And 47 Miles of Rope

Trace #2

by Warren Murphy

Book by Murphy, Warren

Genres: Detective, Mystery

1 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Warren Murphy was an American author, most famous as the co-creator of The Destroyer series, the basis for the film Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. He worked as a reporter and editor and after service during the Korean War, he drifted into politics.

Murphy also wrote the screenplay for Lethal Weapon 2. He is the author of the Trace and Digger series. With Molly Cochran, he completed two books of a planned trilogy revolving around the character The Grandmaster, The Grandmaster (1984) and High Priest (1989). Murphy also shares writing credits with Cochran on The Forever King and several novels under the name Dev Stryker. The first Grandmaster book earned Murphy and Cochran a 1985 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, and Murphy's Pigs Get Fat took the same honor the following year.

His solo novels include Jericho Day, The Red Moon, The Ceiling of Hell, The Sure Thing and Honor Among Thieves. Over his career, Murphy sold over 60 million books.

He started his own publishing house, Ballybunion, to have a vehicle to start The Destroyer spin-off books. Ballybunion has reprinted The Assassin's Handbook, as well as the original works Assassin's Handbook 2, The Movie That Never Was (a screenplay he and Richard Sapir wrote for a Destroyer movie that was never optioned), The Way of the Assassin (the wisdom of Chiun), and New Blood, a collection of short stories written by fans of the series.

He served on the board of the Mystery Writers of America, and was a member of the Private Eye Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, the American Crime Writers League and the Screenwriters Guild.

Reviews

[Bill Riggs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed. Maybe I went into it expecting too much comparing it to Murphy’s other works. It wasn’t bad, but the storyline didn’t grab me so it wasn’t good either. The characters were interesting and their interactions were amusing but no action and a lack of internet in the mystery tanked it for me.

[David Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh, I love this series!

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the most complicated Trace/Digger story to date—so much so that I put together nothing that was important until the end of the story finding most of my entertainment in the subplot around Trace’s parents visiting him in Las Vegas and his mother driving his girlfriend crazy. The mystery involved a murder (which Trace is investigating to make certain that the victim wasn’t killed by the beneficiary of his insurance policy) and some missing jewels (which I assumed without evidence had actually been stolen by the owner in a separate insurance fraud). What actually happened is extremely complex and it wasn’t until Trace explained everything at the end of the story that I understood anything that had happened. I’m not sure that that makes for a good story, but I did find the book entertaining.

[Taco Beta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typically funny outing, albeit without as much action

[Timo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Muistelen tykänneeni edellisestä Tracesta. Mutta tämä ei ottanut käynnistyäkseen ollenkaan. Muutama hauska heitto, mutta Murphylle tyypille vauhdikkuus puuttui kokonaan.

[James Hein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice easy read based on a fairly simple formula. Good as a filler between more serious works.