The Secret Life of Damian Spinelli & Sleeping Murder
My sixteenth book forljbookbingo is The Secret Life of Damian Spinelli by Carolyn Hennesy for the Bottom of your TBR pile square found here.
"Brusque Lady . . .
Please meet the Jackal at the bar in the Metro Court at 10:00 PM sharp. Although it is somewhat past my his bedtime, he must speak with you on a grave matter concerning many of your clientele. Do not fail me him.
Regards, The Jackal"
So begins an evening unlike any other in Port Charles. When high-powered attorney Diane Miller agrees to meet with computer hacker extraordinaire Damian Spinelli, otherwise known as The Jackal, she knows she's in for an interesting night. But the stories he has to tell about some of Port Charles's most famous, and infamous, inhabitants are beyond her wildest imagination. Could these tales possibly be true? Or is Spinelli using her for some other purpose? From the deck of the Smilin' Lila to the halls of General Hospital, from the Case of the Vamping Valkyrie to the Case of the Contrived Contralto, here are Spinelli's tales of intrigue, kidnapping, murder, and more. The office of Spinelli/McCall, P.I., has never been busier. Spinelli may be a gumshoe like no other, but he will save, defend, and protect the citizens of Port Charles until the bitter end! ~Amazon Book Description
This book was truly at the bottom of my to be read pile, in all honesty I am not sure I would've ever read it without the prompting of this square. I originally picked the book up for two reasons. 1. It was only a dollar and 2. It featured Damian Spinelli. I only watched soap operas for a couple of years but Damian was and since I don't watch them anymore probably always will be my favorite soap opera character. (I even read all the fanfic I can get my hands on that feature him as a protagonist because I still miss him)
This book was basically a great big mashup of soap opera characters and noir with Spinelli as Sam Spade.
One of the things that make it such an easy read is each chapter is its own case. It also definitely doesn’t take itself seriously, so read it and just enjoy how ridiculous it is, without trying to tie any one part to canon or even to reality for that matter. Also every character is an over the top rendition of themselves and the situations they get into are ludicrous even for a book based on a soap opera. Although I really do wish the book had been a group of real cases that Spinelli had worked on and then we could’ve had some real emotions and heart to the stories. Having said that I am glad I bought this book because I missed Spinelli something fierce.
Would I recommend this book? Probably not. Not unless you are an avid fan of General Hospital and of Spinelli in particular.
My seventeenth book for ljbookbingo is Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie for the Published the Year You Were Born square found here.
Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernize the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past. Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs.
In fear, Gwenda turned to Miss Marple to exorcise her ghosts. Between them, they were to solve a “perfect” crime committed many years before. ~Amazon Book Description
I really enjoyed this book. I have always loved Agatha Christie novels although I have read more Hercule Poirot than Miss Marple. The mystery was very intriguing and I found Miss Marple’s co-protagonists Gwenda & Giles to be very interesting. Miss Marple was her usual charming self. About 3/4 of the way through the novel I had a suspicion who the villain was and I turned out to be right. I was very delighted because that isn’t always the case in mystery novels. I highly recommend Miss Marple’s final mystery to all who want an engaging story to entertain themselves with.
This entry was originally posted at https://under-the-silk-tree.dreamwidth.org/43466.html
"Brusque Lady . . .
Please meet the Jackal at the bar in the Metro Court at 10:00 PM sharp. Although it is somewhat past my his bedtime, he must speak with you on a grave matter concerning many of your clientele. Do not fail me him.
Regards, The Jackal"
So begins an evening unlike any other in Port Charles. When high-powered attorney Diane Miller agrees to meet with computer hacker extraordinaire Damian Spinelli, otherwise known as The Jackal, she knows she's in for an interesting night. But the stories he has to tell about some of Port Charles's most famous, and infamous, inhabitants are beyond her wildest imagination. Could these tales possibly be true? Or is Spinelli using her for some other purpose? From the deck of the Smilin' Lila to the halls of General Hospital, from the Case of the Vamping Valkyrie to the Case of the Contrived Contralto, here are Spinelli's tales of intrigue, kidnapping, murder, and more. The office of Spinelli/McCall, P.I., has never been busier. Spinelli may be a gumshoe like no other, but he will save, defend, and protect the citizens of Port Charles until the bitter end! ~Amazon Book Description
This book was truly at the bottom of my to be read pile, in all honesty I am not sure I would've ever read it without the prompting of this square. I originally picked the book up for two reasons. 1. It was only a dollar and 2. It featured Damian Spinelli. I only watched soap operas for a couple of years but Damian was and since I don't watch them anymore probably always will be my favorite soap opera character. (I even read all the fanfic I can get my hands on that feature him as a protagonist because I still miss him)
This book was basically a great big mashup of soap opera characters and noir with Spinelli as Sam Spade.
One of the things that make it such an easy read is each chapter is its own case. It also definitely doesn’t take itself seriously, so read it and just enjoy how ridiculous it is, without trying to tie any one part to canon or even to reality for that matter. Also every character is an over the top rendition of themselves and the situations they get into are ludicrous even for a book based on a soap opera. Although I really do wish the book had been a group of real cases that Spinelli had worked on and then we could’ve had some real emotions and heart to the stories. Having said that I am glad I bought this book because I missed Spinelli something fierce.
Would I recommend this book? Probably not. Not unless you are an avid fan of General Hospital and of Spinelli in particular.
My seventeenth book for ljbookbingo is Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie for the Published the Year You Were Born square found here.
Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernize the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past. Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs.
In fear, Gwenda turned to Miss Marple to exorcise her ghosts. Between them, they were to solve a “perfect” crime committed many years before. ~Amazon Book Description
I really enjoyed this book. I have always loved Agatha Christie novels although I have read more Hercule Poirot than Miss Marple. The mystery was very intriguing and I found Miss Marple’s co-protagonists Gwenda & Giles to be very interesting. Miss Marple was her usual charming self. About 3/4 of the way through the novel I had a suspicion who the villain was and I turned out to be right. I was very delighted because that isn’t always the case in mystery novels. I highly recommend Miss Marple’s final mystery to all who want an engaging story to entertain themselves with.
This entry was originally posted at https://under-the-silk-tree.dreamwidth.org/43466.html