The Gift Horse's Mouth

Jimmy Flannery #7

by Robert Wright Campbell

Book looks NEW, with the exception of a tiny symbol on first page. Bright clean dust jacket has light shelf wear. Same day shipping from AZ.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

198 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

A screenwriter who turned to writing novels. Many of his earlier books were published as by R. Wright Campbell but later works were credited to Robert W. Campbell or simply Robert Campbell. He also published one book as F.G. Clinton. For more, see his obituary in the Los Angeles Times.

Reviews

[Canavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

✭✭✭½

[Hans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jimmy Flannery saddles up. In his bid to (finally) ascend to the next stage in the crumbling Chicago political machine as Committeeman of the Twenty-seventh district, he has to ask for the blessing from another politico Ray Carrigan. When Carrigan's long-time right-hand woman suddenly dies, Carrigan calls on Jimmy to be his personal representative on the case. Resolving the mystery will unearth the history of the older generation of political operatives.
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"...saddle 'em up," Fats says.

"Ain't you got something shorter?"

"Well, here's the way I figure, Mr. Flannery. You want to learn how to ride a horse, ride a tall horse. Fall off a tall horse and you'll see to it you never fall off again."

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One more great phrase: "the sarcasm thick as a slab of cheese on a working man's sandwich."
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Oh, and if you're the type of person who tracks the annual reading stats / reading goals, a short series like the Jimmy Flannery series is both fun and very helpful for the stats. It's especially great when you accidentally get the large-print version from the interlibrary loan, so you get extra page count for your quick read!

[Jim Mackell · Rating 1 out of 5]

The ole one eye (if you know what I mean)

Extremely dated prose being passed off as a new release by. Lots of cliched phrases and storyline. I expected better.

[Daelith]

Okay 18 pages in and I can see this is not going to be something I will like. It starting out with politics and I've pretty much had me fill of that. On to the next book.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a Jimmy Flannery mystery and that means you are in for a treat. Flannery, however, is not a detective in the usual sense. Rather, he's a sewer worker in old machine politics Chicago and does favors for people. It's favor for favor in the old patronage system and here Flannery ends up doing Ray Carrigan a favor by looking into the death of a woman who had been his secretary for years and who, in her youth, had that special something that turned every man's head. Flannery can't quite put his finger on it but that past just came back up and had something to do with Goldie's death.

It's not a hardboiled two-fisted tale, but it's a book that's real hard to put down. What makes it is the narrator's aw-shucks voice of this good-natured Chicago Irishman who knows everyone about town and can charm information from anyone. Campbell has managed in these Flannery novels to create a whole world of characters you feel like you know - kind of like walking into the Cheers bar.

[Anne]

Autographed