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Trail of the Spellmans: Document #5 [Hardcover]

Lisa Lutz
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (98 customer reviews)

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Book Description

February 28, 2012 Spellmans
The fifth installment in the New York Times bestselling series by Lisa Lutz, featuring the fearless private investigator Izzy Spellman and her quirky, yet endearing, family of sleuths.

For the first time in Spellman history, Isabel Spellman might be the most normal member of her family. Mom has taken on an outrageous assortment of extracurricular activities. Dad has a secret. Her brother and sister are at war, but neither will reveal the source of the conflict. While domestic disturbances abound, there is one source of sanity in the Spellman household: Demetrius Merriweather, employee of the month for eighteen months straight.

Things aren’t any simpler on the business side of Spellman Investigations. First, Rae is hired to follow a girl, only to fake the surveillance reports. Then a socialite has Isabel tail her husband, despite a conspicuous lack of suspicion. A man in a sweater vest hires the Spellmans to follow his sister, who turns out to be the socialite. Izzy won’t stop hunting for the answers—even when they threaten to shatter both the business and the family.

Readers are sure to love the next novel in a “series that keeps getting better and better” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). 


Frequently Bought Together

Trail of the Spellmans: Document #5 + The Spellmans Strike Again: A Novel (Izzy Spellman Mysteries) + Revenge of the Spellmans: Document #3 (Isabel "Izzy" Spellman)
Price for all three: $37.96

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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Private investigator Isabel “Izzy” Spellman is not your typical gumshoe. In fact, everything about the thirtysomething San Francisco sleuth is a bit offbeat, from her quirky family to the curious cases she takes on. In this fifth installment (after The Spellmans Strike Again, 2010) in Lutz’s irreverent series, Izzy is submerged in surveillance, monitoring the movements of a devious UC Berkeley coed and keeping close watch on the apartment of a fastidious math professor. Meanwhile, Izzy’s mother, Olivia, engages in an eclectic collection of extracurricular activities, including a Russian-language class in which she learns such valuable phrases as “The gentleman will pay for everything.” Isabel bonds with her boyfriend’s mother while ignoring her beau’s repeated requests to discuss their unraveling relationship. And siblings David and Rae butt heads over Rae’s perverse influence upon David’s infant daughter. With each entry, Lutz’s plots, while amusing, have become a bit more predictable. All the same, this is a wise (and wisecracking) choice for mystery readers seeking a break from the genre’s bloodier fare. --Allison Block

Review

Hilarious, but also tender and melancholy and full of hard-won wisdom. This one's going to stay with readers for a long time." (Laura Lippman, author of I’d Know You Anywhere and the Tess Monaghan series)

“Engaging….Lutz’s dry, biting humor is in full force.” (Publishers Weekly)

“A wise (and wise-cracking) choice for mystery readers seeking a break from the genre’s bloodier fare.” (Booklist)

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (February 28, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1451608128
  • ISBN-13: 978-1451608120
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (98 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lisa Lutz is the New York Times bestselling author of The Spellman Files, Curse of the Spellmans, Revenge of the Spellmans, The Spellmans Strike Again, Trail of the Spellmans and Heads you Lose (with David Hayward). Lutz has won the Alex award and has been nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Although she attended UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, the University of Leeds in England, and San Francisco State University, she still does not have a bachelor's degree. Lisa spent most of the 1990s hopping through a string of low-paying odd jobs while writing and rewriting the screenplay Plan B, a mob comedy. After the film was made in 2000, she vowed she would never write another screenplay. How to Negotiate Everything a children's book (illustrated by Jaime Temairik) will be released in 2013 along with The Last Word, the sixth installment in the Spellman series. Lisa lives in a town you've never heard of in upstate New York.

Customer Reviews

If you haven't read the previous books in the series, I recommend you start with the first one. Mystery Lover  |  14 reviewers made a similar statement
Love the story and characters. MommyMommyMommy  |  20 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Yay! More Spellmans! February 2, 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
This is one of the most fun, laugh-out-loud series that I have ever read. After the fourth installment, The Spellmans Strike Again: A Novel (Izzy Spellman Mysteries), I had believed Internet rumours that said it would be the last Spellman book, so my delight was tremendous when I first heard about this book's imminent publication (and don't worry, this time the Internet is very upfront that an additional two books have been contracted in the series!)

I love Lutz's writing style and sense of humour - in fact, I first read The Spellman Files: A Novel in 2008, and have since re-read it aloud on a road trip, and just for fun to myself several times over these four years. I would definitely recommend reading them in order, though Lutz provides appendices to fill in out-of-order-readers, I think you will the whole experience more enjoyable if you read them in order - and it is certainly worth it!

In the two years since we last saw the Spellman family, plenty of changes have taken place and right from the beginning, there is plenty of excitement, intrigue and family feuds. I loved the whole book - I think I smiled the entire time, and actually read it in one sitting, so my face was quite sore afterwards! It was just a joy to read! The worst part was coming to the last page, knowing that it will be a long wait before the sixth book is published...
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Another great Spellman read January 31, 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
P.I. Izzie Spellman somewhat has her life on track. She has been living with Henry for a couple years now but she is avoiding him because a) his mother is visiting and b) he wants to have THE talk. So Izzie busies herself with solving some mysteries around her family. One, her mother has suddenly filled up all her free time with yoga, crochet classes, Russian classes. Izzie is determined to find out why. Also, her brother David has thrown out their younger sister Rae from his house's basement apartment. But neither of them will say why.
Izzie is also concerned about some cases her parents have accepted. But if she does the right thing, she risks getting fired from the family business.

I have read all of the Spellman books and I am so happy I discovered this series and I hope Lutz keeps writing them. This latest offering maintains all the humor and craziness of the others. Even with Izzie showing more maturity, the series has not lost any of it's fun and uniqueness. I loved and highly recommend this book. But if you haven't read any of these books, you really do need to start at the beginning. I personally am planning a reread of them all.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful & humours mix of mystery & family February 12, 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
Trail of the Spellmans is the fifth book in the series featuring the smart, funny, and exceptionally eccentric Spellman family. Subtitled Document #5, the book features Isabel Spellman, the family's oldest daughter and the only child working full time in the their family-owned investigative firm.

The work aspects of the book focus on several cases that are unique in either the subjects or that the Spellmans find that that there really isn't anything to investigate. When two of the cases over lap, the family institutes "Chinese walls" to protect client confidentiality. As fans of this series already know, any secret between family members is an immediate signal for one or more of them to devise innovative ways to discover the truth.

Even more enjoyable is the dynamics of the Spellman family. The family home, which is also where the office is, has opened its doors to include an ex-con released from prison after falsely being convicted of murder, and Grandmother Spellman, a cranky and weight obsessed senior citizen. Everyone's interactions with Grandmother Spellman are hysterical, and the affect the Grandmother has on Isabel's mother is slyly humorous.

Along with the dysfunctional family fun and human interest stories from surveillance, Trail of the Spellmans includes several serious notes. Isabel is struggling to define what she wants from life, and faces an ethical business dilemma between the right thing to do and the rules of the business. To avoid spoiling the story, I will only say that all three of the Spellman children inch further towards adulthood in this book.

The Spellman series is one of my favorites, it is consistently delightful and enjoyable to read, and always offers a fresh perspective on something. You don't need to read the first four books to enjoy Trail of the Spellmans, but I can promise that if you haven't read them yet, you will once you finish this book!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Love this series of books
Have read the whole series. This is one strange...but entertaining...family. Each of the mysteries going on in the book is interesting, and the characters (and the family dynamics)... Read more
Published 1 day ago by dcdfw
5.0 out of 5 stars Gotta read the entire series!
This is a fantastic read and will have you laughing all the way through it. I have to thank my sister for telling me about this series.
Published 5 days ago by Luana J. Porter
5.0 out of 5 stars The Spellmans put fun is dysfunctional
I love that the main character is a self admitted wreck that has a brain. She pushes the envelope to far and has outrageous plans of attack. Read more
Published 13 days ago by Denise Becker
2.0 out of 5 stars In which Daniel Castillo DDS jumps spots on the ex boyfriend list
In the acknowledgments section, Lutz writes "I believe eventually readers will smarten up and realize that a book isn't just a bargain because its cheap. Read more
Published 13 days ago by Meg
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun family
Easy to get sucked into this brood. Enjoyed all the books and characters. Read this when I ran out of Evanovich titles.
Published 1 month ago by V. Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down
Another great read from Lisa Lutz and the Spellman family. I've just pre-ordered the next installment. This one took on a new twist.
Published 1 month ago by D. Akin
5.0 out of 5 stars I (heart) Lizzie
What is not to like about Lizzie Spellman -- huge fan of the whole series -- so not really a reliable judge.
Published 2 months ago by Kathleen
5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh out loud funny!
Quirky and funny! I was sorry when I had finished all five books. I hope there are more to come.
Published 2 months ago by Karen Schwarzwalder
4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but a little sad
This book made me a little frustrated with Izzy. The more she avoids things she's not comfortable dealing with, the more immature it seems. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Shetrone
5.0 out of 5 stars Trail of the Spellmans
Trail of the Spellmans was a great read. I have throughly enjoyed the Spellman series and can't wait for the next one to come out.
Published 3 months ago by Barbara N. Deese
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Any more families like the Spellman's?
This one was a bit of dysfunctional family fun

Faking It Read more
Mar 17, 2012 by in the closet romance reader |  See all 4 posts
Will Izzy Spellman ever find true love? Be the first to reply
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