Archy this time appears to be a bit desperate instead of being the cad he is The Beaumont case seems to just a bit of added fluff in case the main story was not enough. Come-on! Also the stories seem to be very convoluted. Archy dates the cop who is investigating him as a suspect. The McNally stories are always over the top but I think this time it is a bit much. Ty Beaumont wants Archy to see if it is really his dead twin's ghost. Connie has been dating a dashing Cuban and seems to be losing interest in Archy.Īt the same time the abandoned Beaumont house has been seen to have lights flickering in the windows. At the same time he hopes to make Connie his long-time girlfriend jealous. Archy has no trouble in securing a date, of course only to discuss the case. The problem is Archy is conked on the head and loses both the manuscript and the money and furthermore a man is found dead in the room where he had just concluded the deal.Įnter Georgia O'Hara, the beautiful cop in charge of the murder investigation. But either much sharper editing, or a plot with more complexity or more sustained action, was needed to salvage this book from being anything but an also-ran in the series.Īrchy McNally is hired to be the go-between for the wealthy collector Fortesque and the seller of Truman Capote's original manuscript of Answered Prayers. McNally is a character who continues to make for fun reading - had this been a 100-page novella, we'd rate this right up with the best. In many of the chapters, some competition to Connie (for Archy) in the form of state trooper Georgy O'Hara was about the only entertainment at hand. Trelawney, and Father himself - did little more than add conversational filler to that long stretch in the books mid-section. The usual cast of supporting characters - cop friend Al Rogoff law firm mail boy Binky Watrous Father's secretary Mrs. And the "romance" with Archy's girlfriend Connie Garcia, who has been actively dating a Miami Cuban, also tires as Archy tosses all book-long with what to do about her. A weak and almost useless sub-plot involving a long unoccupied mansion that has ghostly overtones was a pretty silly attempt to use up ink. Once the initial crime takes place - a murder that occurs while Archy is playing delivery boy and getting mugged for his efforts - and the three suspects and their version of the "facts" get aired, nothing advances the solution of the crime until near the end when it all gets wrapped up. Our trouble with this fourth Lardo outing is that all the action takes place in the first 40 and the last 40 pages of the book - leaving over 200 in between as pretty dry going. We'll also acknowledge up front we think Lardo has done a most credible job carrying on the qualities and personalities of the characters, as well as the tone and setting of these mysteries. We'll start by admitting we have immensely enjoyed the ten prior novels in the Archy McNally series - including the seven written by (or at least during the lifetime of) Lawrence Sanders, and the three prior to this one by Vincent Lardo for the Sanders' estate. But after Darling’s Husband Number Seven sips some elderberry wine laced with arsenic at the cast party, McNally needs to shine a spotlight on the killer before it’s curtains for somebody else.A deficit of plot starves out the usual Archy McNally fun. McNally gets roped into directing while he’s discreetly investigating who’s blackmailing the actress. McNally’s Folly : Golden Age Hollywood diva Desdemona Darling makes headlines when she agrees to star in the Palm Beach Community Theater’s production of Arsenic and Old Lace. The tempting Veronica is quite a handful, but more troubling is that her story and her mother’s don’t match. Socialite Melva Williams confesses to offing her cheating spouse but wants her old friend Archy McNally to do her a keep the press and paparazzi away from her beautiful daughter. McNally’s Dilemma : In this New York Times bestseller, the Palm Beach tennis season starts off with a bang when a pro is shot by his wife after she catches him with another woman. Now the detective will have to scramble to lay a trap for someone who’s counting dividends before they hatch. But when widow Edythe Westmore’s children become convinced the trinket is a fake and their mother is being conned, McNally cracks open a case of lust, greed, and murder that stinks like a rotten egg. McNally’s Gamble : In this New York Times bestseller, McNally is enlisted to verify the bona fides of a deal for a rare Fabergé Imperial egg. In his long-running, New York Times –bestselling mystery series set in South Florida, Edgar Award–winning author Lawrence Sanders gave readers “his most delightful character”-a charming playboy turned Palm Beach PI by the name of Archy McNally ( Chicago Tribune ). More murder, greed, and secrets for the Palm Beach private eye created by the #1 New York Times –bestselling author and “master of suspense” ( The Washington Post ).
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