Man With a Squirrel [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Nicholas Kilmer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1997

In the sequel to Harmony in Flesh and Black, Fred Taylor stumbles upon a fragment recently cut from an eighteenth-century painting and sets out to find the remainder of the painting, but in doing so he crosses the path of a con artist who deals with former victims of Satanic cults.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Patrick Cullen does an excellent reading of this surprisingly nonstuffy story involving the details of an 18th-century American artist, an unscrupulous, greedy therapist, a journalist only interested in ratings and shock value, and false accusations of satanic worship. Fred Taylor, a diehard noncollector who prowls Boston shops on behalf of a collector, finds the fragment of what appears to be the work of a famous artist in his old friend's antique shop. The search for the rest of the painting and the story behind its mutilation soon leads Fred into a tangled web of murder, violence, and intrigue. He's helped along by his housemate, a reference librarian. All in all, this most entertaining mystery keeps the listener's attention from start to finish. Recommended for mystery collections.?Nancy Paul, Brandon P.L., Wis.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

It isn't long after the harmless old gent who'd staked out his librarian lover Molly Riley's place turns up dead on the banks of the Charles that Fred Taylor comes on a much more appealing, though equally serendipitous, find in antique dealer Oona Imry's shop: a fragment of a painting that just might be by John Singleton Copley. Fred's employer, omnivorous art collector Clayton Reed, charms Oona into selling the handsomely painted squirrel at a man's feet, and Fred promptly goes hunting for the rest of the canvas. But the second third, though it's free for the taking, comes at a much higher price: Oona's pianist nephew Marek Hrics¢ gives it to Fred after semi-nude Oona's been ground under the wheels of a train. The lethal treasure hunt for the last third of the Copley (if that's what it is) is obviously tied in to the defunct stalker, and to the mumbo-jumbo malpractice of Satanic deprogrammer Dr. Eunice Cover-Hoover, who's been lurking equally portentously in the shadows of Molly's telephone from the word go. Watching Fred follow the trail from Copley to Satan--by way of Adult Rescue, Inc., a coven of the weirdest heavies you've ever seen outside the astral realm--stands in for the sort of mystery that would have you asking whodunit. Fred remains as charming as in his debut (Harmony in Flesh and Black, 1995), and if the culprits aren't exactly the stuff of nightmares, they pack all the menace of good comic-book villains. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks; Unabridged edition (December 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786112263
• ISBN-13: 978-0786112265
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,188,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A search for a painting leads to danger and deadly intrigue, January 22, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Man With a Squirrel (Hardcover)

Fred Taylor is doing what he does best, wandering amidst the antique shops of Boston searching for a treasure for his employer, wealthy art collector Clayton Reed. In one ye olde shoppe, Fred finds a segment of a pain ting of a squirrel that has been cut out of a larger painting. He thinks that this fragment is part of an important work by Copley, an eighteenth century American artist. Fred buys the piece, hoping to find the rest of the painting. As Fred begins his search, his girl friend Molly is looking into the activities of Dr. Eunice Cover-Hoover, a noted professor who is helping people deal with cults and repressed memories. To learn whether Eunice is a savior or a brilliant con artist, Molly decides she needs to offer herself up as an alleged victim of repressed memories. Before Fred knows what is happening, his seemingly innocent quest places him on Molly's path, one that is filled with murder and other violent acts. Fred realizes that he must now do more then rescue a painting, he must rescue his beloved and perhaps himself. The second novel in the Fred Taylor series is absolutely great. The story line is extremely well written, entertaining, and absolutely frightening in that it seems so realistic and plausible. With novels like MAN WITH A SQUIRREL and HARMONY IN FLESH AND BLACK (the first Taylor tale), Nicholas Kilmer deserves to become a household name. Harriet Klausner --

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just Plain Bizarre, April 18, 2006

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Man With a Squirrel (Hardcover)

Man with a Squirrel is one of the most bizarre mysteries I've ever read. I commend it to all of those who find themselves attracted to weirdness.

Someone is carving up and selling off crude sections of a valuable painting. How can Fred Taylor find the rest and arrange for the painting to be restored?

That would have been plenty bizarre enough, but Mr. Kilmer also populates this story with enough weird characters to fill a small asylum. If you enjoy reading about those who deal with suppressed memories of sexual molestation in their own families, you may like this book better than I did. I graded the book as though you have such a taste.

As for me, I wouldn't have finished the book except that I enjoyed two other books in the Fred Taylor series.

I'm hoping the next one I read won't be quite so disgusting in its exploration of depraved people.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't blow me away, but I enjoyed it., February 1, 2006

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Man with a Squirrel (Missing Mysteries) (Paperback)

Kilmer has a very interesting style. There is humor in his turn of phrase, but you must pay attention or you might miss it. While the first book might have given me a greater history of the characters, Kilmer did fill that in as the story progressed. The dialogue is well done; the sense of place could have been stronger. I did enjoy the book; it did keep me reading and it did have an excellent climatic scene. Although it isn't a "wow" book for me, I liked it and would read another book by Kilmer.