The Sweet Golden Parachute: A Berger and Mitry Mystery (Berger and Mitry Mysteries) [Hardcover]

David Handler (Author)

Book Description

Series: Berger and Mitry Mysteries | Publication Date: March 21, 2006

A storm is brewing in Dorset.

Poochie Vickers, the local aristocrat, is becoming even more eccentric in her old age. She's taken up shoplifting and reckless driving but refuses to see a doctor. Her worrisome daughter, Claudia, is angling to take over the family fortune, which makes some of the would-be beneficiaries uneasy. Two of Dorset's biggest troublemakers are being released from prison. And the bad blood between these two families, rich on the one hand, swamp Yankee on the other, could come to a boiling point: Two young people from the families are dating, to no one's delight but their own.

Someone is bound to snap, and someone does, resulting in the brutal murder of a harmless and homeless man who went about town collecting recyclables.
While Des is trying to track down the murderer, she's also trying to wrap her head around the idea of marrying Mitch. When so many things are going wrong, loving someone seems like a big risk.
Handler's fifth novel in this charming and edgy series displays his deftness in creating memorable, distinctive characters and for crafting uniquely entertaining mysteries.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rumor has it around Dorset, Conn., that film critic Mitch Berger and police trooper Desirée "Des" Mitry have broken up due to Mitch's ill-timed marriage proposal in their diverting fifth adventure (after 2004's The Burnt Orange Sunrise). But before the town's resident odd couple can resolve the big question, a homeless man known as Pete is found slain near the home of famed chef Poochie Vickers. It's quite a coincidence that Pete is murdered just as Poochie's prize Mercedes Benz is stolen, right after local bad boys Stevie and Donnie Kershaw have been released from prison. Everyone knows there are decades of bad blood between the Kershaws and the Vickers, and Poochie's Mercedes proves to be the tip of the iceberg. When a second body turns up, it's clear the blood feud between Dorset's Montagues and Capulets will take a devastating toll on the town unless Mitch and Des can unravel a twisted tale of love, hate, greed and cold-blooded murder. Handler once again delivers a top-notch tale of crime and intrigue. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Handler's Berger and Mitry series features a true odd couple: pudgy, white film critic Mitch Berger and tall, elegant African American state trooper Desiree Mitry. The two reside in the Connecticut gold-coast town of Dorset, where the townsfolk are as oddly matched as Berger and Mitry: preppy, plaid-clad rich folks mix (sometimes uneasily) with hardworking laborers and farmers. The fifth entry in this solid series finds Mitch waiting for Des' answer to his marriage proposal. She has other things on her mind, though, as the vintage Mercedes of eccentric, filthy rich "Poochie" Vickers is stolen, and the murdered body of Pete, the town bum, is discovered. Meanwhile, Poochie's daughter, Claudia, confides in Des that her mother is hoarding candy, shoplifting, and exhibiting other strange behavior. The appeal here remains rooting for the mismatched Berger and Mitry to make a go of their unconventional but heartwarming relationship. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (March 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031234211X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312342111
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,219,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

These days, I live in a 200-year-old carriage house in a quaint, ultra-WASPY little historic New England village. Not surprisingly, I've taken to writing a series of five (and counting) retro-cozy murder mysteries set in a quaint, ultra-WASPY little historic New England village. I call it Dorset. It's a place where everyone knows everything about everyone ' or at least they think they do. Trust me, they don't. Dorset is a place full of secrets, many of them deadly. That's where my deliciously mismatched heroes come in, both of them strangers in a very strange land. Mitch Berger, a pudgy Jewish widower, is the lead film critic for the most prestigious and therefore lowest paying of New York's three daily newspapers. Desiree Mitry is an alluring beautiful Connecticut State Trooper who happens to be black, a gifted artist and strangely drawn to Mitch. Under normal circumstances, these are two people whose paths would never cross. But absolutely nothing about Dorset is normal.

I started the series in 2001 with The Cold Blue Blood , which was nominated for a Dilys Award. My most recent hardcover, The Sweet Golden Parachute came out in the spring of 2006. The latest paperback is The Burnt Orange Sunrise , which I'm happy to report made a few bestseller lists. You absolutely don't have to read the Berger-Mitry books in order, but you'll find it a kick to follow the unfolding romance if you do. Personally, I've found them to be a real treat. I get a chance to dissect the village and the people where I actually live. Absolutely everyone in town reads them. And I have fun bringing my own subversive contemporary edge to the classic old-school village murder mystery. The books feel real fresh to me. I hope you like them.

The Berger-Mitrys are my second crime series. My first foray, which you may remember, featured the dapper celebrity ghostwriter Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag and his faithful, neurotic basset hound Lulu. I wrote eight novels about Hoagy, a fallen literary wunderkind turned pen for hire who travels the underbelly of show business helping famous stars tell their life stories, secrets and all. Generally, there are plenty of people who wanted those secrets to stay safely buried. Generally, our jaded hero knows how to dig them out. My first Hoagy, The Man Who Died Laughing , was nominated for an Anthony Award. My best known in the series, The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald , won an Edgar and an American Mystery Award. Sadly, several of the Hoagys are out of print right now -- so you may have to do a little on-line detective work to track them down. But go for it. You'll never find another wise-cracking hero quite like Hoagy.

Do you like political thrillers? If so, I took some time off between series a few years back to co-author an international bestselling page-turner called Gideon under the name Russell Andrews. I promise you it'll knock your socks off.

I've also taken the time to write some short fiction. Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine has published several of my short stories since 2001. Two have been included in anthologies ' Opening Shots Volume Two , edited by Lawrence Block, and A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime , edited by Jeffrey Deaver.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic police investigation, March 25, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sweet Golden Parachute: A Berger and Mitry Mystery (Berger and Mitry Mysteries) (Hardcover)

In Dorset, Connecticut, police trooper Desirée "Des" Mitry struggles with the marriage proposal from her lover film critic Mitch Berger (see THE BURNT ORANGE SUNRISE). Even though she loves him she has doubts about tying the knot. While Des procrastinates, eccentric aristocratic renowned chef Poochie Vickers has been behaving odd even for her; at least that is what her daughter Caroline claims as she tries to take legal control of her mother's assets. However, her weird behavior, which may be a sign of aging, like Mitch's proposal, take a back seat to the discovery of the corpse of homeless Pete found on Poochie's property at about the same time she reported someone stole her Mercedes.

The Dorset townsfolk immediately assume that sibling convicts Stevie and Donnie Kershaw, just freed from prison, committed both crimes as their family has an ongoing feud with the Vickers seemingly forever. Adding to the tension between the families is a Romeo and Juliet romance that except for the star-crossed pair everyone else objects to. Des uses the case to defer her response to Mitch as she is too busy investigating the homicide, which quickly turns into a second murder.

The Mitry-Berger mysteries started off as some of the best police procedurals published and somehow keep getting better with each new fresh entry because they are entertaining and gripping. The fifth who-done-it, THE SWEET GOLDEN PARACHUTE, is a fantastic police investigation that is made trickier by the hatred between the Dorset equivalent of the Hatfields and McCoys. The marriage proposal is always at the edge of the gripping story line as Des wants to say yes because she loves Mitch, but the terrible things people do pushes her towards refusing. David Handler handles her personal woes perfectly as part of a strong mystery.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I am totally Hooked on this series!........, April 30, 2006

By 

H. Legette-Hill "tigasinamon2" (New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sweet Golden Parachute: A Berger and Mitry Mystery (Berger and Mitry Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I read backwards in this series, finally reading the first Berger/Mitry Mystery. From reading each of these was like watching the writer perfect his ideas. The writing is outstanding, the dialogue between the characters make you feel like your watching these people actually hold a conversation. The romance is very much there, but doesn't overtake the plot. I couldn't wait to read Mr. Handler's latest installment, I was not disappointed.

Des and Mitch are at it again solving a murder of a homeless man. Des has her eyes on the teens that just got released from prison, but bodies continue to turn up and the culprit is the last person she would have suspected. In the mean time rumors of Des and Mitch's "break-up" are flying around. Des is forced to examine her feelings for the man she's fallen in love with. Just as she has decided and told Mitch, the unexpected happens and she is forced to come face to face with her past. A whodunnit and a romance cliffhanger all in one. I can't wait to see what this authors imagination can cook up next!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consistently fabulous!, July 20, 2007

By 

Ivy979 "Prissy" (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sweet Golden Parachute: A Berger and Mitry Mystery (Berger and Mitry Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I promised myself I'd keep my review brief. So, I decided to describe the book (series) from my perspective: Well-balanced layering!!
-Plot development and pace: perfect!
-Dialogue: Real/brief/to-the-point!
-Character development: just enough/just in time!
-Mystery: inside of a mystery-under that mystery-wrapped around another mystery!
-Romance: Refreshing/tasteful (I'm still looking for a feather)
-Conclusion: Didn't see him coming! (Ready for the next installment)