Jigsaw

by Jerry Kennealy

Book Overview

Carroll Quint is the entertainment critic for the San Francisco Bulletin . He doesn't earn a lot of money, but the job does give him a certain place in the city's after-dark world, and he loves seeing the newest play, or the newest movie, and writing about them for his readers. His job, however, gets harder for him to do when friends of his start showing up dead, each one in some way connected to the entertainment industry. Someone calling himself...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312354754
• ISBN13: 9780312354756
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

hitchcock with a twist

Friends of San Francisco entertainment critic Carroll Quint are being offed by a killer who sends Quint e-mail clues to do with Alfred Hitchcock movies. Unfortunately for Quint with all his ties to the victims, he is a suspect in the eyes of the police. Along with his ex-actress mom and his comely girlfriend, Quint investigates to not only to stop the killer but also to get a big story for his paper. This is a new series for Jerry Kennealy and a new author for me since I have never read any of his books. I enjoyed the characters very much. In fact, the whole time I was reading, I felt that the style of book, humorous crime fiction, reminiscent to an author I used to read. All I remembered was the character's name was Archie and he lived in West Palm Beach. Google is my friend, and found out I was thinking of the Archie McNally series by Lawrence Sanders. I stopped reading after LS passed away and someone else took over writing the series. It was never the same. I think I might have found another series to take its place. As in new series the introduction of many new characters can feel overwhelming and there were many, many characters in this relatively short book. It got a bit confusing at times. The plot was didn't exactly scream realism, but when on of the victims is killed with a leg of lamb, you really can't expect that. The antics were a bit over-the-top especially the final chum-bait scenes, but it all made for a rollicking good read. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Humor and suspense mixed well for your enjoyment

Kennealy was a fireman, policeman, and a private investigator for over 20 years. He has written 10 Nick Polo mysteries, and various thrillers set around the world under different names. He is a San Francisco native, just like the character in this book, Carroll Quint. Quint is the entertainment editor for the San Francisco Bulletin, writing movie and theatre reviews. He is at Gineen Rosenberry's party to celebrate the opening of the play she bankrolled, a revival of Camelot starring the older actor Peter Liddell. Liddell takes issue with some of Quint's negative reviews, and takes a swing at him, resulting in a bloody nose. Quint staggers off without his glasses to the upstairs bath, off Gineen's bedroom, where she joins him eventually and ministers to his nose. Eventually he sneaks out the back way to avoid Liddell's bodyguards. The buzz at the party had all been about the grisly murder of retired actor Montgomery Hines, who had been slashed while in his shower--a killing remarkably like the murder in Hitchcock's Psycho. The next day Quint is under investigation for the theft of Gineen's $600,000 ruby necklace. Next, he gets a phone message from old acquaintance, Charlie Reeder, a retired screenwriter, who asks him to come immediately to his home on the ocean. When Quint does, he discovers Reeder, dead, on the deck covered with birds that are attacking him. Quint becomes suspect number one, and his reporting career takes off when he realizes he is getting coded emails from "Thanatos," who has been predicting the murders--and he realizes the killer must be someone he knows. There will be two more deaths before the killer is discovered, with Quint's quirky movie actress (she had once been a Bond girl) mother Karen helping with the clues, and his delectable girlfriend Terry Greco, the Bulletin's restaurant critic, providing welcome distractions and sustenance. The city is of course a major character--the Golden Gate Bridge, Treasure Island, various distinctive neighborhoods, all providing locales for important scenes. Armchair Interviews says: This light and amusing tale will keep you giggling and in suspense right up to the end.

fine serial killer tale that pays homage to Hitchcock

Without a second thought beyond the usual that the lunatics have found email, San Francisco Bulletin reviewer Carroll Quint deletes the message referencing the brutal stabbing of actor Montgomery Hines in his shower. He also tosses into the trash basket an email re the murder of screenwriter Charlie Reeder, whom Carroll found dead; the murder weapon being a leg of lamb. However, upon further reflection, Carroll reconsiders that both emails were from apparently the same person, Thanatos obviously named for the Greek god of death; and that the emails tie to Hitchcock movies. Carroll regrets tossing the two emails, but has mixed feelings about receiving a third. On the one hand, it might provide a clue to the Hitchcock killer while on the other another person isdead. He need not worry as Thanatos sends more emails with references to The 39 Steps and Frenzy while his mom advises him the killer is in plain sight like the midgets in Casablanca. The fun in this fine serial killer tale is with the homage to Hitchcock and the trouble with the law that Carroll is in as the police assume the reporter is the killer while also suspecting he stole a valuable necklace from arts patron Gineen Rosenberry. The whodunit takes a back seat to the Hitchcockian references that will remind the older readers of Vincent Price's Theatre of Blood yet the audience will enjoy Carroll's investigation to prove he committed no crimes other than perhaps some poor reviewing (I plead the fifth). Harriet Klausner