Customer Reviews

When the Fat Man Sings

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William Murray's WHEN THE FAT MAN SINGS is a thriller whose protagonist is an appealing character, Shifty Anderson. Shifty is a professional magician and part-time horse player. This might suggest a man of less than reputable character, and Shifty does not live a life of which most conventionally-minded people would approve. Against this, he is a grounded, courageous, honest, resourceful, likable and reliable man - a man who lives an unusual but virtuous life on his own terms. Shifty gets involved with Fulvio Gasparini, an Italian opera singer of immense talent, and his large entourage - a bewilderingly various group of scoundrels, hangers on and true friends to Fulvio. Shifty joins this group as a "consultant" of sorts. Fulvio is a gambling addict with no talent as a gambler. Shifty knows how to pick horses and helps Fulvio not only cut his losses, but to win more than he loses. They become friends, and this leads to trouble for Shifty, given some dangerous circumstances in Fulvio's life involving both criminal tendencies of certain members of his entourage and some unusual circumstances of his past. The narrative is excellent. William Murray obviously knows a lot about magic, opera, and horse racing, knowledge which enhances the tone of his story without being in any way pedantic. This may be overly high praise and may say more about me than about this novel, but I find this book more satisfying and, in several ways, superior to Dick Francis' horse racing-based thrillers. This is not a latent swipe at Francis. I like his novels a great deal. In making this comparison, I intend only to praise Murray and this fine novel.

It ain't over, yet another fine fun Shifty novel, with horseracing at the base! ALL the books are great, and are a series - get em! For the horseracing fan, for the mystery novel fan, for the fan of sleight of hand magic