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Charlie Bradshaw #10
Saratoga Strongbox
His tenth mystery takes private eye Charlie Bradshaw and his sidekick, Vic Poltz, to Montreal to find a suitcase worth two thousand bucks, an expedition that leads them to a karate kid, a stripper, and a shady operator. Reprint.
224 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1998
About the author
Stephen Dobyns
84 books210 followersDobyns was raised in New Jersey, Michigan, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He was educated at Shimer College, graduated from Wayne State University, and received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1967. He has worked as a reporter for the Detroit News.
He has taught at various academic institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, the University of Iowa, Syracuse University, and Boston University.
In much of his poetry and some works of non-genre fiction, Dobyns employs extended tropes, using the ridiculous and the absurd as vehicles to introduce more profound meditations on life, love, and art. He shies neither from the low nor from the sublime, and all in a straightforward narrative voice of reason. His journalistic training has strongly informed this voice.
He has taught at various academic institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, the University of Iowa, Syracuse University, and Boston University.
In much of his poetry and some works of non-genre fiction, Dobyns employs extended tropes, using the ridiculous and the absurd as vehicles to introduce more profound meditations on life, love, and art. He shies neither from the low nor from the sublime, and all in a straightforward narrative voice of reason. His journalistic training has strongly informed this voice.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 14, 2019
So, with this tenth installment in the Charlie Bradshaw detective series, I bid a fond farewell to Charlie, Vic and Saratoga Springs until they release the eleventh book in a format I can read. (Audiobook for preference, Mr. Dobyns, but I'll settle for it on Kindle if necessary.)
This is an odd series in some ways. It gets more comedic as it goes along (there's hardly any humour in book one but by the time you get to book six it's almost a spoof of the crime genre) and it switches protagonists partway through (Charlie is the hero for the first seven books, with Vic Plotz as his sidekick; in books eight through ten, however, their roles are reversed). The narration also switches from third person to first person when Vic takes over as the main protagonist.
All in all, though, it works really well and I enjoyed the Hell out of these books.
This is an odd series in some ways. It gets more comedic as it goes along (there's hardly any humour in book one but by the time you get to book six it's almost a spoof of the crime genre) and it switches protagonists partway through (Charlie is the hero for the first seven books, with Vic Plotz as his sidekick; in books eight through ten, however, their roles are reversed). The narration also switches from third person to first person when Vic takes over as the main protagonist.
All in all, though, it works really well and I enjoyed the Hell out of these books.
July 17, 2020
Stephen Dobyns writes poetry, horror, mysteries, and works that defy classification (such as The Wrestler's Cruel Study). The "mysteries" category includes the Charlie Bradshaw series about a middle-aged private detective in Saratoga Springs in upstate New York. There have been eleven books in the series up until now (2020), the first ten published between 1976-1998 and the eleventh in 2017. Saratoga Strongbox is the tenth. They all have the word "Saratoga" in the title.
Bradshaw is an honest and conscientious man, a former police officer. His friend and sometime helper Vic Plotz is neither particularly honest nor conscientious. Bradshaw is the central character in the earlier books in the series but Plotz eventually takes over that role.
Plotz is also the narrator of Saratoga Strongbox. He is hired to pick up a mysterious parcel in Montreal and bring it back to Saratoga, but he farms the job out to an acquaintance who he knows needs money. Plotz keeps most of the payment and gives a small percentage to the acquaintance. This goes well and the man who hired Plotz originally now hires him again, but this time Plotz goes himself and his friend Charlie Bradshaw accompanies him. They make a discovery about what they are conveying that leads them into a world of shady characters, most of whom are unhappy with Plotz and Bradshaw and show their unhappiness quite decisively.
This is largely comic, with a long, funny sequence late in the book in which the strongbox of the title changes hands repeatedly, mostly at gunpoint. There is considerable violence attempted in the book, but few people are injured (although a sympathetic cat is treated badly).
Plotz, consistently cynical and suspicious, is a generally amusing narrator. Some of his often-repeated comments like the use of the designation "the Queen of Softness" and the descriptions of a man's shaved head did become irritating to me. I find Plotz an unattractive character (which may be what Dobyns intends); I preferred the earlier books that were centered on Bradshaw.
I don't think that this is memorable but it is as acceptable light entertainment.
Bradshaw is an honest and conscientious man, a former police officer. His friend and sometime helper Vic Plotz is neither particularly honest nor conscientious. Bradshaw is the central character in the earlier books in the series but Plotz eventually takes over that role.
Plotz is also the narrator of Saratoga Strongbox. He is hired to pick up a mysterious parcel in Montreal and bring it back to Saratoga, but he farms the job out to an acquaintance who he knows needs money. Plotz keeps most of the payment and gives a small percentage to the acquaintance. This goes well and the man who hired Plotz originally now hires him again, but this time Plotz goes himself and his friend Charlie Bradshaw accompanies him. They make a discovery about what they are conveying that leads them into a world of shady characters, most of whom are unhappy with Plotz and Bradshaw and show their unhappiness quite decisively.
This is largely comic, with a long, funny sequence late in the book in which the strongbox of the title changes hands repeatedly, mostly at gunpoint. There is considerable violence attempted in the book, but few people are injured (although a sympathetic cat is treated badly).
Plotz, consistently cynical and suspicious, is a generally amusing narrator. Some of his often-repeated comments like the use of the designation "the Queen of Softness" and the descriptions of a man's shaved head did become irritating to me. I find Plotz an unattractive character (which may be what Dobyns intends); I preferred the earlier books that were centered on Bradshaw.
I don't think that this is memorable but it is as acceptable light entertainment.
September 10, 2007
SARATOGA STRONGBOX – Okay-
Dobyns, Stephen – 10th book of Charlie Bradshaw series
Except that I have one more book on my TBR shelf by him, this would probably be the last I’d read. The characters, both the good guys and the bad guys are almost slap stick, and if Vic refers to his lady friend one more time as the “Queen of Softness”…. The books in the Saratoga series are light and quick—really too much so for my taste.
Dobyns, Stephen – 10th book of Charlie Bradshaw series
Except that I have one more book on my TBR shelf by him, this would probably be the last I’d read. The characters, both the good guys and the bad guys are almost slap stick, and if Vic refers to his lady friend one more time as the “Queen of Softness”…. The books in the Saratoga series are light and quick—really too much so for my taste.
May 19, 2009
This was a fun read. The protagonist, near-60 Vic Plotz, is a likeable, real guy, and it's easy to appreciate the friendship he has with level-headed Charlie. I enjoy the way he loves his 'Queen of Softness' and how both he and her are 'larger' people...and that's ok. Witty chatter from Vic moves this mystery along that involves counterfeit money, blackmail, the mob, love, betrayal, and friendship. I will be reading others from the series.
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October 21, 2012Dobyns is a poet, which is probably why his prose is so lovely. I adore the shameless Vic, and his Queen of Softness. This is a Charlie Bradshaw mystery.
April 7, 2016
Screwier than usual!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews