Customer Reviews

Body Scissors: A Tom Bethany Mystery

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BODY SCISSORS BY JEROME DOOLITTLE

The first novel to introduce Tom Bethany, a quirky, enigmantic PI, with a mysterious past, ex-Air America, Ex-CIA, ex-Harvard, and a Semi-Pro Wrestler, now acting as Left Wing Muscle. The character is very much like the Writer in background, and if you missed Doolittle?s books you are in for a suprise. They really predate the Lehane, Burke Hiasson, Harlan Coben and Crais books, Very funny, ironic, Trageic but ultimately uplifting.

The story centres on Bethany being hired to check up on the past of a US Senator, due to be enrolled as Secretary of State. The Repubulicans hire Tough Guy Tom Bethany to check out any skeleton?s in the Professors Closet, and the adventure gets vary hairy, and sureall. The climax is very disturbing, and not for the faint of heart.

One of the best books I?ve read in a long time, cozy, but very shocking, as it lulls you into a false sense of security. Catches you on Page one, and then the squeeze is on. Thankfully back in print.

Doolittle raps out hit after hit in the hard-boiled mystery category. The true mystery is why he is not a best-selling star. If you like caustic wit, a progressive social consciousness, and a vicarious chance to hit back at the corrupt rich and powerful, check this book out.

Body Scissors by Jerome Doolittle is a sensational Boston based murder mystery made all the more interesting by a tie-in to politics at the highest level.

Tom Bethany, investigator extrordinaire, is hired by the campaign of a Presidential candidate to find out everything there is to know about Professor Alden Kellicott, a potential nominee for the lofty position of Secretary of State.

Kellicott is eminently qualified for the job, though some who know him rather well question his ethical standards. The professor's personal life is quite unremarkable except for the fact his wife is independently wealthy and his daughter was tragically murdered two years before. Emily Kellicott, age 26 and estranged from her family, was found strangled to death in a snowbank outside the low rent massage parlor in which she worked.

Bethany proves to be a very appealing protagonist. A former Olympic class wrestler, Bethany is tough to be sure. A cynic's cynic, he chooses to live his life under the radar. But when it comes to investigating, he is as relentlessly thorough as can be. When his preliminary undercover work almost gets him murdered, Mr. Bethany realizes he has stumbled onto something big.

This is a fantastic page turner of a book. The mystery of Emily's murder is a compelling one and Tom Bethany is one of the most interesting fictional crimesolvers to come down the literary pike in quite some time.

Read Body Scissors. You will find it to be well written and very satisfying. An enthusiastic 5 stars.

First time ever reviewing for Amazon, although I've bought plenty. Why bother? Because Jerome Doolittle's Body Scissor's is worth the read and the write. If you enjoy Crais, Parker et al, you will enjoy Jerome's style as well. Tom Bethany is just the guy I'd like to be--if I were a guy. :-) Read his earlier works- grow with his characters.