He Who Dies (An Angela Matelli Mystery) [Hardcover]

Wendi Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 8, 2000

Ex-Marine turned private investigator Angela Matelli comes from a large family that have moved away from their original East Boston home. While Angela and her siblings have all chosen different lifestyles and professions, there is one inviolable rule that remains in all their lives - everyone goes to their Mother's house for Sunday dinner. So when Angela's brother Albert missed twice in a row, Mrs. Matelli is certain that something bad has happened to her son.

Albert, widely believed by the family to be hooked up with the local mob, has always been scrupulous about Sunday dinner and now Mrs. Matelli wants to hire her daughter Angela to look into his disappearance. Against her better judgment, Angela - using her mother's key - breaks into Albert's apartment to find the dinner table set, an open bottle of wine, and a three-day old corpse in other room.

The corpse, luckily, isn't Albert but Angela suspects someone is using the body to try and set her brother up. As she digs further into her brother's life she quickly discovers that his boss in the mob claims to nothing about Albert's troubles, the police are after him to explain the corpse in his apartment, and his partners in the Itty-Bitty Kitty toy factory are desperate for his return. Now it's up to Angela to uncover what each of these things has to do with the others - and who is trying so desperately to get to her brother - before it is too late.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite its bland title, Lee's latest offering in the Angela Matelli series (Deadbeat; Missing Eden; etc.) is a sharp, stylish mystery with a touch of humor. Boston PI Matelli is on a personal mission after her younger brother, Albert, who's a mob associate in Rhode Island, turns up missing. Encumbered by the insistent presence of their good Italian mama, Matelli begins a quest that turns ugly when a body is discovered in Albert's ritzy condo. Albert, a front man for the Providence Mafia, runs a legit company that manufactures the latest toy craze, the Itty Bitty Kitty. In the course of investigating the company's management, Angela meets Don Giovanni Testa, Providence mob boss, who just happens to be an old flame of her mother's. While poking fun at old-fashioned Mafia movies and nicknames, such as Johnny Smash and Nick the Knife, Lee turns dead serious when Angela begins to receive threatening messages, and someone leaves a human finger as a grisly warning in her car. Lee's prose is tight and flows at whirlwind speed, while the Italian family members, the Matellis as well as Don Testa, fill their roles admirably. The concluding confrontation, in which Angela puts her martial arts knowledge to good use, may come as no surprise, but getting there is one entertaining ride. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Angela Matelli, an ex-Marine turned Boston P.I., fears the worst when her brother disappears. Once his car is found with a body in the trunk, however, she really begins to worry. For all collections.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (June 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312208944
• ISBN-13: 978-0312208943
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,001,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Woth waiting for this original mystery, May 14, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: He Who Dies (An Angela Matelli Mystery) (Hardcover)

After spending eight years in the Marines, Angela Matelli returned to her old Boston neighborhood where she opened up an office as a private investigator. Angela has five siblings, an absentee father (considered a blessing), and a beloved mother who is the nucleus that keeps the family together.

Everyone knows that faithful son Albert is a front guy for the mob, but the Matelli clan ignores that because they love him. When Albert fails to call his mother as he has done for years, a panicky Mrs. Matelli calls her daughter the sleuth to find him. A reluctant Angela cannot say no to her doomsday mother and goes to Albert's house where she discovers a corpse. Her follow-up inquiries lead her to her brother's employer, the Rhode Island Don, who admits that he and Albert are business partners in a toy manufacturing company. Albert calls his sister and requests she learn what is going on at the toy factory because someone is willing to kill to take it over.

The Angela Matelli mysteries are witty, action-packed tales filled with local color. The likable heroine is a tough broad who seems to be a female Spencer. HE WHO DIES is a who-done-it with several elements of a family saga. The support cast adds eccentricity and atmosphere with several interesting enough to have their own series. Wendi Lee writes a dynamic story that female sleuth fans will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling page-turner of a mystery, July 4, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: He Who Dies (Worldwide Library Mysteries) (Paperback)

Angela Matelli is a private investigator. When her mother calls to say that Angela's youngest brother Albert hasn't been heard from in several days, Angela decides to find her wayward sibling. When she goest to her brother's apartment and discovers a corpse she is relieved to find it isn't her brother. Then her mother receives a severed finger in the mail and Angela must discover why the Cosa Nostra is interested in a toy kitten found with the corpse and the Itty Bitty Kitty Toy Company -- all while on a desperate effort to locate her brother and rescue him before he loses any more body parts! He Who Dies is a compelling page-turner of a mystery. Also very highly recommended are Wendi Lee's earlier novels, Deadbeat (0373263392...) and Missing Eden. (0373263015,...).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good sense of place, October 2, 2000

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: He Who Dies (An Angela Matelli Mystery) (Hardcover)

Wendi Lee conveys a great sense of place in her private eye story about Angela Matelli and her large Boston-area Italian family. Her brother Albert doesn't show up for the family Sunday dinner and Angela's mother is worried. Since Albert makes his living as a front man for the Mafia, some concern is in order.

Although I enjoyed Angela and her family, I was looking for that twist to the mystery plot. While the novel ended up in an exciting climax, there wasn't much surprise about who was keeping Albert, why they were doing it, or what was going to happen next.