Bad Bird: A Mystery [Hardcover]

Chris Knopf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2011

Jackie Swaitkowski may not be the most buttoned-up lawyer in the Hamptons, but a plane crash before her very eyes is hard to miss.  Just before the struggling air taxi takes a nosedive, its female pilot tosses out a camera case.  To Jackie, the accident’s only witness, the case (so to speak) seems meant for her.

The camera's memory card holds an unusual set of photos.  Jackie recognizes more than a few of the faces in those pictures.  Are they telling her the story of the crash?  The pilot, a hard-nosed biker chick named Eugenie Birkson, came from a family tree filled with ex-cons, and boasted a passenger list packed with high society.  And Jackie soon learns that solving the mystery of Eugenie’s death will mean uncovering some dark secrets from her own past as well.

All this and a freshly revived romance with gentle giant Harry Goodlander, and Jackie yet again has her heart and her hands full.  

Award-winning mystery writer Chris Knopf returns to Southampton, a one-of-a-kind small town where the rich and the rest of us rub shoulders on a daily basis, generating all the frictions that might imply.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Knopf's engaging second Hamptons mystery to feature defense attorney Jacqueline "Jackie" Swaitkowski (after 2010's Short Squeeze), Jackie witnesses the crash of a small airplane that kills pilot Eugenie Birkson, and later retrieves the camera case Eugenie tosses from the plane. It doesn't take much to pique Jackie's curiosity, and before long she's involved with tracking down information about Eugenie and the five photos on the camera's memory card. Her investigation uncovers a startling link to her own family's history as well as Eugenie's. The excellent supporting cast—Sam Acquillo, the star of the author's first four Hamptons mysteries; Jackie's boyfriend, Harry Goodlander; Southampton cop Joe Sullivan; computer guru Randall Dodge—provide valuable assistance when Jackie's efforts stir up threats. Domestic problems and Homeland Security issues enliven a plot with slick twists that should keep readers switching their bets to the very end. (Feb.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

As sole witness to the crash of a Cessna in the Hamptons, lawyer Jackie Swaitkowski retrieves the camera case that pilot Eugenie Birkson tossed out of the plane just before it exploded. Wanting in on the investigation, Jackie offers to defend Eugenie’s husband during the accident investigation, but her real interest is in the pictures on Eugenie’s camera. As she puzzles over the images, she finds faces she recognizes and is led back to her own damaged past and to her long-lost brother. Tenacious in pursuit of answers, Jackie takes up residence in her office after being attacked in her home. This sequel to Short Squeeze (2010) continues the series spun-off from Knopf’s acclaimed Sam Acquillo novels. Jackie, a lawyer inclined to skirt the law, is persistent to the point of bullheadedness and sometimes too fearless for her own good. Readers may want to scream warnings to her in the suspenseful final pages of this fine hard-boiled crime novel, which effectively combines action and introspection. --Michele Leber

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; Book & CD Edition edition (February 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031255124X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312551247
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,153,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for me, June 16, 2011

By 

Mary A. Swaty (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bad Bird: A Mystery (Hardcover)

Maybe this would read better if I had read the first book in the series. I'd probably read it all the way thru if I was on a desert island with no other reading material, but since I'm not, I skipped a biggish chunk in the last third of the book due to lack of interest.

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific - a bariny, tough, odd femaile ditective, June 7, 2011

By 

Sacron - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bad Bird: A Mystery (Hardcover)

Chris Knopf is known for the Hamptons Mystery series featuring (and narrated by) ex-boxer, MIT grad, engineer, executive, beach bum Sam Aquillio.
Now Knopf gives us another terrific amateur detective, Jackie Swaitkoski. She's smart, tough (to a point), dogged. She likes retails therapy. Her legal practice in the exclusive enclave of the Hamptons mixes real estate, civil and criminal for decent losers and anything else she can scrape up.
Knopf is known for his humor, gained from compassionate observation of the human condition and he's in good form here. Here's Jackie on her new, fancy, office, "My office...was my favorite place on earth. First off, is was a real office I have to drive to like an adult, not stagger into wearing pajamas like I did when I worked out of my house." The touches, to me, put Knopf a notch above many writers.
Jackie is fun, the stakes are high, the plot is twisty. Get this book and enjoy.

5.0 out of 5 stars What a ride!, February 13, 2011

By 

D. Love "I love to read!" (NYC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bad Bird: A Mystery (Hardcover)

When Jackie sees the plane struggling to stay in the air, they lock eyes and the the pilot tosses a case which proves to contain all the secrets that someone doesn't want uncovered. With Jackie's tenacious style and uncanny knack at getting the answer, this enthralling mystery will keep you on your toes.