Baby, Would I Lie [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Donald E. Westlake (Author), Donald E. Westlake (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1994

Intrepid reporter Sara Joslyn, having escaped the clutches of the supermarket tabloid Weekly Galaxy, is finally going to be allowed to practice "clean journalism." Unfortunately, intrepid editor Jack Ingersoll has other plans, assigning her to a gory sex-murder trial in Branson, Missouri, home to more country stars than there are in the heavens.

While delving into the muck, rake in hand, Sara runs into her old comrades from the Galaxy - Binx Radwell, Boy Cartwright, and the Down Under Trio among them. At the eye of this journalistic cyclone is country musician Ray Jones; is he guilty of the grisly murder, and what else is he up to, if anything?

The lyrics to eleven Ray Jones hits are sprinkled throughout the novel and are an important accompaniment to the proceedings, if only Sara and Jack can keep their fingers out of their ears long enough to hear it...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Trust Me on This , his comedy mystery published in 1988, Westlake and the reader both had a great deal of fun with the scurrilous goings-on at a supermarket tabloid whose models are on view every day at--well, supermarkets. This time the Weekly Galaxy is covering (and how!) the murder case against popular Missouri country singer Ray Jones. So is pretty Sara Joslyn, a Galaxy escapee who now works for a trendy New York magazine called--well, Trend. Ray is also being pursued for zillions in back taxes by the IRS and seems determined, despite his lawyers' best efforts, to screw up everything in sight, in court and without. Meanwhile, can Trend expose Galaxy 's hideous newsgathering methods and get their own scoop as well? Westlake's practiced hand soon has these elements spinning cheerfully. Sara is a delightfully feisty, smart heroine; Ray is suitably enigmatic; there are some spot-on takeoffs on typical country lyrics; and the windup is both utterly surprising and entirely logical. For light entertainment conducted by an ace practitioner, they don't come any better that this. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This novel, yet another of the author's sprightly comic crime capers (e.g., Don't Ask, LJ 3/1/93), is set in "the new Nashville": Branson, Missouri. Singer Ray Jones is accused of one murder and then of a second. Out on bail, he continues to entertain in his theater. Meanwhile, an army of troops from the sleazy tabloid Weekly Galaxy descends to bug offices, lie, infiltrate, and do anything else necessary to get some sort of story on the upcoming trial. Also arriving are reporters Sara and Jack, lovers and representatives of a trendy New York magazine called Trend: The Magazine for the Way We Live This Instant. The action is jet-fast, and the satiric commentary on country western stars and fans is wonderfully wicked. This enjoyable romp will do well in popular collections.
--Robert H. Donahugh, formerly with Youngstown & Mahoning Cty. P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Unabridged Library Edition; Unabridged edition (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156100197X
• ISBN-13: 978-1561001972
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 4.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,064,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Westlake is to clever & funny as the Mint's to green & money, June 7, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Baby, Would I Lie? (Bookcassette(r) Edition) (Audio Cassette)

As a long-time fancier of humorists and funny writers (there is a difference), I have found that Mr. Westlake, in "Baby,Would I Lie" combines a fine comic sense with the careful crafting of an excellent story. The location, Branson, Missouri, has a veritable mother lode of material for this writer -- and he mines it to hilarious result. The character development, plot lines, sub-plot lines (and sub-sub plot lines) all make for an entertaining mix that I found absorbing. As an added little bonus, the setting of a trial, involving an accused murderer, a crime of passion, and comical prosecutors and defense attorneys, predates (or presages) the O.J. fiasco, but juxtaposing the two makes for an even more sardonic twist as one reads. "Baby, Would I Lie?" is a fun book, if you can imagine, and one that adds to Mr. Westlake's reputation as a great writer who has a wonderful and ironic sense of humor. Compared to much that passes for writing these days, his words and sentences captivate, tickle and inform. How much more can you ask of a novel set in Branson

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny and biting look at murder, country music, and tabloids, July 12, 2002

By 

Richard R. Horton (Webster Groves, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Baby, Would I Lie? (Mass Market Paperback)

_Baby, Would I Lie?_ is the sequel to Donald Westlake's _Trust Me on This_. That book concerned Sara Joslyn's time working for the Weekly Galaxy, a sleazy tabloid. At the end of that book Sara and her editor, now lover, Jack Ingersoll, manage to escape to New York and respectable journalism, in the form of Trend, a weekly modelled as far as I can tell on the New Yorker.

As this book opens, Sara is on her way to Branson, MO. Her latest assignment is to cover the murder trial of Ray Jones, a middle-aged country music star with a theater in Branson. One of Jones' employees was found murdered and dumped in Table Rock Lake, and Ray's car was seen with incriminating bloodstains. The evidence against him is purely circumstantial, and fairly weak, but the trial is also being held in the court of public opinion.

As Sara arrives, she encounters to her dismay some of her former colleagues from the Weekly Galaxy. Naturally, they too are covering this celebrity trial. And before long Jack is in Branson as well, chomping at the bit to nail the Galaxy at their nefarious journalistic tricks.

The story is told from several points of view, but mostly those of Sara and Ray Jones. We soon learn that Ray is also in trouble with the IRS, and we get hints that he is not guilty of the murder but that he knows more than he is letting on, and that he has some curious scheme afoot. Much to the dismay of his legal team, which is confident they can get him off if they can keep him reined in. Meanwhile, he is mysteriously letting Sara have significant access to his legal preparations, much to the further consternation of his lawyers. Is he setting up Sara somehow?

The resolution is pretty clever with a nice twist or two. Westlake's portrayal of Branson, a town I know reasonably well, is not bad. (There are one or two missteps, and it's rather out of date. (The book was published in 1994, and depicts the town as it was in perhaps 1990 or so.)) He tries somewhat to avoid stereotyping Midwestern tourists, with limited success. He is pretty sound (and on the whole, sympathetic) on the country musicians themselves, though. The lyrics to Ray Jones' songs are all by Westlake, and they are quite good country pastiches. Ray Jones himself is well depicted -- not exactly a nice man, but not a monster, either. And the book is quite funny.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Westlake always makes me feel guilty!!, September 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Baby, Would I Lie? (Mass Market Paperback)

Donald Westlake writes books with characters that you just can't help but like. They can be, as in the great Dortmunder series, felons, burglars, kidnappers, but they are all likable. In this book, his characters are tabloid journalists, who are only a step above the lowest of the lows, defense attorneys. He skewers them, but some of them, DARN IT, you can't but help liking.