Backstabber: A Hitchcock Sewell Mystery (Hitchcock Sewell Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Tim Cockey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2004 | Series: Hitchcock Sewell Mysteries

e's suave, he's sexy, he's cool...and he's an undertaker. Hitchcock Sewell is back in one of the funniest and most fast-paced novels yet in Tim Cockey's celebrated award-winning series. A man has been murdered in his kitchen. And the apparent killer wants Hitch to scoop up the body and take it away...before the police have arrived. Meanwhile, across town, Hitch smells a rat-maybe two-in the nursing home where an old friend of his has taken up residence. With his matchless wit and uncommon ability to dig out the truth, Hitch is once again up to his old tricks...and mystery readers couldn't be happier.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his fifth amusing gig after 2003's Murder in the Hearse Degree, Hitchcock Sewell, sage undertaker by profession and amateur sleuth by inclination, is drawn into a nasty murder case by an old high school chum. A bit rough around the edges, Jonathan "Sisco" Fontaine lives somewhat dangerously, especially after hooking up with a married woman, Polly Weisheit. When Polly's husband turns up dead with a knife in his back, neither Polly nor Sisco phones the police. Sisco's bright idea is an urgent call to Hitch, who rushes over. Hitch politely refuses his friend's request to make the body disappear, but ends up in hot water anyway after neighbors report seeing a hearse at the Weisheit home before police are called to the scene. Cranky Lieutenant Kruk, Hitch's longtime nemesis, is none too pleased to find Hitch involved in another bizarre murder. Toss in decades-old secrets, greed, jealousy, troubled teens, a lovesick thug and nefarious deeds at a local nursing home, and Hitch is neck deep in mayhem. Aunt Billie and ex-wife Julia are along for the ride, as well as Angela, a new love interest for Hitch. Cockey keeps the pace fast, the plot twisted and the laughs plentiful—as always, he does not disappoint.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

No more hearse puns (Hearse of a Different Color, etc.) this time, but Cockey's screwball mystery series starring undertaker-sleuth Hitchcock Sewell remains in fine fettle, offering a thoroughly amiable mix of comedy, murder, and mortician mayhem--all set against the daily life of blue-collar Baltimore. In the fifth installment in a series that continues to earn its comparisons to Lawrence Block (the Bernie Rhodenbarr novels) and Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum), Hitch finds a new way to get involved in a murder: his so-called friend Sisco (of the band Sisco and the Kids) calls him to the scene of a crime, hoping that Hitch will be kind of enough to remove a dead body from Sisco's mistress' kitchen floor before the police arrive. Hitch demurs, but before you can say rigor mortis, he's involved in another murder investigation, once again playing dual roles as suspect and sleuth. Numerous other dead bodies turn up along the way--both in and out of the funeral parlor--but Hitch keeps us chuckling throughout. Great entertainment for fans of comic crime capers. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; First Edition first Printing edition (July 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786867132
• ISBN-13: 978-0786867134
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,946,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hitch gets better and better!, August 4, 2004

By 

Angie Boyter (Ellicott City, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Backstabber: A Hitchcock Sewell Mystery (Hitchcock Sewell Mysteries) (Hardcover)

All the elements that have made this an enjoyable series are still here in Tim Cockey's latest book: the memorable, slightly off-beat supporting characters, the down-home Baltimore atmosphere, and particularly the main character, Hitchcock Sewell, Everyman as he would be if he were a mortician (if that is imaginable!). Cockey does everything he has always done,but he does it even better! The plot and denouement are satisfying and the last two pages genuinely moving, a quality that is becoming rare in the thriller/mystery genre.

The outstanding feature of the book is the humanity of the characters. As a native "Baltimoron",I could easily envision meeting these people on the street. They breathe, and I can understand them even when I disapprove of the way they act.

If Cockey can maintain this level in his writing, I look forward a great deal of reading pleasure in the future!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely a favorite author and series..., July 29, 2004

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Backstabber: A Hitchcock Sewell Mystery (Hitchcock Sewell Mysteries) (Hardcover)

One of the nice things about being a regular at the library is that the librarians start to "look out for you". They know my tastes and make sure I know when particular books come out. One of my favorite ladies over there clued me in to the latest Tim Cockey novel, Backstabber. Fun mystery, good story, and excellent writing and dialog...

Cockey's main character is Hitchcock Sewell, an undertaker. This series could accurately be called the male amateur detective genre. Hitch is called to the scene of a crime, complete with dead body, by his friend Sisco. The victim is the husband of the wife that Sisco is having an affair with. Hitch wants no part of the plan to cover up the crime, but still becomes a suspect when he's seen leaving the house in the early morning hours before the police have been called. The widow isn't really forthcoming on who might have been involved in the killing, so Hitch has to defend himself as well as Sisco to the police. In the meantime, he gets wrapped up in the death of an elderly lady he knew. She died in what appeared to be suspicious circumstances in a nursing home, and Hitch is unable to accept the fact that something is amiss. Characters from these two plot lines start to intertwine until a final showdown at the end that finally clears up who did what, as well as why they did it.

Cockey writes a fast-paced novel with a smart-alecky main character. The dialog is directed at the reader in first person form, almost like a Archie McNally novel. Hitch doesn't get flustered by much, and there's always a good comeback regardless of what happens. This is really one of my favorite series, and I appreciate the fact that it was brought to my attention again.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good afternoon read, June 19, 2006

By 

Maria Schneider "Maria E. Schneider" (Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Backstabber: A Hitchcock Sewell Mystery (Hitchcock Sewell Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Lots of slapstick humor that in the first half helps the story along and even makes you laugh now and again. I can't decide if I laugh because it just gets so stupid, or if it's really funny--but the mystery was decent and tied together nicely. This isn't deep reading, but it is a fun read. Towards the end, I found myself skipping paragraphs--you're in the middle of action, can't wait to find out what is going to happen and the author goes off on a tangent describing a place or someone's hair. I'm all for tension, but this went overboard. Still, this is an author you can take along during a plane ride--you can count on a good old fashioned fun mystery.

Tim Cockey also writes as Richard Hawke (Speak of the Devil)--and it's a series worth a look. The wit is there rather than slapstick humor. The mystery is a bit darker, the tough guy a bit tougher.