Another crack-me-up adventure for Archie McNally, Palm Beach's man-about-town and bon-vivant charmer. Son of the staid Prescott McNally Esq., Archy does discreet inquiries for the pater's firm, McNally and Son. This time a grumpy rich man's cat, Peaches, has been catnapped and is being held for ransom. Archie, between romancing several woman simultaneously and tootling about town in his red miata, has also been asked to look into death threats to the local poet's wealthy wife. Several similarities between the notes lead Archie in quite a few directions, most of them involving women,crazy antics, hysterical dialogue with even a medium and a seance.
I love the Archie McNally series just because Archy is such a character filled with wit, joie-de-vivre and whose love of sartorial splendor is evident. The interactions between Archy and his Dickens- reading, wing-tip wearing, ever-so-correct father just make me laugh out loud. The cases are usually quirky but Archy manages to solve them in his own inimical, round-about way with a little help from his pal, Sargeant Al Rogoff.
The series was started by Lawrence Sanders and finished by Vincent Lardo with nary a variation from the original. Lardo managed to get Archy down to perfection. Any reader would be hard pressed to know where Sanders left off and Lardo picked up. Some of the characterizations and scenarios could be termed cliched and over the top but still the series is always a fun read. 4****
Disclosure: This book is from my personal library and was purchased by me.
Sounds like a series I need to try!
ReplyDeleteIf its fun its good. Certainly better than boring and not finishing it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun one. And that is interesting that it could be started by one writer and finished by another and you don't even really know it.
ReplyDeleteI read a ton of these about 20 years ago...I love Archie and his plasma transfusions...AKA alcohol!!
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