Remember Megan’s Recommended Reading?
No?
Me neither. At least, I’m claiming amnesia. It seems like the most acceptable/plausible explanation for why I have somewhat faltered in posting about books I love.
Thankfully, I have recovered. Cue sweeping music. Or crickets.
So today I am recommending Lisa Lutz’s Spellman series.
The Spellman Files is the first.
Feel no obligation to read them in order. It’s just something I must do.
If I read a series out of order I start feeling all squirmy inside. But that’s my issue.
The Spellman Files follows a PI family from the perspective of the older daughter. The main pluses to growing up with professional investigators for parents include the ability to tail people, pick locks, and tap phones, though that doesn’t make up for the minuses, in that the people you are supposed to trust most will constantly use their detective skills to spy on you.
I bought the book expecting a mystery. There is certainly something mysterious going on in the Spellman household, but the main focus of the book is on the family drama. While The Spellman Files was not what I was expecting, I found it enjoyable. Certainly enjoyable enough to purchase the next book in the series…
First I was going to pick the sale sticker off the front cover, but then I realized keeping it was more truthful.
If you’re going to read a lot of books, then it’s important to be cheap. That is, if you’re like me and are too lazy to stick to a library’s timetable.
Though I’d already read The Spellman Files, I kept expecting Curse of the Spellmans to change the story dynamics, and focus on a mystery. And when the oldest daughter becomes convinced their new neighbor is a serial killer, the mystery certainly permeates the novel. Yet, again the focus is not on events outside the home, even those right next door, but rather on what’s going on with the Spellman family.
Price Sticker Aside: I actually found this book at McKay’s, my local fabulous used bookstore. Used bookstores are quite hit-and-miss when it comes to getting specific authors, with an emphasis on miss, so this find was very exciting. It also explains why I made an exception to my used bookstore price limit. I mean, $7 dollars? That’s hefty.
I wasn’t joking about being cheap.
Revenge of the Spellmans is the third in Lisa Lutz’s Spellman series, and I can assure you that if you’ve read the first two and fallen in love with this dysfunctional family, it will not disappoint.
Stay tuned for the next edition of Megan’s Recommended Reading: Memoirs, it’ll make you feel like your own life is terribly drab and boring.
The Spellmans
