AUTHOR: Lawrence Sanders
STARTED: September 12, 2011
FINISHED: October 15, 2011
PAGES: 341
GENRE: Mystery
FIRST SENTENCE: I poured a few drops of an '87 Mondavi Chardonnay into her navel and leaned down to slurp it out.
SUMMARY: [From Amazon] When detective Archy McNally is called to retrieve a set of rare stamps known as "Inverted Jennies" from one of Palm Beach's wealthiest and most curvaceous matrons, he unexpectedly becomes entangled in something far more dangerous. A local collector is slain, and all roads lead Archy back to the original crime scene. But before he can put the pieces together, he faces another murder and all-to-real romance.
THOUGHTS: After I fell for the Hamish Macbeth series, The Boyfriend thought I would enjoy the the Archy McNally series. Well, he might be right. I really loathed Archy for the first three-quarters of the book, but by the end he started to grow on me.
Archy, at first, was an incredibly aggravating and annoying character. I could not get past how snobby and (excuse my language) douchey he acted. There were a few times I just wanted to smack him. The name dropping and social comparisons were enough, at times, to take me out of the story. Archy is a really hard character to like or find in any way endearing. Many times I found myself thinking, "I don't care - can this book just be over?"
Once again, I wasn't a huge fan of the central mystery. It's just a storyline in which these characters happen to play a role. As far as the plot goes, it was fine. The story was easy to follow, but I'm not sure I believe the motivations behind the characters actions. The more the story evolved, however, the more I grew to like book as a whole and Archy as a character.
I'm willing to give this series one more shot, but if I still don't like Archy, I probably won't try again.
RATING: 5/10 [Meh.]
Comments