The Spellman Files

Lisa Lutz

1/23/2008

Izzy Spellman works for the family business - they're private detectives. The business is fairly routine. The Spellman family isn't. They spend a lot of their time spying on each other.

Izzy is 28 and lives in the apartment on the top floor of her family home and office. She was the trouble maker in the family until she finally started to get her act together at the age of 23 when her younger sister, Rae, started to imitate her. Their older brother David is a lawyer and out of the house, but still involved.

After Izzy's family scares off her newest boyfriend (ex-boyfriend #9), she decides it's time to leave the family business and take off on her own. But she is given one last case to follow up before her mother will give her the good reference she needs to hunt for another job. (Never mind she has never done anything but be a private detective since about age 14.) Then Rae disappears.

The Spellman Files is full of humor and fun. The Spellman family is in the vein of the Stephanie Plum novels although they know what they're doing and do it well - too well sometimes. Set in San Francisco, this novel gives a true look at the day to day business of most private detective agencies - background checks, record searches, waiting around when following someone, etc.

David can get pompous, Rae is a first class negotiator, Uncle Ray is always off on binges, and Mr. and Mrs. Spellman keep everything going and hanging together. Izzy is still the wild child, but under better control. She gets upset, though, when 14-year-old Rae starts hanging out in Izzy's favorite bar when she's unhappy. I'm looking forward to more from Lisa Lutz about the Spellmans.

You can find more about The Spellman Files at .

The Spellman Files
Curse of the Spellmans