Wash and Wear: An Ed McAvoy Mystery [Paperback]

Bill Stackhouse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 2003

Even with a left leg shattered by a drug dealer's bullet and a medical retirement from the Detroit Police Force, former homicide captain Ed McAvoy feels he's too young to be put out to pasture.

With the slower pace in the Catskills, being Chief of Police in Peekamoose Heights will be sort of like running a country club, or so he thinks. After all, how much crime can there be?

McAvoy soon discovers that his skills as a homicide detective will not atrophy from lack of use in Peekamoose Heights. Murder, as it turns out, is an equal-opportunity crime that not only resides in large bustling cities like Detroit, but in sleepy little Catskill villages like Peekamoose Heights as well.
 
In Wash and Wear, the fourth Ed McAvoy Mystery, a bank teller and owner of a small Catskill print shop is killed by a known mob hit-man who, in turn, is killed by Heather Larrabee, a Peekamoose Heights Police Officer. Now Heather's house and car have been searched, as well as the teller's aunt's house. McAvoy must find what the mob is looking for before someone else gets killed in the process.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mystery writer and playwright Bill Stackhouse worked as a scriptwriter for a multimedia production firm. His credits include training and promotional videos for NASA, the Army Aviation & Missile Command, and the Corps of Engineers. Four of Bill's seven stage plays have won awards. Wash and Wear is his fifth novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (November 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059530186X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595301867
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,769,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, mystery writer, playwright, and part-time actor Bill Stackhouse has a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan, and a Masters Degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.

At Ford Motor Company and later, as Director of Quality Assurance & Training at a large automotive parts supplier, Bill became involved in the development of instructional manuals and training films. In the throes of a mid-life crisis, he decided to pursue the most enjoyable aspect of his job on a full-time basis―writing.

Bill's scriptwriting credits include training films and promotional videos for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to name a few. He has also written numerous radio and TV commercials.

Branching out from technical writing into the arts, four of Bill's seven stage plays (The Best Laid Plans, The Early Bird, To Serve and Protect, and A Tradition of Service) have won contests - a local, a statewide, a regional, and a national.

In addition to playwriting, Bill has directed many productions for various community theatres. For a very brief time, he even had a theatre company of his own that toured six mid-size cities in Northern Alabama and Southern Tennessee.

Bill and his wife now live in Central Florida where he continues to write mystery novels and stage plays (when its raining and he can't lay golf).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A murder most excellent!, May 3, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wash and Wear: An Ed McAvoy Mystery (Paperback)

Bill Stackhouse is a literary man. He has written virtually everything, from mysteries and plays to promotional videos for such government agencies as NASA and the Corps of Engineers. He has five novels to his credit and seven stage plays, four of which have won awards.

WASH AND WEAR finds our favorite ex-Detroit murder detective, Ed McAvoy, safely ensconced as the Chair of Police in sleepy Peekamoose Heights. However, some of the same hoods McAvoy has been after for years decide to set up shop by becoming a silent partner in an ailing copy shop. Of course they are into counterfeiting, but it takes the murder of Homer Duncan and some resulting coincidences that alert the battle-hardened McAvoy to possible mob connections:

"Guiseppe Triano kills Homer. Martin Bassett figures Guiseppe's brother Giancarlo was with him. Although Deputy Dawg isn't the brightest cop on the best, I'll give him that one. Regardless, Homer's murder has mob fingerprints all over it. Why? We don't know, yet. Now, Tony Gianelli, the son of Don Vittorio Gianelli, shows up at your house at one-thirty in the morning. Is he courting you? I think not. He's there because the mob is looking for something."

Bill Stackhouse writes, quite simply, a mean mystery. His characters are so credible they just about jump off of the page, which is scarey when we are reading about the mob. His action is non-stop, and he throws in enough Italian to lend even more credence to this superbly written mystery. Ed McAvoy is back as the grizzled veteran cop, who is dazzling as he outwits the mob. "Little Mac," his fed counterpart, is a fun, no-nonsense character who cuts through the red tape. Ed is surrounded by a caring community full of interesting and well drawn characters.

WASH AND WEAR is a mystery with lots of twists and turns, which keeps the reader glued. Stackhouse could teach a class on how to write one heckuva tale. Police politics versus mob politics and how the two intersect make for situations most foul. I was so engrossed, I didn't want it to end...the mark of a murder most excellent!

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All not quiet, December 10, 2003

By 

Vicki Ball - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wash and Wear: An Ed McAvoy Mystery (Paperback)

All quiet Homer Duncan wanted to do was his job at the bank, run his print shop in his spare time, and care for his aging mother. That's all. And it got him killed.

Ed McAvoy [late of the Detroit Police Force] is now Chief of Police in Peekamoose Heights. When the bank teller is killed by a known mob hit-man and the hit-man is in turn killed by Heather Larrabee [one of his officers], Ed runs up against an old enemy once again. Now it's up to Ed and his police force to figure out what the mob is looking for before there are more deaths.

Fourth in the Ed McAvoy series, Wash and Wear introduces a new element into the quiet Peekamoose community; the retired mob. In an almost comic series of mishaps and misadventures, bumbling enforcers manage to turn Peekamoose Heights upside down and one
quiet little bank teller manages to completely ruin what could have been a profitable venture.

Wash and Wear was a welcome change from some of the dark mysteries I usually read. Somewhere between a cozy and a classic, I find I enjoy Peekamoose Heights, it's resident eccentrics, and Ed McAvoy. If you are looking for a lighter mystery that will make you smile, I can recommend any of Bill Stackhouse's offerings.