Greasing the Piñata (Cape Weathers Investigations) [Large Print] [Paperback]

Tim Maleeny (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2008

When the dead bodies of a former U.S. Senator and his son are found on a golf course in Mexico, the Senators estranged daughter Rachel resolves to discover what happened. Private investigator Cape Weathers doesnt want the case. He cant stand politicians and doesnt know the terrain. But when it looks like Rachel may become the next victim, Cape crosses the border looking for answers. Cape stumbles onto a conspiracy that leads from corporate boardrooms in San Francisco to drug cartel strongholds in Mexico. Will he lose the client he's been protecting all along or confront the killer who is determined to bury the past?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Maleeny smoothly mixes wry humor and a serious plot without sacrificing either in his third Cape Weathers mystery (after 2007's Beating the Babushka). When Jim Dobbins, a recently retired California state senator, and his drug-addict son, Danny, disappear in Mexico, Dobbins's estranged daughter hires San Francisco reporter-turned-PI Weathers to find them. Weathers journeys south of the border only to learn that the mutilated bodies of father and son have surfaced in a Puerto Vallarte golf course's alligator-infested pond. Aided by his Triad-trained associate, Sally Mei, Weathers pursues a case that reaches from a Mexican drug cartel to the San Francisco mob as well as the city's boardrooms. An appealing hero, well-crafted villains, snappy dialogue and an energetic plot show that Maleeny, while not quite in the same league as Robert Crais or Laura Lippman, is a definite contender in the private detective subgenre. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The third Cape Weathers mystery finds the private investigator crossing the border into Mexico, where a former U.S. senator has gone missing, and his son has been murdered. Faced with an assortment of adversaries, including a couple of tough guys, local law enforcement, a U.S. government agency, and an assassin with an esoteric style of killing, Cape summons his sidekick, Sally, the Triad-trained killer, to keep him out of trouble as they attempt to unravel an international conspiracy. The Cape Weathers novels are smart, snappily written, energetic mysteries starring an engaging hero. --David Pitt --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 476 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; Large type / large print edition (December 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590585674
• ISBN-13: 978-1590585672
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,712,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't Wait For The Next One, December 24, 2008

By 

David D. Verhoef - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greasing the Pinata (Cape Weathers Investigations) (Hardcover)

Cape Weathers is my Harry Potter. Just like my daughters so loved jumping into J.K. Rowling's world of a young wizard at Hogwarts I find the same joy slipping into Tim Maleeny's land of a wisecracking detective in Chinatown. My girls have Harry, Hermione and Ron in an old school outside London. I get Cape, Sally, Sloth and Linda in parts of San Francisco that won't show up on your AAA Guide. "A Cape Weathers Investigation" (as the series is called) is a place full of dark alleys and back rooms brimming with gangsters, good guys, codes and rituals. I have thoroughly enjoyed each book in the series and highly recommend Greasing the Piñata. Have fun. I know I did.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tim Maleeny does it again, December 17, 2008

By 

David G. Urban (El Cajon, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greasing the Pinata (Cape Weathers Investigations) (Hardcover)

Tim Maleeny is quickly becoming my favorite writer of crime fiction. His hero is Cape Weathers, and in this tale Maleeny kept me turning pages the way the novels of Chandler and Hammett do. Detective Cape Weathers is an original. He is by turns hard-boiled and irreverent, with a wicked sense of humor. There is no other detective like him going, and the book is a joy to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Asian thrillers, March 3, 2009

By 

S. C. Dawson "retired teacher" (Aurora, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greasing the Piñata (Cape Weathers Investigations) (Paperback)

Tim Maleeny's new Cape Weaathers' GREASING THE PINATA is a a well-plotted thriller. I read the novel concurrently with S. J. Rozan's THE SHANGHAI MOON. If you enjoy books with Asian themes, you will enjoy both.
I preferred Maleeny's over Rozan's, but that is because I like a lot of action and dialogue. Both novels have a white protagonist whose partner is Asian. Maleeny's Cape Weathers is colorful and gutsy as is Rozan's Chinese P.I., Lydia Chin. Both novels come highly recommended.