Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just how inept can one detective be?, July 17, 2005
Peter Ingalls gets banged on the head by falling books in the store where he works and suffers amnesia. When he awakens, however, he is convinced that he is a private investigator. He proceeds to open an office and hire a wanna-be actress as an assistant who curses like a sailor and quits every five minutes only to regret it and ask to be taken back. Peter always obliges. He even hires her back when he fires her before she can quit.
He has two customers who come in for help. One has a missing boyfriend and the other thinks her husband is having an affair. Using 1940s private eye lingo and dressing the part so well people think he's wearing a costume, Peter manages to screw up both cases. He decides that both the women seeking help are actually lesbians who are having an affair with each other. Meanwhile, an actual murder and disappearance take place that are connected to his two cases. If it weren't for his foul-mouthed assistant, he'd never get to first base on either of his cases because, in real life, Peter is a naïve mama's boy who lived at home until his accident. Peter's bumbling manages to cause all kinds of problems. His inept behavior, naïve reaction to bad situations and brawls with his assistant cause laugh-out-loud reactions. Peter does manage to dig deep within himself and rise to the occasion and solve the mysteries.
In DROP DEAD, MY LOVELY, Ellis Weiner has created a charming character that you want to give advice to and help along. You actually find yourself yelling at Pete when he's getting ready to do something really dumb and telling him to lose the fedora and the double-breasted suit. His sassy assistant, Stephanie, adds a wonderful dimension to the insanity of the private detective's office and his clients aren't too sane either. It's a book that drags you into the action while entertaining you.
Reviewed by alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Drop-dead funny, March 18, 2004
This review is from: Drop Dead, My Lovely (Hardcover)
Amnesiac hero Pete Ingalls will have you laughing on every page. Believing that he is an old-style private eye, Pete calls the ladies "angel" and "doll"--getting decidedly mixed responses from today's liberated women. But the real action starts when the two cases he takes on sends him out on the streets to dig up clues. A bit like Steve Martin's "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" but far cleverer, "Drop Dead, My Lovely" will leave your sides aching. -Adrian W.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Drop Dead Funny, March 11, 2005
This review is from: Drop Dead, My Lovely (Hardcover)
All Pete Ingalls remembers is waking up in the hospital. He has no recollection of the case that put him there. Still, he figures that the best things to do is get back to work, so he finds a new office, hires a secretary, and does just that.
See, Pete thinks he's a hardboiled PI in the very classic sense. And the two dames in distress that come calling seem to need him. One is looking for a missing lover. The other wants proof that her husband is having an affair. And while Pete has no clue what he's doing, his secretary, fortunately, does. But will it be enough to get them both through this in one piece?
I'm not familiar with the classic hardboiled detectives of the past, but the little I do know makes it obvious they were the inspiration for this hilarious tale. It's rather obvious to us early on that Pete has amnesia and is delusional. We keep getting clues about his past that put the pieces into place. The mystery plot of the story is also done extremely well. There were several nice twists up until the very end, when everything was wrapped up nice and neat. And the humor! I was laughing out loud the entire way through the book at the confusion of the other characters to Pete, his own confusion over literal interpretations, and his hilarious commentary on life. It was right up my sense of humor.
So why the four stars? This book had foul language that I'm not used to running into in a book. Lots and lots of it. It seemed to get better as the book went along, which I appreciated. There were also several cases of sexual innuendo I didn't care for and a sex scene that I skipped over but still could have done without. I'm well aware this will not bother most people out there, but it bothered me and lowered my enjoyment of the book. Since I'm the one rating it, I took that into account.
Overall, I enjoyed the book enough to give the sequel a chance. Here's hoping that it's as funny as this one was.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
