Customer Reviews

The Bum's Rush (Leo Waterman Mysteries)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you haven't read the first two Leo Waterman mysteries, then you should. G.M. Ford has created a cast as confused and convoluted as his own name. He keeps you laughing without pushing it too far, creates great tension, and manages to get Leo through another crises once again (relatively) unscathed. Once you read this one, you'll want to go back and catch-up with the first two.

I would have started with the first of the series, but was unable to find it (since I was away from the Northwest at the time), so I settled with book three. This story is perfect - believable characters, interesting plotline, the best dialogue I think i've ever read - weaved flawlessly into one very funny book.

Best of all G. M. Ford knows his city well and taps into some of its eccentricities well, which is a special treat for Northwesterners. After reading "Skid Road" by Murray Morgen, I would say that Leo Waterman's father is based off of Vic Meyers, a historic Seattle politician whose real campaigns were outrageously funny in their own right, which is just one little tidbit that gives a sense of realism and authority to the surroundings.

I enjoyed this first experience with Leo Waterman and his crack surveillance team of "residentially challenged" dipsomaniacs (an adult version of the Baker Street Irregulars), but I hate it when I'm only a couple of pages from the end of a book and the climax and resolution haven't even begun yet. Here, we're on page 288 of 301 for the penultimate scene. Leo and his gang have had plenty of time to set up the sting but it all happens too fast and almost gets away from them. I felt like I was getting the "Bum's Rush" through what could have been the best part of the book. Logically, there was no reason not to turn over what they knew to the cops and frankly, the regulars would have done a better job.

As to the NYTBR comment that "the cityscapes of Seattle are worth the trip", I agree, but I'd like to see the publishers (or author or fan group) put out a companion web page with (interactive) google maps annotated with pictures that would show us of the local scenery and let us follow the Leo around as he motors about in his modified Fiat.

First the roster: Leo, Seattle PI; his late un/lamented father who ran for office in a red tux; Leo's "Invisibles," homeless alcoholics who work as operatives because they are invisible to Good Society; Beth the Professional Musical Companion (not groupie -- that's soooo retro); a missing librarian; a woman who bites men's thigns; and various continuing assorted friends like the Jed the lawyer, and Leo's lover Rebecca the pathologist.

Oh, yes, the plot. (With friends like these who needs a plot?) A non-drug-using brilliant musician has died of an overdose, a street woman prematurely declared dead mourns her son, the librarian has embezzled an awful lot of money, and The Boys ride again, bringing the crucial bit of evidence.

And you gotta read about Leo and Nearly Normal Norman and the boys rescuing the street woman from public sexual assault.

Let's keep Ford chained to his typewriter because we need more of this.