Lights Out: A Working Man's Mystery [Paperback]

L.T Fawkes (Author)

Book Description

Series: Working Man's Mystery | Publication Date: February 3, 2004

After stewing in jail and getting dumped by his pit-bull of a wife, Terry Saltz is finally getting his life back. But then a man is knocked off in his trailer park and who's caught holding the gun? His soon-to-be-ex-wife, Marylou-drunk as a skunk. She may be mean, but Marylou is no killer. Now Terry has to butt in and get her off the hook. Because no one is getting away with murder in his backyard.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Signet (February 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451211332
• ISBN-13: 978-0451211330
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,923,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hi,

Thanks for visiting my author page. I like funny stuff. If you like funny stuff too, we're probably gonna get along just fine.

Now available on Kindle:

COLD SLICE - Book one of my Terry Saltz Mysteries series

I know. The cover makes it look like it's a cookbook. It's not. It's a
mystery starring Terry Saltz -

"Here's me: Terry Saltz. Six-five. Twenty-six. Smart-a**. Long hair tied back with a piece of leather shoelace. Black mustache that tends to turn down at the ends. Plaid flannel shirts, and the elbows on most of them are threadbare or blown out altogether. Old faded jeans, and I didn't buy 'em that way. Work boots.
I'm a carpenter. I build stuff. I like the smell of sawdust. Put me up in the air walking a beam with a hammer in my hand and my tool belt riding low, thumpin' and bumpin', and I'm a happy man."

Also available on Kindle: the first three books of The Fillmore Chronicles series:

Fillmore to the Rescue
Fillmore Saves the Day
Fillmore Rides Again

The Fillmore Chronicles is a smart, funny series starring Mellie Shrop, a clueless young semi-celebrity heiress, and her unflappable personal assistant, Fillmore.
Early comments: Very funny, Love the characters.

Are you on Facebook? "Friend" me for updates and miscellaneous info - L. T. Fawkes!

I admire fine writing, which is why I'm collecting it on my website, L. T. Fawkes Reading Room, at http://ltfawkes.com/. The Reading Room is a non-profit (no ads, no pop-ups) collection of fiction ranging from short-short stories to full-length novels and features. It's not only my own stuff, but the work of writers I admire from all around the world.

L.T.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Terry!, February 17, 2004

By 

Elizabeth Slater (North Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Lights Out: A Working Man's Mystery (Paperback)

Terry Saltz is the protagonist, a carpenter who is also a pizza delivery guy for Carlo's Pizza. Every morning he and his friends have breakfast at Brewster's, and that is where Terry's (ex) wife, Marylou, tracks him down. She asks him to help her move, and he says 'no' emphatically.

Gruf's dad Smitty is setting up the bar he owns for Gruf to take over, so he's hired Terry to make some improvements. In the midst of all of this, Terry and his roommate John hear gunshots down the street at some awful hour of the morning and find Marylou wasted (drugs and alcohol) with a shotgun in her hand. John, the cop, takes control. Terry and his friends know that Marylou didn't kill the man found in the empty trailer, so they work to find out the real story.

Again, LT Fawkes has written a story I couldn't put down. It is an interesting read, different from most mysteries in that I find it fairly down to earth. There are a lot of day to day things that most people don't include in their stories, but I like that it adds some more to the characters. And I've become fairly attached to Gruf, Bump, and Terry. ok, maybe Danny, too, but not as much.

I don't know too many read-alikes for these - they aren't bloody or gruesome, but there is swearing. A lot of new characters are introduced, and there is some (not a lot) romance.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very satisfying!, March 30, 2004

By 

Avid Mystery Reader (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lights Out: A Working Man's Mystery (Paperback)

L.T. Fawkes has created a set of characters and locations that are so vivid that I could draw pictures of them all! The trailer, the bar, the pizza joint, the breakfast table... the friends hanging out together... they just come alive in these books. A medium-boiled mystery which is neither genteel nor gory, Lights Out lives up to the debut which hooked me on this series. Terry and friends continue to form a family and grow in their relationships while solving the murders around them. The characters evolve from book to book, and I can't wait to see what happens to them in Fawkes' next book! Nicely paced, excellent character development, interesting plot.

3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 stars - A fun book., April 9, 2005

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lights Out: A Working Man's Mystery (Paperback)

The plot is light but the characters are wonderful. You truly get to know Terry and his friends as you join them in their day and work. There's very good dialogue and light humor. It's heavy on profanity, but not inappropriate for the characters. I read the first in the series and will probably keep following Terry and the gang. This is a fun, quick read.