The Big Boat to Bye-Bye [Hardcover]

Ellis Weiner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2005

A children's TV show becomes a blackmail target when obscene outtakes fall into the hands of some bad guys. Good guy private eye Pete Ingalls is called in to investigate, only to become entangled in a murder, and discover the liberating potential of puppets. What else did you expect from an author who wrote for humor rags like National Lampoon and Spy?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pete Ingalls, the PI throwback with the overdrive mind and tongue to match, takes on the sordid, violent world of puppetry in his second adventure with a Chandler-style title (after 2004's Drop Dead, My Lovely). Weiner, a former National Lampoon editor, uses a rapid-fire technique that sprays gags and gimmicks—some wildly off-target, some dead-on—in a parody of the hard-boiled PI novel. The producers of PBS kids' show Playground Pals contact Ingalls because someone is blackmailing them with a stolen outtake of obscene puppetry. The ethnically diverse, uniformly bland puppets shed their inhibitions and shred their image on the film, which the thief promises to post on the Internet unless he's paid $1 million. Ingalls dresses the part of a 1940s PI (double-breasted suit with padded shoulders, ample pleated trousers, broad and stylish headwear) and speaks in the same outmoded fashion (pal, sugar, babe). Ingalls bumbles and thrashes his clueless way through the cutthroat world of performers, producers and creative geniuses composing the universe of children's television. Luckily for Ingalls, he's assisted by Stephanie Constantino, an aspiring actress who does some pretty talented sleuthing when she's not saving Ingalls from himself. Adding spice is a wonderful shaggy-dog story involving three women and a lost necklace.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Playground Pals, a public television touchstone, features a variety of ethnic puppets learning about tolerance, acceptance, and compassion. But after the show is in the can, the creative staff put the puppets through some decidedly non-PC paces involving bondage and other simulated sexual high jinks. These in-house-only skits may now end up on the Internet if a certain blackmailer has his or her way. DD Productions' principals, husband and wife Donnie Dansicker and Charlotte Purdy, hire Pete Ingalls to investigate. Ingalls has embraced the PI lifestyle: fedora, double-breasted suits, tough-guy patter, and, of course, a beautiful assistant. Dansicker gets the ransom money, Ingalls loses it to a home invader, a former DD Productions employee is bludgeoned to death with an Emmy, and the puppet sex clips hit the Internet. Ingalls is a memorably naive narrator who can't read his own interview notes, is forever distracted by an inner dialogue in which he ponders the nature of his existence, and is more committed to the mythos of the private eye than to solving his cases. A sophisticated, very funny pastiche. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: NAL Hardcover (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451213963
• ISBN-13: 978-0451213969
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,088,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The funniest detective ever., May 7, 2005

By 

Sven Treadlauer (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Boat to Bye-Bye (Hardcover)

Is Ellis Weiner a mystery writer who happens to be extremely funny or a humor writer who happens to write detective novels? Either way, you must read his two books -- after which you will surely hope there are a lot more to follow.

4.0 out of 5 stars amusing Hollywood Noir, February 27, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Big Boat to Bye-Bye (Hardcover)

Children's TV producers Charlotte Purdy and her spouse Donnie Dansicker, owners of D&D Productions hire private investigator Pete Ingalls to uncover the identity of a blackmailer. Charlotte explains that someone demands one million dollars in a few days or a damning tape containing lewd behavior by the puppet stars of the popular PBS kiddy show Playground Pals, the flagship of D&D, will be shown over the net.

Pete begins making inquiries after interviewing the staff as it seems obvious that to have taped the bawdy exchanges that occurred between actual takes, it had to be an inside job. He quickly discovers almost everyone detests the producers and had access to the tape. While Pete is ably aided by his office assistant wannabe actress Stephanie Constantino, the case turns deadly when murder occurs.

Following up on his sleuthing in DROP DEAD, MY LOVELY, Pete works the Hollywood crowd as he tries to solve the case in which there are suspects galore. He remains a pop philosopher with observations on life that would make everyone except Stephanie, who knows better, believe that he has too much time on his hands. The blackmail turning into a homicide investigation is cleverly conceived so that fans of Hollywood Noir receive an enjoyable often amusing one reel tale.

Harriet Klausner