Rating: 
Summary: Fender Benders
Review: I threw the book away after I finished. Until this afternood I was a fan of mr. Fitzhugh's and have read all of his books. I can only guess that he found himself on page 300 and needed to finish the book as quickly as possible. He wasted so much of my time setting up things that never payed off and then says it's just one of lifes mysterys. It was just a weird coincidence. In my book that is bad writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Some of these reviews seem to me like life imitating art ...
Review: In Fender Benders, Eddie Long, a struggling young country artist creates a marketing campaign for his new single by creating alot of buzz over the Internet before the full single is released and before the country even knows who Long is. However, the buzz was artifically manufactured in that it was started by people Long had paid to rave on the Net about his new song. I bought this book for much the same reason that many people presumably Long's record--I was [pulled] in by the buzz (i.e. some of the Amazon reviews and others). However, whereas those who bought Long's record seemed to be well satisfied with it, I can't say the same for my own reaction. I found interesting the parts where Mr. Fitzhugh--who clearly seems to know his territory--almost steps outside the book and explains to the reader how the country music business works in terms of sales, promotion, publishing, etc. Those portions where he takes us inside the recording studio and recreates how a song is recorded were excellent as well. However, beyond that--i.e. as a novel--I had some big problems with the book. Not terrible, but certainly not great.First, except for the "po black fellas" and other secondary characters (such as Otis, Estella and Chester), virtually every main character is (or becomes) completely unappealing. We have Big Bill and Franklin who are weasely and dishonest, we have the conniving and despicable Megan, we have Jimmy and Jay who will do anything for a buck even if it may ruin others' lives, we have the gentle but hopelessly naive Whitney and finally Eddie himself. Though Eddie is the best of the bunch (which is damning with faint praise), he still lets stardom go to his head and becomes unappealing once in Megan's clutches. It seems that Mr. Fitzhugh dislikes everyone in Nashville. The second problem I had with the book was its predictability. That is, we are clued in very early on as to what kind of characters we are dealing with (especially in the case of Big Bill, Franklin and Megan) and we then spend the rest of the book watching them act true to form. For example, what happens with Whitney was utterly predictable. What Megan tries to do to Eddie is utterly predictable. When the author spells out what kind of people these people are, it should come as no surprise when they act in exactly the fashion we are are told they are going to. Finally (and read no further if you haven't read the book), with respect to the climactic scene, I was stunned at such an unabashed ripoff of "The Manchurian Candidate". All you have to do is substitute Raymond Shaw for Chester and everything else is the same. I'm not usually very good at figuring these endings out and I can be easily surprised, but I saw that ending coming from a mile away. In short, for learning a little about the music business, it's interesting, but as a novel, I just didn't care for it much.
Rating: 
Summary: Bent Fender
Review: See storyline above. When Bill Fitzhugh writes a book, you never know what you’re going to get. This time around he writes a somewhat scathing story of Nashville and the country music industry. It seems as though Fitzhugh’s novels are becoming progressively less funny (laugh out loud). They may be less funny but the stories are still fun to read. Even though this story has no laugh out loud parts it is dosed with some little humorous gems (Jimmy’s description of a Gulf Coast casino as feeling like he was in a Dukes of Hazard pinball machine). Fender Benders is an entertaining and eye opening look at the workings of the country music industry and will make you look at Nashville in a whole new light. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: It's not really a mystery but it is a lot of fun!
Review: This is my first Fitzhugh novel and it won't be my last.
I was expecting a murder mystery. It sure starts out that way with the gruesome poisoning death of a pick-up driving Cajun in Louisiana. But, the scene swiftly changes to an up-and-coming country music sensation and an up-and-coming writer and his beautiful radio station DJ girlfriend. Then, we're introduced to a couple of nearly down and out Nashville record producers and talent agents, Big Bill Herron and Franklin Peavey. The scene shifts to the crazy machinations of the Nashville recording industry (and the endless awards ceremonies -they are mentioned in passing, but new awards ceremonies with ever-more whacky titles and awards come up nearly
every chapter).
Somewhere along the way, amidst the glitz and confusion the original murder mystery re-surfaces, amdist another murder plot and criminal record deals.
Old grudges mix with new ones and after finishing this book this reader was left wondering how any of his favorite musicians in the real world live a halfway 'normal' life!
Fitzhugh's strength is building interesting characters. Some are developed very well and others are intentionally left as shadowy and mysterious. All are well done. The book was a hoot!
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