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Lew Fonesca #2
Retribution
Stuart M. Kaminsky, the veteran author of more than forty novels and the creator of such wonderful characters as Abe Lieberman, Toby Peters, and Inpsector Rostnikov, has created a new PI: Lew Fonesca, a world-weary guy who got in a car and just started driving after his wife died and wound up in front of a Dairy Queen in Sarasota, Florida.
He now makes his way amid bail jumpers and lost wives, people who want to be found and those who will do anything to stay under their rock. He spends his days solving cases both big and small and trying to get by, while attempting to figure out how to make the rest of his life make sense.
Retribution not only picks up where the first novel in the series, Vengeance, left off, but raises the bar big-time. Lew has solved his share of cases, and most of them-to his pride-have wound up having happy endings; in Vengeance, he saved a young runaway who has had a childhood nobody should ever have, and she finally seems to be turning her life around. But when she becomes involved with a reclusive best selling author and several valuable manuscripts disappear, Lew knows that young Melanie is in way over her head. And if he doesn't act fast, not only could a few reputations get tarnished--the bodies might start piling up.
He now makes his way amid bail jumpers and lost wives, people who want to be found and those who will do anything to stay under their rock. He spends his days solving cases both big and small and trying to get by, while attempting to figure out how to make the rest of his life make sense.
Retribution not only picks up where the first novel in the series, Vengeance, left off, but raises the bar big-time. Lew has solved his share of cases, and most of them-to his pride-have wound up having happy endings; in Vengeance, he saved a young runaway who has had a childhood nobody should ever have, and she finally seems to be turning her life around. But when she becomes involved with a reclusive best selling author and several valuable manuscripts disappear, Lew knows that young Melanie is in way over her head. And if he doesn't act fast, not only could a few reputations get tarnished--the bodies might start piling up.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 14, 2001
26 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Stuart M. Kaminsky
160 books215 followersStuart M. Kaminsky wrote 50 published novels, 5 biographies, 4 textbooks and 35 short stories. He also has screenwriting credits on four produced films including ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, ENEMY TERRITORY, A WOMAN IN THE WIND and HIDDEN FEARS. He was a past president of the Mystery Writers of America and was nominated for six prestigious Edgar Allen Poe Awards including one for his short story “Snow” in 1999. He won an Edgar for his novel A COLD RED SUNRISE, which was also awarded the Prix De Roman D’Aventure of France. He was nominated for both a Shamus Award and a McCavity Readers Choice Award.
Kaminsky wrote several popular series including those featuring Lew Fonesca, Abraham Lieberman, Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, and Toby Peters. He also wrote two original "Rockford Files " novels. He was the 50th annual recipient of the Grandmaster 2006 for Lifetime Achievement from the Mystery Writers of America.
Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievement award) in 2007.
His nonfiction books including BASIC FILMMAKING, WRITING FOR TELEVISION, AMERICAN FILM GENRES, and biographies of GARY COOPER, CLINT EASTWOOD, JOHN HUSTON and DON SIEGEL. BEHIND THE MYSTERY was published by Hot House Press in 2005 and nominated by Mystery Writers of America for Best Critical/Biographical book in 2006.
Kaminsky held a B.S. in Journalism and an M.A. in English from The University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Speech from Northwestern University where he taught for 16 years before becoming a Professor at Florida State. where he headed the Graduate Conservatory in Film and Television Production. He left Florida State in 1994 to pursue full-time writing.
Kaminsky and his wife, Enid Perll, moved to St. Louis, Missouri in March 2009 to await a liver transplant to treat the hepatitis he contracted as an army medic in the late 1950s in France. He suffered a stroke two days after their arrival in St. Louis, which made him ineligible for a transplant. He died on October 9, 2009.
Kaminsky wrote several popular series including those featuring Lew Fonesca, Abraham Lieberman, Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, and Toby Peters. He also wrote two original "Rockford Files " novels. He was the 50th annual recipient of the Grandmaster 2006 for Lifetime Achievement from the Mystery Writers of America.
Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievement award) in 2007.
His nonfiction books including BASIC FILMMAKING, WRITING FOR TELEVISION, AMERICAN FILM GENRES, and biographies of GARY COOPER, CLINT EASTWOOD, JOHN HUSTON and DON SIEGEL. BEHIND THE MYSTERY was published by Hot House Press in 2005 and nominated by Mystery Writers of America for Best Critical/Biographical book in 2006.
Kaminsky held a B.S. in Journalism and an M.A. in English from The University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Speech from Northwestern University where he taught for 16 years before becoming a Professor at Florida State. where he headed the Graduate Conservatory in Film and Television Production. He left Florida State in 1994 to pursue full-time writing.
Kaminsky and his wife, Enid Perll, moved to St. Louis, Missouri in March 2009 to await a liver transplant to treat the hepatitis he contracted as an army medic in the late 1950s in France. He suffered a stroke two days after their arrival in St. Louis, which made him ineligible for a transplant. He died on October 9, 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
July 6, 2018
This is the first of Kaminsky's books set in the USA which I've encountered. I'm a huge fan of his Rostnikov novels, but hadn't tried any of his others.
Turned out to be excellent. A tightly plotted PI investigation with plenty of soul and solid characterisation. Far less flabby than most modern blockbusters, with an intriguing protagonist and a satisfying story.
Definitely won't be my last encounter with Lew Fonesca, and it's encouraged me to try more of Kaminsky's American crime titles.
Recommended if you like John D MacDonald, Lwrence Block, Robert B Parker, etc.
8/10
Turned out to be excellent. A tightly plotted PI investigation with plenty of soul and solid characterisation. Far less flabby than most modern blockbusters, with an intriguing protagonist and a satisfying story.
Definitely won't be my last encounter with Lew Fonesca, and it's encouraged me to try more of Kaminsky's American crime titles.
Recommended if you like John D MacDonald, Lwrence Block, Robert B Parker, etc.
8/10
July 19, 2021
Words I thought I'd never write: "I'm beginning to enjoy this series of mysteries about a process server". Yet here I am, growing in my admiration for the long-suffering hero of Stuart Kaminsky's series, Lew Fonesca. You see, Lew ran away from his Chicago past when his wife died in a car accident, landing in Sarasota and living a sort of hand-to-mouth existence serving paper for a local law firm. What he's really good at is finding people who don't want to be found, drawing on his experience as a researcher in the Cook County States Attorney's office. Word gets around and his skills are in demand, whether he likes it or not.
In 'Retribution', Fonesca finds himself with 2 people who are missing. Initially, he's approached by a local somewhat mentally challenged individual who needs, in the worst way, to find his sister who he hasn't had any communication with for years. The man can't pay much and won't say why he needs to find her, but Lew reluctantly accepts the challenge and begins what he thinks will be an unproductive search. Then, much closer to home, the young lady who he located in the initial installment of the series and moved into a friend's home is missing. The girl has absconded with the unpublished novels and writings of a famous reclusive writer, with whom she had been working closely with in a mentoring relationship. Lew, of course, wants to do everything possible to find her, with the added incentive that the famed author will pay big bucks for locating the manuscripts. He enlists his friend Ames, a character who sounds a bit like the Marlboro man but with better firepower, to help. Both investigations get more and more curious as Lew and Ames make progress but people close to the investigation of the young lady and the missing manuscripts begin to find themselves dead. Although Lew and Ames eventually succeed in finding both, I wouldn't consider the conclusions to either very satisfying.
Retribution is a nice little mystery with decent straightforward writing, a rather boring yet competent main character, and a collection of secondary characters that are more interesting than the protagonist. Fonesca may be trying to get away from his past, but he has a set of tools that'll at least keep him fed on his DQ diet.
In 'Retribution', Fonesca finds himself with 2 people who are missing. Initially, he's approached by a local somewhat mentally challenged individual who needs, in the worst way, to find his sister who he hasn't had any communication with for years. The man can't pay much and won't say why he needs to find her, but Lew reluctantly accepts the challenge and begins what he thinks will be an unproductive search. Then, much closer to home, the young lady who he located in the initial installment of the series and moved into a friend's home is missing. The girl has absconded with the unpublished novels and writings of a famous reclusive writer, with whom she had been working closely with in a mentoring relationship. Lew, of course, wants to do everything possible to find her, with the added incentive that the famed author will pay big bucks for locating the manuscripts. He enlists his friend Ames, a character who sounds a bit like the Marlboro man but with better firepower, to help. Both investigations get more and more curious as Lew and Ames make progress but people close to the investigation of the young lady and the missing manuscripts begin to find themselves dead. Although Lew and Ames eventually succeed in finding both, I wouldn't consider the conclusions to either very satisfying.
Retribution is a nice little mystery with decent straightforward writing, a rather boring yet competent main character, and a collection of secondary characters that are more interesting than the protagonist. Fonesca may be trying to get away from his past, but he has a set of tools that'll at least keep him fed on his DQ diet.
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June 12, 2022After 12 years on a hard drive, this needed to see the inside of my book player and get reviewed. Nothing like a little hard drive spring cleaning in the summer!
I love all of Kaminsky’s characters. He’s one of those authors with whom you could converse over a plate of food and come away better off for the conversation. His love of and knowledge of old movies would be enough to keep me enthralled in the discussion even though I couldn’t add much to the conversation.
Lew Fonesca’s wife died because of a hit-and-run in Chicago years before this book begins. She was the love of his whole eternity it seems, and her loss means he essentially drops out of life and becomes a deeply saddened reclusive process server in Sarasota. He basically wants to watch his old movies on his VCR and leave the world alone, hoping it extends him the same privilege.
In the first book in the series, he helps a teenage prostitute get off the street and into a decent home environment—not a great one, but a decent one.
In book two, he’s still serving papers on people and taking their abuse as a result. He’s also in therapy with an unconventional psychologist who seems to be helping him either despite or because of her unconventionality.
The former teenage prostitute, Adele, entered a writing contest and drew the attention of a reclusive writer whose few books in the ‘80s were reasonably successful. He hasn’t published in years. But he has shelves of manuscripts that he plans to leave to his grandkids. They may be worth millions if they publish once he’s dead. But he and Adele argue, and things get worse. Soon, she steels all his manuscripts and begins destroying them one book at a time until the writer meets her needs/demands. It’s up to Lew to figure out how to stop her. Before he succeeds, two people will die—Adele’s boyfriend’s father and grandfather.
There’s not a lot of whiz-bang action in these books, but you come to love the reflective, introspective, sad Fonesca. Kaminsky writes this so your heart hurts for his main character, and you want him to shed his chrysalis of darkness and live again.
I love all of Kaminsky’s characters. He’s one of those authors with whom you could converse over a plate of food and come away better off for the conversation. His love of and knowledge of old movies would be enough to keep me enthralled in the discussion even though I couldn’t add much to the conversation.
Lew Fonesca’s wife died because of a hit-and-run in Chicago years before this book begins. She was the love of his whole eternity it seems, and her loss means he essentially drops out of life and becomes a deeply saddened reclusive process server in Sarasota. He basically wants to watch his old movies on his VCR and leave the world alone, hoping it extends him the same privilege.
In the first book in the series, he helps a teenage prostitute get off the street and into a decent home environment—not a great one, but a decent one.
In book two, he’s still serving papers on people and taking their abuse as a result. He’s also in therapy with an unconventional psychologist who seems to be helping him either despite or because of her unconventionality.
The former teenage prostitute, Adele, entered a writing contest and drew the attention of a reclusive writer whose few books in the ‘80s were reasonably successful. He hasn’t published in years. But he has shelves of manuscripts that he plans to leave to his grandkids. They may be worth millions if they publish once he’s dead. But he and Adele argue, and things get worse. Soon, she steels all his manuscripts and begins destroying them one book at a time until the writer meets her needs/demands. It’s up to Lew to figure out how to stop her. Before he succeeds, two people will die—Adele’s boyfriend’s father and grandfather.
There’s not a lot of whiz-bang action in these books, but you come to love the reflective, introspective, sad Fonesca. Kaminsky writes this so your heart hurts for his main character, and you want him to shed his chrysalis of darkness and live again.
March 1, 2018
I looked forward to this, hoping it would measure up to Kaminsky's engaging Rostnikov novels. It didn't. I guess Kaminsky has been writing too much, and has simply burned out. Or maybe he's resorted to ghost writers who churn out novels under his name. I don't know, but the fact of disappointment remains. Barely two stars!
April 13, 2022
I liked everything about this from the characters, a depressed process server protagonist (first person point of view) to the jerk of a 60's recluse author, to the setting, often behind the Dairy Queen. The subplot second mystery that was shoved in here just brings it down some.
April 13, 2024
The mystery was mediocre. Lew going on a cat and mouse chase with a 16 year old just to find out that she’s pregnant for an older man was exhausting. Good book overall, wish I didn’t have to wait until the last three chapters for the story to get interesting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 28, 2025
My first Lew Fonseca novel. A depressed Sarasota process server finds himself in the reluctant role of private investigator on 2 cases in this book. Well-done but I've enjoyed his Abe Lieberman series better so far. Still good though. 3.75 stars
November 27, 2025
The series continues with Lew Fonesca trying his best 👌
The story remains a casual mystery, characters continue to be compelling, and the writing continues to be rushed and imperfect.
On the hunt for book 3, Midnight Pass 🕵♂️
The story remains a casual mystery, characters continue to be compelling, and the writing continues to be rushed and imperfect.
On the hunt for book 3, Midnight Pass 🕵♂️
September 9, 2017
Good second book overall. I especially liked the exposition, but the mystery was a bit mediocre compared to the first book in this series.
March 18, 2018
This is the 2nd in the Lee Francesca series written by Stewart Kaminsky. Highly Recommended with excellent character development.
September 16, 2025
Outro bom esforço do autor.
Lew, como os outros protagonistas de outras séries, tem bom coração e rodeia-se de inadaptados como ele.
Lew, como os outros protagonistas de outras séries, tem bom coração e rodeia-se de inadaptados como ele.
May 12, 2010
On the surface, Lew Fonesca, a process server and sometimes investigator in Sarasota, is hardly a lovable character. Still grieving over his late wife, he is depressed and contemplative, and clearly he just wants to be left alone. In this second book of a new series, Lew again helps Adele, a troubled teenager who is systematically destroying stolen manuscripts, and locates the sister of a homeless man.
The common denominator of these irresistible cases is that his clients are all people who have no one else to help them. Scott Brick seems to own each word. His delivery is thoughtful and relaxed, and it holds the perfect weight and texture to fit the plodding, dispirited detective.
The common denominator of these irresistible cases is that his clients are all people who have no one else to help them. Scott Brick seems to own each word. His delivery is thoughtful and relaxed, and it holds the perfect weight and texture to fit the plodding, dispirited detective.
May 28, 2012
I do like Kaminsky's books, including this one. I just wish that most of the characters in the Lew Fonesca series weren't so mopey. Depression is rampant throughout this volume and it gets reading a bit tough sometimes. Otherwise there are two good mysteries happening throughout. Another of Kaminsky's books where figuring out the ending is very difficult. He is very good at defining his characters as separate entities despite how many are populating his stories and this is one of the best examples of that.
August 29, 2016
Typical Fonesca story. I like the storytelling and I enjoy the characters. The story is not perfect and I am not ever really satisfied with the twisted ends, but I identify with Fonesca--especially his desire to be left alone. This book shows him making progress in his grief therapy, and for some odd reason, I am upset with that....weird, I know.
February 14, 2016
See the description. Actually, the bodies do pile up. But all the characters are compelling and well-drawn. Kaminsky draws you into the story and keeps pulling you along, until before you know it, you've finished the book. There's sort of a "Rockford Files" feel to the characters, but I always liked "Rockford Files."
June 3, 2010
A fine murder who-done-it. I enjoyed this book quite a bit considering I don't usually go for mystery style books. It has energy and life that make you care about the characters which is a rare skill indeed.
July 24, 2012
I love Lew Fonesca and his friends. Even if he didn't live in Sarasota (next to Dixie Hemingway's Siesta Key), I would still enjoy his stories. Glad to see those friends and a couple troublemakers back in the 2nd of this Kaminsky series.
November 13, 2012
Good mystery, but the main character, Lew, is so depressed, that the entire story is also depressed. Lew is a court server by law, but also does some PI work. The people he deals with and meets are just big messes. Too depressing--I don't think I'll read any more in the series.
September 3, 2012
Retribution is the second Lew Fonesca Mystery. Adele becomes involved with a reclusive bestselling author, who hires Lew to find several of his valuable manuscripts that have disappeared.
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December 7, 2012boring!!
January 7, 2013
enjoyable quick read that I finished in a few hours.
good enough detective book, well written.
good enough detective book, well written.
January 23, 2014
I really enjoyed this book-especially the character Lew Fonesca. Well drawn portrait of a middle aged depressed man living in Sarasota.
March 5, 2015
adelle has stolen sarasota author life work and is destroying them one book at a time. lou is also looking for a friend's lost sister
September 18, 2015
The protagonist is just a bit too wimpy for this genre...
January 21, 2016
I jumped into the middle of the series with this hero so maybe that explains why I had a little trouble with it. Still I like Kaminsky's style and as a whodunit it was pretty good.
June 16, 2016
Good Mystery series that is set in Chicago. Enjoyable to read when one can visualize the surroundings as the story unfolds. Mr. Kaminsky's writing keeps the reader engaged.
September 8, 2016
I love everything by Stuart Kaminsky.
November 23, 2007
Entertaining
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews