The Rabbit Factory [Paperback]

Marshall Karp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2007

When the actor playing Rambunctious Rabbit the mascot of Lamaar Studio s Familyland theme park is brutally murdered on park grounds, LAPD detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs are brought in to investigate. Asked to keep the investigation under wraps in order to protect Lamaar s idyllic image, Lomax and Biggs face a dilemma when a second and then a third brutal murder takes place and they uncover a conspiracy to destroy one of the country s largest entertainment conglomerates. Written in sharp, comedic prose, The Rabbit Factory introduces a fresh set of cops to the mystery genre.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

About 30 pages into The Rabbit Factory you will find yourself hoping that the book's author Marshall Karp is at home typing. He has created two LAPD cops, Mike Lomax and his partner Terry Biggs, who are smart, drop-dead funny (especially Terry), and as irreverent as two guys can be. Karp has also written a ripping good story, not counting on buddy-cop banter to carry the day.

Mike Lomax's wife, Joanie, died of cancer six months before the action begins, after a long time trying to have a family. Instead of leaving little replicas of herself, she leaves letters, which Mike opens on the 18th of every month, the anniversary of her death. His father, Big Jim, loved Joanie very much but wants to see Mike get on with his life. These guys love each other a lot and the dialogue that Karp gives them is both sharp and tender. Terry Biggs met his wife, Marilyn, who was the paramedic called when he was an "Officer Down." That meeting is so funny you have to read it to believe it.

One thing, as they say, led to another, and despite the fact that Marilyn had seven-year-old twin daughters, and a third, age five, Terry signed on for the whole package. And that's how a guy from the Bronx winds up living in Sherman Oaks with a wife and three teenage Valley girls.

The setting of much of the action is "Familyland," a Disneyland clone, conceived of by the late Dean Lamaar, who, like Disney, started out as an animator. His creations, Rambunctious Rabbit, Slaphappy Puppy, McGreedy the Moose, and others are now big family favorites and the little cartoon studio is a global conglomerate. It has been recently sold to the Japanese, after faltering receipts, and there are plans afoot to open a theme park in Las Vegas. That opening is just months away when an employee playing Rambunctious Rabbit is murdered on the premises. Not good for the corporate image. Another murder takes place, and another, and it quickly becomes obvious that someone has it in for Lamaar's enterprises. Mike and Terry are under tremendous pressure from Ike Rose, CEO of Lamaar, to keep the whole mess under wraps, and an equal amount of pressure from their Chief to "get it solved." They work smart and long and hard to uncover a conspiracy, finding a big surprise at the end of the search.

Marshall Karp is a refreshing addition to the suspense, satire, mystery genre. His two Detectives are irresistible. --Valerie Ryan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The publisher's blurb on playwright and screenplay writer Karp's first novel, "The hilarious and suspenseful introduction of Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs," makes the two LAPD detectives sound as if they're the reincarnation of the Keystone Kops. They are amusing, but the comedy never overshadows this smart, many-layered thriller. Lomax's beloved wife has died, his doting father is trying to get him to go on dates and his wayward, gambling-addicted brother is in deep trouble. Meanwhile, Lomax is trying to solve a string of high-profile murders aimed at destroying a Disneyesque theme park, Lamaar's Familyland. First, the employee playing Rambunctious Rabbit, Familyland's signature cartoon character, is strangled in his rabbit suit, then a series of other employees and visitors to the park are killed, bringing the company to its knees. Lomax, Biggs and the FBI have their work cut out for them in a clever plot that will keep readers guessing to the very end. Enthusiastic readers will anxiously await the return of detectives Lomax and Biggs. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 574 pages
• Publisher: Lawson Library (March 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596922176
• ISBN-13: 978-1596922174
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #491,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I worked in the ad business with James Patterson. I worked in TV with George Clooney, Connie Sellecca, Cuba Gooding Jr and Jane Curtin. My movie was directed by Jason Alexander and starred Ryan Merriman, Patti LuPone and Gretchen Mol. My play has been produced in 700 theatres around the world. I worked for ad agencies, networks, TV and movie studios and in 1995 opened my own internet advertising agency and sold it in 1999. Are you getting the picture? I'm totally incapable of holding a job.

So what does a writer do when he's expolored every arena from writing the labels on tuna fish cans (an early career high) to stage, screen, television and websites? Duh. Books. Technically, at this point it's singular. Book. Murder mysteries are my favorite stuff to read and since I spent enough time in Hollywood to want to kill a lot of people, I decided it would be fun to kill them without having to go to prison. Just book tours, where I don't have to spend quite as much time in solitary confinement.

I'm not capable of writing a novel for readers who get wrapped up in the gore of the crime or the minutiae of the forensics. My stronger suit I've learned over my checkered careers is to create people that people want to spend time with. So I came up with Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs. I wanted them to be three dimensional characters with real lives, genuine sensibilities, visible warts and great senses of humor. My first shot was The Rabbit Factory, and if I can believe the reader mail, most of the reviews, and my lying agent, it came out pretty good. So Lomax and Biggs are going to become a series. Which means I'm going to be murdering a lot more people in Hollywood. At last, a career I'm not going to get bored with.

Still want more about my life? I go on ad nauseum at www.lomaxandbiggs.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Rabbit Factory is a mega-winner that gives a whole new meaning to the police procedural! Very original!, May 19, 2006

By 

Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rabbit Factory: A Lomax & Biggs Mystery (Hardcover)

Marshall Karp's first novel The Rabbit Factory is a mega-winner that gives a whole new meaning to the police procedural. This novel is a must-read for those looking for something new and original in fiction, especially fans of mystery thrillers.

Set in Hollywood's Lamaar Studios "Family Land," (a theme park similar to Disneyland...but NOT), the gruesome murder of Rambunctious Rabbit kick-starts the storyline. Rambunctious is a huge, big-footed hare dressed in signature red, white and blue, (translate the long-eared, burrowing mammal version of Mickey Mouse). Eddie Elkins, a sex offender, child molester and convicted pedophile plays the part of this particular rabbit...but not for long. Elkins, who had paid the proverbial "pretty penny" for a new identity, was only on the job for six weeks before being brutally strangled during a cigarette break. And this is only the first of many murders to come which will effect Lamaar's bottom line, not to mention the victims' families lives.

Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs are the duo from LAPD heading the investigation - and these two guys are the BEST!!! Mike is a recent widower whose wife sends him love letters from beyond the grave. And Terry thinks he is a comedian - "Terry the Fun Homicide Cop!" Hah!! The chemistry and humor between the two detectives is fantastic! Minor characters, especially Big Jim, Lomax's hulking teamster father, are well drawn and extremely appealing.

The Rabbit Factory is one of the most entertaining books I have read in many a moon. The murder mystery is gripping, filled with suspense, and the characters are compelling as are the subplots. What's not to like??

I predict this one will skyrocket to the top of the bestseller lists...and it deserves too!
JANA

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fab new detective team, May 13, 2006

By 

Candace "thepageturner" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rabbit Factory: A Lomax & Biggs Mystery (Hardcover)

I hope Marshall Karp is sitting at the computer right now, clicking away at the next adventures of Lomax and Biggs. If he's not-somebody get the shackles and bind the man to the chair. We need a sequel already. "The Rabbit Factory" is a refreshing change from moody noir or snippy satiric LA novels. It is a nice, big book, suspenseful, sharp, funny, and pleasantly different from most examples of LA detective fic.

Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs are the men on the job. Mike is a widower, bearing the loss of his wife with the help of his dad and stepmother. Terry is a transplanted New Yorker, happily married to plump, no-nonsense EMT. They are called to the Lamaar Studios' Familyland amusement park to investigate the murder of the castmember wearing the outfit of Familyland's signature character, Rambunctious Rabbit. The fact that this guy is a convicted pedophile who somehow managed to get a job at a park for little kids is only an indication of what's rotten at Familyland. Employees, visitors, and performers are picked off in very ugly ways, until the detectives are met with a final, outrageous demand. What could Lamaar Studios-a small animation company grown into a huge but beloved conglomerate-have done to piss someone off so badly that they would threaten to kill anyone who had anything to do with Lamaar or its products?

Karp is not afraid to allow "The Rabbit Factory's" the length necessary for us to get to know the characters. Fear boredom? Forget it. The plot clips along briskly and is a pleasure to read. You'll be sorry when the books are closed on this case, and hope to open a new book starring Lomax and Biggs soon.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 Stars - Entertaining book that really needed an editor, April 6, 2007

By 

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

This review is from: The Rabbit Factory: A Lomax & Biggs Mystery (Hardcover)

Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs have a dead rabbit on their hands. The man who dresses as Rambunction Rabbit at Lamaar Studios Familyland has been murdered. Their first theory is that the killer was targeting the employee, who was a convicted pedophile. But as more murders occur it becomes clear that someone is out to destroy Lamaar Studios. It's not easy for the detectives to investigate the case, try and prevent more murders while trying to keep the incidents out of the public eye.

In the Acknowledgement, Marshall Karp gives "Special thanks to Sandi Gelles-Cole who helped take the fear and the mystery out of how to fill 600 blank pages." He should have listened to the fear. This was a good book that could have been a great book had it been 300 pages shorter. For an author who created whole stories in 30-to-60 second ads, he suffered from word explosion. I wish every aspiring author, particularly of police procedurals, were required to read the early books of Ed McBain and then write one of their own of a similar length. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book, I did. There were good characters and good suspense. There was certainly character development. It was a fast and enjoyable read. I shall read Mr. Karp's next book but I shall also hope, over time, he provides us with crisp, exciting, tightly plotted stories.