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Nov 13, 2009

Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) rated it:

Court ordered therapy is the least of Isabel's worries in this third installment in the Spellman saga. Having a car that keeps going MIA, a secret home as well as the looming decision of what to do with her life all compound to make Izzy's life very busy. Isabel has left her job at Spellman Investigations only to have Milo, her current employer and owner of The Philosopher's Club, attempt to force her back into what she's good at by offering her a case and then promptly firing her so that she'll More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2009

Lisa rated it:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. What a wonderful romp it is. I found it to be a great mood elevator. I’ve never read any books quite like Lisa Lutz’s; they’re unique.

Oh, how I adore this family. Oh, how Lisa Lutz makes me laugh. I’ve laughed out loud too many times to count while reading this book and also while reading the previous two in the series: The Spellman Files (book 1) and Curse of the Spellmans (book 2) and this third book really deepened the series and was just as hilario More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Mar 30, 2009

Jan rated it:

Lisa Lutz makes me laugh. Out loud. She is one of the most clever writers I know of, and her characters, who are part of a crazy family who are all part of their own private investigator business, are so much fun! But it's her copious footnotes that are truly hysterical! I'd recommend this series of books (the first two are now out in paperback) to anyone who could use a good laugh!

5 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 24, 2009

Jen rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2011

Anna rated it:

These books are a hoot. This is the third book in the Spellman Files and continues the saga of a dysfunctional family of private investigators. I enjoyed every page and didn't want to put it down. I like how Lutz tells her stories, the books are in an interesting format... I love how its like we're reading a case file.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 04, 2009

Bill rated it:

This third in the Spellman series made me laugh at times, and the many plot lines kept me interested throughout, but it comes nowhere near the hilarity of the first book, The Spellman Files. One thing that annoys me a bit about the 2 subsequent books is the constant references to the preceding books via footnotes (e.g. see previous document, The Spellman Files, now available in paperback.) Shameless marketing. Overall, though, as I said before, the plot still holds up and the characters are all More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 25, 2009

Marlyn rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 10, 2009

Leslie rated it:

Somewhere, Janet Evanovich is planning a hit on Lisa Lutz. The Spellman series just gets better, with some expected and unexpected character developments. Funny enough to make you snort your bourbon and Diet Coke out your nose, the Spellman books keep you intrigued equally with the "mysteries" and her characters. Can't wait for a fourth - here's hoping the movie in development doesn't spoil the books for new fans.

Read-alikes would be the aforementioned Evanovich, p More...

5 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2009

David rated it:

The writings of Ms Lutz (am I allowed to use Ms) is like a scab you keep picking at - I don't really like the the wrilting but I can not put her books down. The characters are delightfully bizarre except for Isabel that I just want to slap and say as one of the minor characters did, "Izzy, you have to grow up sometime."

The plots and sub-plots verge on drug induced. The 1000's footnotes drive drive me crazy but I would not miss reading one.

The family life de More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 08, 2009

Becky rated it:

Can I tell you how much I adore this series??? I want to be Isabel Spellman, crappy life and all. She's smart, screwed up, and entirely convincing as a character. While I still think that Curse of the Spellmans is my favorite of the series so far, this one was on par with the first book. Suggested for anyone who loves their mystery with a high snark level. The new Irish Bartender doesn't hurt either...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 31, 2009

Susan rated it:

Isabelle Spellman has problems--she hates her apartment, her boss is cutting her bar-tending hours, and her know-no-boundaries parents insist that she come back to work for the family private investigation business. On top of that, she's still involved in court-ordered therapy, the man she thinks she loves has a new girlfriend who isn't Izzy, and she's starting to obsess about the little investigative chore she's taken to oblige her boss's friend. Another enjoyable read fro Lutz.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 23, 2009

Jackie rated it:

The always zany Spellman family are up to shenanigans again. Izzy is secretly living in her brother's basement and deciding if she should go back in to the family business. And what's up with her brother anyway? He was gone for weeks and now doesn't seem to have a job.
Little sister Rae is driving her friend Henry (45 year old man-really better suited for Izzy) crazy with her interference. Lots of witty banter but the footnotes are getting a little annoying and the plot became confusing at More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 31, 2009

Bayneeta rated it:

Okay, the plot is thin, but the smart-talking Izzy and her eccentric family of private eyes continue to appeal to me. A light, fun read. The footnotes (particularly the ones hyping her earlier books) started to wear a little thin. I suggest reading them in order starting with The Spellman Files and Curse of the Spellmans.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 25, 2009

Jon rated it:

I love these Spellman books...they're quickly paced, they're witty, they have creative plot structures and they are fiction that employ footnotes. What's not to love? They're also a series of books that keeps improving with each new entry. I always look forward to the next installment.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2009

Barbara rated it:

If you are in the mood for light reading, pick this one up. In the vein of Janet Evanovich. The Spellman series is good for a quiet afternoon where you just want to escape.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

Brenda rated it:

The third installment in The Spellmans series is the best so far. Isabel, in having to do some growing up, has become a more complex character, primarily be becoming a little less self-involved, but she is still hilarious, and she will never, thank heaven, be completely reformed. Her older, perfect, lawyer brother is perhaps even becoming more like Isabel.

The segments of Isabel with her court appointed therapists are very funny and good lessons in how to evade meaningful answers to More...

0 comments like

Nov 05, 2011

John rated it:

If there were a magic "2.5" button, I'd use it for this one, but after due consideration, I'll err on the side of generosity.

The audio narration affected my impression of the book to a significant extent; but first, I'll go into the story itself - weak, but served as a place holder for the next one. This is a series where one must read the books in order, otherwise the characters would be nearly impossible to follow. Izzy, the first-person narrator of the series, came across More...

0 comments like

Oct 13, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

You can also read this review at Reflections on Reading Romance

One of the reasons I enjoy Goodreads’ First Reads program is that I can enter contests to win books I normally wouldn’t pick up, thus discovering new authors in different genres. Sometimes this backfires (see my review of The Medusa Amulet), but since I spent last night laughing like a hyena and scaring the dog, I think we can safely say my plan worked out great with Lisa Lutz’s Revenge of the Spellmans. This book More...

0 comments like

Aug 25, 2011

Lighthearted rated it:

Therapy is off to a rough start for San Francisco P.I. Izzy Spellman: she doesn’t want to talk about her plans for the future, her current living arrangements, the fact that someone is blackmailing her, or the fact that the man she loves is getting serious with another woman. Truth be told, Izzy doesn’t want to talk to a therapist at all but she doesn’t have a choice: the therapy sessions are court-mandated.

Izzy may not want to talk but she still has questions. Her brother David is More...

0 comments like

Feb 13, 2011

Paul rated it:

Isabel Spellman is back and better than ever. For those of you who have not heard of the Spellmans, they are a family of private investigators. They are not your normal PI's in that they spend more time spying on each other than they do other people.

This is the third in a series, the first book, or document as Lisa Lutz perfers, was "The Spellman Files", and the second was "The Curse of the Spellmans". The books do not have to be read in order, but would certai More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 15, 2010

Shaun rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Sep 12, 2009

Judy rated it:

I am totally in love with this series of books. The first one I picked up on a whim at the library, the second one I sought out, and I couldn't wait to read this one. The books are supposed to be mysteries, but any mystery involved is secondary to the mystery of how this family continues to function as a unit. The Spellman's operate a investigation firm, Spellman, Inc., and they enlist every possible family member into the firm. Isabel, who tells the stories, began to work and receive a payc More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 07, 2009

Christy rated it:

Private investigator Isabel Spellman quit her job with her family’s detective business and is working part-time as a bartender at her friend Milo’s bar while trying to decide what to do next. She’s also been through one block of court-ordered therapy and has been passed by that therapist on to another. Milo persuades Isabel to take on a relatively simple case for one of his friends, whose wife is acting mysterious and bringing home expensive items. Meanwhile, Isabel’s brother David returns from More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 29, 2009

Agathafrye rated it:

The Spellman family runs a detective agency. Son David got out while young and is a lawyer, daughter Izzy is rebelling against her true calling and tending bar while unsuccessfully attempting to take a break from investigations and family drama. Youngest daughter Rae has moved into her teen years, and her cute and precocious childhood personality has now become annoying and manipulative. This family actually reminds me a little of my own, but with more spying and hiding. Apparently this is t More...

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Jun 12, 2009

Rhonda rated it:

In San Francisco the court orders out of control private investigator Isabel "Izzy" Spellman to attend therapy sessions; she spends her meetings tap dancing around the psychologist. Meanwhile her parents plead with their middle child to return to the family private investigative firm; they warn her that without her they will probably sell their company. Izzy considers their blackmail while hiding from them and others in her older brother David's apartment at the time he has simply vani More...

0 comments like

Jun 09, 2009

Scott rated it:

This is the third book by Lisa Lutz in the Spellman Mysteries. And it isn't the best, see Curse of the Spellmans for that. Of course, the "mysteries" in the other two are never quite as suspensful or interesting as in this one. This one actually has a pretty good mystery (SPOILER) Why is the wife keeping her marriage, or lack thereof, a secret from her husband? Dun Dun Dun. Ok, that isn't a huge spoiler.

The fault I have with this book, is it just isn't as quirky or hilario More...

0 comments like

Jun 09, 2009

Ann rated it:

The third in the Spellman series, I have read all three books and looked forward to both sequels. They are, to be honest, good old-fashioned mindless entertainment, which when one is trying to plow through the Great Books list and is permanently stuck in Ancient Greek is a welcome respite. The main character, Isabelle, is a sharp, sarcastic anti-heroine who says all the things to her smothering, overbearing family I wish I could say to mine. Their interplay is eccentric enough to be hysterica More...

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Jan 09, 2012

Jennifer rated it:

The Good Stuff

* Once again Lutz has written a hilarious tale of the wacky Isabelle Spellman and her truly unique (read dysfunctional) family
* Some sweet and sad moments which are nicely written (and not schmaltzy)
* Third book in a series and I still enjoy this twisted family and their unusual capers
* Nice slow character development - realistic as in people just don't change their ways, even though they really should (in other words not all neat and tid More...

0 comments like

Mar 24, 2009

Sara rated it:

The antics of the Spellmans are still antic but this book has a more serious tone. The humor drew me in but its Isabel's struggle to be true to herself that stays with me.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 14, 2009

Margee rated it:

So I'm gutless--this should probably have all 5 stars, if just owing to the pace at which I spun through it. Lutz is amazingly funny and readable, and I like how she juggles several plots on descending rungs of importance, if I'm allowed to mix a couple of metaphors.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

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