A Farewell to Legs: An Aaron Tucker Mystery (Aaron Tucker Mysteries, 2)

Rating:
Summary: Fun and funny
Review: A Farewell to Legs is a delightful book, both fun and funny. The plot has just enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, with a surprising and satisfying conclusion. Of course, there's lots of humor along the way. What I like best about this series is the strong relationship between Aaron and his wife Abby. Throw in two interesting kids and an accident-prone dog, and what comes out is a family that the reader wants to spend time with and get to know even better. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: sleeper series of the year!
Review: A friend handed me Jeffrey Cohen's "For Whom the Minivan Rolls" and "A Farewell to Legs," telling me they were the sleeper mystery series of the year. I agree! These books are even more of an enjoyable read than Janet Evanovich's series because the humor never lets up! Cohen is a masterful writer.

Bob Pailet, Denver

Rating:
Summary: sleeper series of the year!
Review: A friend handed me Jeffrey Cohen's "For Whom the Minivan Rolls" and "A Farewell to Legs," telling me they were the sleeper mystery series of the year. I agree! These books are even more of an enjoyable read than Janet Evanovich's series because the humor never lets up! Cohen is a masterful writer.

Bob Pailet, Denver

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, but Needed Time for One Last Edit
Review: Aaron Tucker is reuniting with people at his 25th high school reunion, including Stephanie, who can still make men drool with her drop dead gorgeous looks. But part way through the party, she gets a call that her husband, conservative political activist Louis Gibson, has been murdered in his current mistress's apartment. Stephanie insists that Aaron investigate, even getting him a lucrative article deal with a high profile magazine if he does so. But Aaron hardly knows where to start.

Meanwhile, the principal of his kids' school has come to him for help. Someone has set off three stink bombs, and the parents are putting pressure on her to find the culprit. Only problem is, she has no clue where to start. As if that weren't enough, the Tuckers are also experiencing the joys of pet ownership. There's certainly never a dull moment in Aaron's life. But can he juggle it all and solve the mysteries?

There's certainly never a dull moment in the book either. Narrated first person with plenty of sarcasm and puns, I grinned, chuckled, and laughed my way through the entire book. You can't help but fall in love with the Tuckers. They are a wonderful, warm family who face life with a twinkle in their eye. The relationship between Aaron and his wife Abby is especially enjoyable. The plot starts a little slow, but gains speed the further you go in the book and has a few nice surprises before you reach the end. Being a conservative, I was a little put out by the "Liberal good, conservative bad" characterizations that popped up every so often, but I was able to shrug that off.

My real problem with the book was the timeline. Entire days seemed to drop off the face of the earth with no explanation. Characters agree to meet one day, then meet another and act like it's what the plans were all along. I kept flipping back in the book to make sure I hadn't missed something. It doesn't affect the plot, but it sure is annoying. A final edit for these things and a few paragraphs scattered throughout to fill in missing time would have fix the problem.

With that issue in mind, this is still an enjoyable book anyone will love. I will certainly be spending more time with Aaron and his family and friends.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, but Needed Time for One Last Edit
Review: Aaron Tucker is reuniting with people at his 25th high school reunion, including Stephanie, who can still make men drool with her drop dead gorgeous looks. But part way through the party, she gets a call that her husband, conservative political activist Louis Gibson, has been murdered in his current mistress's apartment. Stephanie insists that Aaron investigate, even getting him a lucrative article deal with a high profile magazine if he does so. But Aaron hardly knows where to start.

Meanwhile, the principal of his kids' school has come to him for help. Someone has set off three stink bombs, and the parents are putting pressure on her to find the culprit. Only problem is, she has no clue where to start. As if that weren't enough, the Tuckers are also experiencing the joys of pet ownership. There's certainly never a dull moment in Aaron's life. But can he juggle it all and solve the mysteries?

There's certainly never a dull moment in the book either. Narrated first person with plenty of sarcasm and puns, I grinned, chuckled, and laughed my way through the entire book. You can't help but fall in love with the Tuckers. They are a wonderful, warm family who face life with a twinkle in their eye. The relationship between Aaron and his wife Abby is especially enjoyable. The plot starts a little slow, but gains speed the further you go in the book and has a few nice surprises before you reach the end. Being a conservative, I was a little put out by the "Liberal good, conservative bad" characterizations that popped up every so often, but I was able to shrug that off.

My real problem with the book was the timeline. Entire days seemed to drop off the face of the earth with no explanation. Characters agree to meet one day, then meet another and act like it's what the plans were all along. I kept flipping back in the book to make sure I hadn't missed something. It doesn't affect the plot, but it sure is annoying. A final edit for these things and a few paragraphs scattered throughout to fill in missing time would have fix the problem.

With that issue in mind, this is still an enjoyable book anyone will love. I will certainly be spending more time with Aaron and his family and friends.

Rating:
Summary: Funny without missing a beat
Review: Like his protagonist, Aaron Tucker, Jeffrey Cohen has a "photographic ear" and eye for people and their quirks. This book is funny from front to back, without missing a beat.

Aaron Tucker is a happily married freelance reporter with something of a reputation for solving murders. The object of Aaron's teenage unrequited lust -- still a dish after 25 years -- asks him to investigate the murder of her husband. Known to Aaron and his buddies as Crazy Legs, the victim was a philandering and much-despised Washington lobbyist.

Snapdragon, a magazine that's "tired of being thought of as Rolling Stone's slow-witted cousin" offers to pay Aaron ten grand for a story on the murder. It's too good to pass up, even though he doesn't have a clue. He's watching the funeral on TV like everyone else.

Meantime, his daughter wants a pet lizard, someone is stalking his gorgeous wife, he's getting ominous phone calls, and the principal at Buzbee School wants him to find out who threw stink bombs into the girls' locker room, the boys' bathroom, and the gym.

Here's Cohen's description of the gym teacher: "Hester, the prototype for all gym teachers, was roughly 400 years old, and could still put me through a cinder block wall if the spirit moved her. She stood about six-foot-three, had triceps Arnold Schwarzenegger would find intimidating, and spoke in a voice high enough to qualify as a dog whistle."

The gym teacher I remember was short, wiry, and limber enough to be folded into a duffel bag, but Hester sounds familiar. That's the thing about the characters who make this story so funny -- either you know someone just like them, or you think you do.

I thought I had the murder mystery figured out. When Cohen sprung his surprise, I said, "Aw, gee," put the book down, and started laughing again. Then I got my can of deluxe mixed nuts out of the cupboard and finished reading the last few pages. Highly recommended!

-- Pat Browning, author of Full Circle, a Penny Mackenzie mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Fun and funny
Review: What does a lizard, a stink bomb and a blonde `blast from the past' have in common? They're all part of a typical day in the life of freelance writer Aaron Tucker. Tucker and his best buddy Mahoney head back to school for their 25th reunion, when Tucker comes face to face with his high school `crush' Stephanie Jacobs (who still happens to be in possession of her unbelievable body). Stephanie, it seems, has done very well for herself marrying Louis "Legs" Gibson, the head of a big political foundation called People for American Values. During the reunion Stephanie finds she's just become a widow and enlists Aaron's aid to help her track down her husband's murderer, luring him in with the promise of big bucks to do the story for a major magazine.

Ever the news hound (aka `needing the money'), Tucker reluctantly accepts the job and with his sidekick, Mahoney, becomes embroiled in murder, mayhem and stink bombs most foul. While the police believe that the murder of the adulterous "Legs" was a crime of passion, Stephanie points out "you can't have a crime of passion, if you don't have the passion."

Mysterious, threatening phone calls and a rock hurled through his front window have Tucker realizing he's getting closer to exposing...the stink bomber? No! The real murderer! And just where did that lizard go?!
A Farewell to Legs is total entertainment. A fast-paced and forward-moving story with witty dialog and three-dimensional characters, Jeffrey Cohen's Aaron Tucker is a happily married, lovable, family man and concerned citizen trying to deal with the issues that face all parents and wage earners while trying to beat a deadline and face their mid-life crisis head on. Cohen's characters and dialog are so real, you'll feel like you're spending the day with old friends--after getting past your first encounter with the sleazy "Legs" Gibson, that is.

The ending wraps up nice and neat with a twist you won't see coming and I was still laughing, long after Tucker solved the crime.
--Small Press Review

Rating:
Summary: jocular amateur sleuth
Review: When he attended Bloomfield High School Aaron Tucker did not fit in any of the accepted groups. He therefore cannot understand why he is going to attend the twenty-fifth anniversary reunion bash though his pal from those days think it is because he still has the hots for Stephanie Jacobs. Aaron is in denial as he is happily married to Abby the attorney.

Stephanie is as sexy as ever as she swivels her hips and puts on her Marilyn Monroe Academy Award smile. She says to Aaron that she heard he solves mysteries so would he look into the murder of her powerful DC lobbyist husband as the police believe she killed him over his extramarital affairs. Feeling like a time traveler back to his teen years when the school's sex siren gave him a hickey that was his only claim to fame and knowing that he is a writer Aaron fumblingly agrees. Soon he finds he is under assault to butt out or face the consequences, but he refuses and even expands his inquiries when side threats target his wife and a friend.

The sequel to the amusing FOR WHOM THE MINIVAN ROLLS, A FAREWELL TO ARMS, is as humorous as the first tale as the story line never takes itself seriously. The fine investigation is filled with twists and a few sidebar inquiries though all that jocularity takes away from the main mystery. Aaron remains a delight and the regulars add depth to his personality, but in this story sexy Stephanie provides the added oomph for a fun time for fans of jocular amateur sleuth tales.

Harriet Klausner