Die Laughing

Rating:
Summary: My first Steve Allen book and I'm looking forward to more!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery. I had no idea that Steve Allen wrote this type of book. It was a page turner and I stayed up until it was done. There were many chuckles and it was great that Jayne gets involved in the story. Highly recommend it as a light mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Steve Allen Delights Again As A Real Sleuth
Review: Steve Allen is an extraordinary man. His achievements in television comedy, educational tv, and songwriting have made him a hou sehold name and presence to millions. His mystery series, the latest being "Die Laughing", revolve around himself,or at least the conceit that the real Steverino, his wife Jayne Meadows and other real people are involved in solving murders which just happen to take place when he's around. In "Die Laughing", Steve is called to the bedside of a dying comic great who makes Steve promise to emcee a one-time awards ceremony with the "funniest Person Alive" to receive $1 million to be paid from the dying comedian's estate. The elderly comic dies and before a few pages have passed several famous comedians are found stabbed to death . All the knives used turn out to have come from an expensive set of cutlery given to the now dead comic great by,surprise, Mr. and Mrs. Steve Allen many years earlier. The denouement, as in all Allen's novels turns out to be both complicated and fascinating. The charm of this and the other books is not really the mystery. It's Steve's comments on society and culture,fame,politics,food and just about anything else that gets into the story.

Having been a Steve Allen fan for many years, I find these mysteries a charming way to meet Mr. and Mrs. Allen and share some time with them and their friends, if only on the printed page. "Die Laughing" and all the other mysteries are fun to read and well above the ordinary.

Rating:
Summary: A highly entertaining book
Review: The story of a joke that backfired. I appreciated this book which contains elements of a murder mystery interspersed with humour that brought a smile to my face, literally right up to the last page.