Unlike all other prior volumes, here the Reeses seem to be brittle and their banter seems to have become close to caustic. Other characters seem simply irritating. The situation's convolutions acquire a diminishing ability to hold the attention of the reader in comparison to the vortex of gyrating plot twists going on in real life 2017.

<b>First things first: I need to mention I received a copy of this book from author in exchange for an honest review. This had no influence on the review whatsoever.</b>

Whoever reads this review is most probably unfamiliar with the Reeses as the series is sadly relatively unknown. Without the knowledge of their characters the events of the book make exactly zero sense.

The best way to describe Emmie Reese would be to say she resembles Lucy Ricardo - a lot. As everybody even briefly familiar with the classic sitcom knows Lucy always wanted to be in the show. She would do anything to achieve her dream, no matter how crazy or outlandish. Emmie had a different dream: she always wanted to participate in a murder investigation. Her schemes aiming at this purpose make those of Lucy look tame and boring. Sufficient to say at one point she considered creating a dead body (by the most obvious and direct method) because she could not find any murder to investigate.

Harry Reese was an insurance fraud investigator. Poor guy resembles Ricky Ricardo in the sense that he had to equally suffer because of his wife's actions. Unlike Ricky though he did not fight and just went with the flow. In the beginning he did try to resist, but not for long. As a result his actions sometimes rivals those of Emmie in craziness. Takes together these two distort reality (Harry's own expression) and force logic to make hasty retreat in panic.

Now I can try to describe the plot without the fear that in would sound like I used mind-altering drags writing this. Despite what I said about Emmie she completely lost interest in murders spending all her time writing fiction hoping for a big break as a writer. Having one's work published is the biggest obstacle for a new writer wannabe, so she devoted all her energies to get a publisher interested in her work.

It so happened that none other than Henry James (by the way Harry described his books as the best cure for insomnia and having read The Turn of the Screw I completely agree) decided to visit her hometown and give a speech. Such an opportunity was too good to pass, so Emmie announced she wanted to visit her mother. Harry knew right away that something was cooking, but he was broke at the moment and in debt to a gambler who had a <s>gorilla</s> goon in his employ to collect money. First visit from a nice friendly <s>gorilla</s> goon convinced Harry visiting his mother-in-law might not be such a bad idea.

So far so good? It turns out Emmie's mother needed help with her nephews and a niece - I will not waste time describing their problems, but they had them by truckloads. Harry also lucked out (this is what he thought) and found a dead body. He hoped this would be enough to bring Emmie around to investigate, but nothing - and I do mean: nothing - is ever simple with Reeses. Sufficient to say it turned out the body possessed a great deal of mobility.

So we have Harry working on rekindling Emmie interests in crime investigation, him helping her get an invitation to a dinner attended by Henry James, him helping her rival to prevent her from attending the dinner (remember: reality distortion), and him trying to rein in her relatives. This is just Harry's problems. Do not let me started on Emmie's.

All of these already bizarre threads interconnect creating something completely out of this world. As you can guess the book (and the whole series) is strongly character-driven. They are highly humorous with the humor reminding me of P.G. Wodehouse. I laughed probably just two times reading, but chuckled practically non-stop at the absurdity of situations and the fact that they looked practically normal from the right angle.

If you became interested in the series my personal recommendation would be to start with Kalorama Shakedown, however this book can work as a standalone.

I was lucky enough to have gotten a copy of this book from the Author in exchange for a review, which I am happy to provide. This was the 6th book in the series and I really enjoyed it. I would recommend you read them in order, but its not necessary to enjoy this book, since there are references to previous mishaps, so you never feel lost, but you will appreciate it more if you are familiar with the whole series. As before I loved the characters and the plot line was very funny, with a little mystery thrown in for good measure, and I kept thinking that it would make for some funny TV. Robert Bruce Stewart does a wonderful job in transporting me back in time, and he paints a complete picture of what life was like then, I always feel a bit nostalgic after finishing one of his books. Very entertaining and I can't wait to see what trouble our main characters will get into next.

1905, Northampton, MA. Margaret Cable had sent an envelope.
Emmie Reese (nee McGinnis) informed Harry Reese that the 2 of them will be guardians of: Hal, Gloria, & Pluribus.
Pluribus is frequently truant & must be dealt with quite regularly.

1 of Emmie’s favorite writers of the era Henry James is coming to the Brooklynn Public library to speak.
Elizabeth invited several PPL to Plymouth Inn for dinner.
Henry James has a room there.
Bill McCree had purchased a ticket to South Deerfield.
He was later murdered.
Bill & Jane Grundy (daughter) were seeing each other.

Will Emmie get to see Henry James.
Can Harry & Emmie solve the murder mystery?
I cannot say enough about this mystery book.

I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Only an honest one.

A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very well written mystery book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great mystery movie, or better yet a mini TV series. There is no doubt in my mind this is a very easy rating of 5 stars.

Thank you for the free Goodreads; Making Connections; Street Car Mysteries; Autographed; paperback book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)