Louise Dewar
This is a delightful, feel-good page turner. The book jacket describes it as a “funny mystery novel”. It’s not even in the mystery ballpark, but it is funny. You can’t help but adore the hero, Eddie Perlmutter. He’s an ex cop from Boston who retires to Boca Raton – which rhymes with “tone”. He’s sixty; suffering from arthritic knees and hands, but that hasn’t seemed to have affected his “Mr. Johnson”.
His first “retired” job is a security position in a swish golf country club where he is surrounded by “I usetabes” – I used to be a doctor, I used to be a lawyer. After undiplomatically solving a petty golf tournament dispute, he quits and becomes a private detective. He’s popular with the Boca police force; with the kids in is boxing class and with the ladies. He really believes in “live the life you choose in peace” and I’m sure author, Steven Forman, does too.
The book cover also makes references that his fast paced prose is like Philip Roth, Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen; I don’t agree. Forman has his own voice, moral code, backed by hysterically funny dialogue. I not sure how Philip Roth made it into that author mix. However, Eddie Perlmutter is one hell of a man; you’d want him on your side and quite possibly in other places too.
