled professional killer in this auspicious and amusing debut. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency.

June 1, 2013
Introducing private eye Benji Golden, part nebbish, part mensch, who's surrounded by women with bountiful racks and wriggly tushes. Abby Golden, boss of Golden Legal Services since the death of her husband, Meyer, used to be known as Abraxas, the only Jewish pole dancer in New Yorker. Her assistant, Lovely Rita of the massive mammaries, is a former lap dancer who took up computers to keep herself busy while her husband, Clarence, does a stretch in Rahway State Prison. Twenty-something Benji, called Bunny by his mom, Abby, has long eyelashes, a bashful manner, a baby face and a frame so insignificant that he can tail suspects up close without being made. When Peter Seymour, partner in the high-toned law firm of Bates, Winslow and Seymour, needs help in locating Canterbury College student Bruce Weiner because an anonymous benefactor has willed Bruce big bucks, Benji lands the case. With a brief time out for shtupping the curvaceous Sonya, a young lady he bumped into at shul, Benji locates Bruce, but someone's gotten there first with a Glock. Why kill Bruce? Perhaps to force his lover, basketball phenom Charles "In Charge" Willingham, to stay in the closet. Bruce's little sister Sara, who has a big crush on Benji, shares some family secrets with him but not quickly enough. Benji is shot at. Others die. And there are tawdry revelations about the Kidd family, which includes a starchy matriarch, a suicidal daughter and a son who may be stymied in his run for governor. There's more shtupping, more murder, one plot twist that most readers will see coming and another that will surprise everyone but Lovely Rita. So what if Handler, best known for his Berger and Mitry series (The Blood-Red Indian Summer, 2011, etc.), isn't the keenest plotter in the genre? He definitely knows his way around adorable, cute and schmaltzy.

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2013
He likes Ethel Merman, lives with his mother, has an adorable baby face and long lashes most women would kill for, but he's not into men. Benji Golden is a twentysomething Jewish bachelor who works at the detective agency started by his dad (a former cop) and now run by his mom (a former stripper). Benji's youthful demeanor gives him an edge at finding runaway young people, a talent that comes in handy when a stuffy lawyer from a fancy New York City law firm hires Golden Legal Services to find college student Bruce Weiner. Benji and his mom know something's not kosher. But money is tight, and after making an ally of Bruce's devoted, 17-year-old sister, Benji locates Bruce, who is unfortunately dead. That doesn't sit well with Benji, who subsequently uncovers enough dirt to make some very influential people squirm while at the same time falling in love with the girl of his dreams. This may miss the mark on thrills, but Handler, known for his quirky characters, doesn't disappoint, mixing an oddball cast with a hearty dose of wry humor and plenty of silly shtick.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)