Family Matters : An Ernest "Sparky" Hemingway Mystery (Ernest)

Rating:
Summary: I liked it-alot!
Review: I read the other review and couldn't disagree more. First of all, this is a sequel-read Home Front first! You could just pick this book up and read it, but you know more about the characters if you read the first one. Also, it is a small-town plot that takes place in a small-town. If you are looking for non-stop action/explosions etc-it's probably not for you. On the other hand, I never wanted to put it down-and I picked it back up as soon as I could until I finished it.

This book is about small time life and the importance of friends/family. The main character is a loveable old codger that mostly wants to be left alone but things keep cropping up that interfere with his simple life.

I sure as heck hope there is another sequel in the works, because I like these people so much. It leaves you with a "homey" feeling and makes you want more.

Rating:
Summary: Convoluted & Contrived
Review: I read this book based on a short review in a library publication. I ended up getting more irritated as I muddled through it. Little things, like the main character has a dog named Snake and an old friend, also named Snake. There's a character named Thompsen as well as a nearby town of the same name. The main character is an Ernest Hemingway, and he has a friend named Doc Holliday.... oh please.

But it's the plot that was maddening. Hardwood (where Hemingway lives) and Thompsen (or "Thompson" as it was misprinted early on) are competing to attract a new trauma center. To create bad publicity for one of the towns, there's a plot to accuse Hemingway of feloniously impersonating a police officer. To get him off the hook and to make an impression on the decision-makers, his town's leaders concoct a scheme to make him the police chief, thus avoiding prosecution and having a more mature man as chief. Endless pages are devoted to this. There's a side plot involving his foster daughter that doesn't help.

There's also a lot of obsessing about little things: the displaced chief's attitude towards Hemingway; Hemingway's work as a copy editor; and from the "beating a dead horse" school, how to keep a cop from Thompsen from getting into trouble for being outside his jurisdiction. Once again, they make a big deal of this and swear the cop in as a Hardwood officer. Gee, does this sound familiar?

All in all, a very disappointing book.