Bright Futures: A Lew Fonesca Mystery

Lew Fonesca #6

by Stuart M. Kaminsky

When a recent high-school graduate is arrested for murdering an unpopular political campaigner, Lew Fonesca finds the case challenged by a blackmail investigation in which a popular children's music performer has been accused of being a child predator.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller

437 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Stuart 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.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rated this book more as a rating of the author. I just started reading it after having gone to Stuart's book release party at Sarasota News & Books. It was a very fun event where I had the opportunity to talk to him as he was signing several copies of the book for us. He is a very interesting author, open to discuss his methods of writing and philosophy on the writing life. I always enjoy the Fonesca character along with his Russian mysteries featuring Rostnikov, some of my favorites. I'll update this as I get further into the book but feel you can't go wrong with Kaminsky.

Note after reading: Don't read this as your night time book to read in bed. I did and couldn't keep the characters straight. The book was great but it will be better the second time through as long as I read when I'm alert. There's just too many details for casual reading.

[Cathy DuPont · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second Lew Fonesca and I do enjoy the tormented investigator for a law firm, especially because it's set in Sarasota.

This one though just wasn't up to par so wish I had chosen another. I'm not finished with Lew and I do like Kaminsky's writing but this was just a so-so storyline. I could take it or leave it and I would much rather feel more excited about reading a book.

Writing about the book isn't even exciting. Boring so-so book, boring so-so review. That tell you something?

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as a Porfiry Petrovich book, but a good read. His characters are indeed "characters"

Kaminsky is one of my favorite authors.

[Mike French · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Stuart Kaminsky book. I thought it was good, but not great. I have books on order from his other series on order from the library. I think I needed to read this series in order to get a better understanding of Lee Fonesca' s character.

[Lynn Kearney · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's nice to have another Lew Fonesca book, though this one's stretches credulity a bit. Still prefer the Abe Lieberman series, though I like some of the regulars in this one.

[John Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library Audible
Set in Florida. Lew Fonesca left Chicago after the lost of his wife when the bottom fell out of his life and drove south until the car packed up. Lew Fonesca is a sad sack of a man, a guy who lost his wife in a tragic hit-and-run accident in Chicago four years ago and then literally drove away from his life. The hit and run driver, Victor Woo, now lives in Lew's old then new offices. Now settled in Sarasota, he does small-time criminal investigations unofficially and marinates in his well-nurtured gloom. He is officially a process server. But to his friends and the people he's helped, Lew is a caring man who does all he can to see that justice is done ... even if it means bending the letter, if not the spirit, of the law." "A local curmudgeon who has been campaigning to end state-sponsored school funding is brutally killed.This person who was killed had a daughter and also one hell of an ugly person A known rapist and paedophile. Seventeen-year-old Greg Legerman, a student at the Pine View School for the Gifted, hires Fonesca to find the killer of Philip Horvecki, a superrich former real estate developer who opposed special help from the government for bright kids. Legerman is convinced that his friend, Ronnie Gerall, who was found covered in blood at the scene of the crime didn't do it. Before very much time passes, two other people are trying to hire Fonesca to work on the same case.The accused, Ronnie Gerall, is married to the daughter not initially known but he is a con and is in fact 28.
As Lew works on these baffling cases, he slowly comes to realize that somewhere along the way he has managed to pick up what looks like the beginning of a new life: people who care about him, people whom, he grudgingly admits, he is beginning to care about. But the good life that Lew so richly deserves might disappear when he's forced to come to a hard choice - do the right thing and see his happiness evaporate, or betray a trust and be happy.
Two students come on the imprisoned guys behalf to hire him. Then the grand father of one who was a seller of goods on TV hires him. he is shot at by a pellet gun then a real gun. It turns out the imprison guy is a faudster with a new identity that Lew's girlfriend was conned into helping and had previously slept with as well, This guy had married the daughter of the rapist and together they had murdered him set iti up that some other stalkers had spotted the daughter dressed as an old man climbing out a window etc. In the course the other student was threaten with blackmail by another person and killed him.
The pellet gun and gun shooter not clear but presunme the daughter behind most of these incidents/ Quite good especially on the character front.


"With a Chicago Cubs cap on my head and in need of a shave, I came 1,044 miles looking for the end of the world and settled in an office at the rear of a Dairy Queen parking lot in Sarasota when my car broke down forever. Now the DQ is gone, replaced by a bank. The less-than-shabby, concrete block two-story office building I live and work in will be torn down in a few days."

At a point in the story Victor Woo saves Lew's life and now feels free to return to his wife and family .

The investigation is quickly complicated by someone taking pot shots at Fonesca . . . but hitting other people. What's that all about?

In addition, the book takes a surreal turn when characters appear who have worked as actors, feeding Fonesca's fondness for quoting old movies.
The characters range from the high school students who first hire Fonesca, to an ex-actor who now has the opportunity to bring the enforcer roles he played in movies and television to real life, to D. Elliot Corkle, the star of countless infomercials, who is easily recognizable by any reader who has been enticed by the myriad of gadgets sold on TV. In addition, many stalwarts from previous Fonesca adventures appear here. They are Fonesca's friends and play important roles in his private and professional lives. Long after his latest mystery has been solved, readers will wonder what will be the next turn in Fonesca's life.


Since the tragic loss of his beloved wife, Catherine, Lew has tried his best to become a recluse, but for some unaccountable reason, people like him. His usual coterie of friends and acquaintances are on hand in this, the sixth novel in this wonderful series. Among them are: Ames McKinney, who may be old, but he watches Lew's back and can handle a weapon; Lew's "little brother," fourteen-year old Darrell Caton, a smart-mouthed African-American kid who finds that spending time with Lew can be as exciting as hanging out with drug dealers and gangbangers; Sally Porovsky, a social worker whom Lew has been dating for over two years; and octogenarian Ann Hurwitz, Lew's therapist who uses unconventional methods to bring her patient out of his depression.

Kaminsky, delivers big-time with witty, fast-paced dialogue, a wild plot that requires a score card to follow, and a wonderfully weird cast of characters. The mystery, which makes little sense, is overshadowed by the surreal atmosphere where anything can happen and often does. Nothing is as it seems in this tale of greed, lust, and betrayal. Lew risks his life and even those of his friends when he starts investigating, but he forges ahead anyway. He interviews the deceased's many enemies, asks Dixie Cruise, a waitress/computer hacker, to do some digging on the Internet, and uses his sharp intelligence and unerring instincts to gradually close in on the truth.

Along the way, Lew makes significant emotional progress. He no longer lives under a black cloud and even jokes around a bit, has close friends that he actually wants to keep, and is finally ready to face the future with a semblance of equanimity. Although "Bright Futures" is warm-hearted, funny, and compassionate, it also has a serious side. The author explores the ways in which some individuals sow the seeds of their own destruction, while others protect and nurture the ones they love. Everything isn't necessarily coming up roses for the balding little man in the blue and red Chicago Cubs baseball cap, but as his psychiatrist tells Lew, "I think it is time for you to have a new beginning."
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Proofreader needed 3 Nov. 2009
By John E. Lenarcic - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Hardcover
While I agree with all the positive things people have said and won't restate them here, I have to say that Kaminsky seriously needs (or needed - now that he's died) a proofreader. Did nobody notice that his wife's killer's name inexplicably changed from Lee to Woo from "Always Say Goodbye" to "Bright Futures"? That it's "Applebee's" not "Appleby's"? That the singular of biscotti is biscotto? (He got that right in Midnight Pass but wrong in all the others.) Has nobody in Sarasota noticed that his directions are sometimes wrong (i.e., he should have turned right, not left at a certain street)? Some people did. I read these books from the library and saw numerous corrections penciled in by previous borrowers. Should this deter you from reading his books? That depends on how important you find such faults. I find them quite irritating, but I guess it is a testament to Kaminsky's creativity and skill at forming his characters that I have continued to read and enjoy the Lew Fonesca and other series. Still, I can't help but wonder whatever happened to the English technicians that would edit an author's work before publication.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
More Lew 10 Mar. 2009
By Ted Feit - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Hardcover
Lew Fonesca, who landed in Sarasota after his wife was killed in an auto accident in Chicago, continues his insecure life as a process server to eke out an existence wondering if life is worth it. He is good at finding people, and somehow manages to keep up with his unusual therapy, the price of which is a cup of coffee and some biscotti biscuits, in which he may (or may not) be making progress.

The series is imaginative in the sense that the characters are unusual and there are many amusing asides, keeping the reader constantly smiling. And the descriptions of the Sarasota area add real flavor.

In this caper, Lew, assisted by his buddy Ames, take on a case of proving or disproving a murder charge against a high school student. Although not a private eye, he is implored by a couple of the accused's fellow students to find the person who is guilty of the murder of a despicable rich man.

While the novel starts off stressing Lew's ennui, as it progresses we find him growing and accepting the fact that life may be worth living. It's a good thing, because then we can look forward to a seventh novel in the series.

Recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A bittersweet ending 11 May 2011
By Jay Wilson - Published on Amazon.com
I've been a big Kaminsky for some years, starting with the Toby Peters series. I went through most of the different series, really like the Libermann, and not all that crazy about the Russian series. I came to this series last, reading them only when I had a few spare days. I just finished Bright Futures, which unless there are books not released, certainly the last of this series, and possibly the last book Kaminsky wrote.
Lew is ready to move on and part of the theme is his counselling sessions and realising he is putting down roots and less likely to just go. He now buys an old car and forms a partnership with his close friend Aims *Who does bar casual work in return for lodgings) Aims is handy with guns and so on. he had committed murder but with Lews help served minimal time. Setting down some roots in town, with or without Sally. Still, as it ends, it seems a fitting ending for this series.

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lew Fonesca, a fictional process server in Sarasota, gets a visit from two gifted teens who want to hire him to solve a murder. Those who knew the dead guy have a universal dislike for him. That makes the suspect list long and hard to streamline.

Then, the kids insist they don’t want Fonesca to look for the killer after all. While he’s looking, someone repeatedly shoots at Lew, injuring one young man in Lew’s company.

The mystery here isn’t dazzling per se, but I can’t turn away from this series because Lew Fonesca intrigues me. He’s a lapsed Episcopalian—not Catholic as you might assume for a guy with an Italian name. He buried his lovely wife because of a drunk driving accident, but he allows the guy who killed her with his vehicle to live with him in Florida for a time. He’s a strange and endearing character indeed, and he’s largely the reason I keep reading these.

[John Yingling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third series written by Stuart M. Kaminsky that I have read all or part of, and once again, it is excellent. My expectations were high, and this exceeded them. Lew Fonesca is a fascinating character, still mourning the loss of his wife, and coming to terms with what happened to her. He now is back in Florida, and now caught up in some murders and pondering why he now seems to be a target of the murderer, or murderers. The dialogue is sharp, the cast of characters is varied and interesting and the storyline flows at a riveting pace. First rate in every way.

[Lynn Pribus · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this book, it was rather like the way we watched movies years ago You just waked in on the double feature when you bought your ticket and invariably saw the second part of one movie, the entire next movie, then the first part of the first movie.

This book was a bit like that. It's part of a series and I came in on the sixth part w/o really getting exactly who the various characters were. Although it was enjoyable enough, I probably won't pursue #7. Or even #1.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A depressed process server in Sarasota, is good at finding people. When a much-despised man is brutally murdered, 2 high school boys show up at his door, asking him to find the real killer, as their friend has been arrested for the crime . Then the twists begin. There are a lot of characters in the book, and there are a lot of names to remember, but the story is amusing, action-packed,and intriguing.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a treat to run across an unknown-to-me, last book in the Lee Fonesca series.
I adored Kaminsky’s writing and mourn his loss to this day. The Fonesca, Lieberman, and Toby Peters series are all comfort food to me. Hubby is a fan only of the Rostnikov series, which I hope will capture my fancy one day.

[Raquel Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este livro acaba a série Lew Fonseca, que tem seis livros.
Este herói é semelhante aos outros do mesmo autor, mas este passa-se na América contemporânea.
Lew é um homem que vive com o fantasma da mulher que morreu num atropelamento com fuga. Não quer contacto com ninguém, mas acaba rodeado de um grupo de amigos igualmente excêntrico.
Aprovadíssimo.

[Doug Haskin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stuart M. Kaminsky has always been one of the writers at the top of my very short list. Having read just about every book of his four main series, I kept putting off reading this, the last of the Lew Fonesca mysteries.

The book is, as always, very well written. Kaminsky was obviously planning future developments for the character, and it was good to find Fonesca starting to move forward with his life.

However, something bothered me all while I read the book, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Having finished the book, it came to me: There was too much of Toby Peters in this book. The style of writing, the plotting of the story, the way it was moved along, all carried the imprint of one of Kaminsky's other characters, Toby Peters. There was even a dwarf character involved, although not to the extent of the one in the Toby Peters series. I'd never found that before in his work, in spite of an impressive amount of writing with four different main characters.

None the less, "Bright Futures" makes me wish for more of Lew Fonesca. If you're thinking of reading these books for the first time, please don't start with this one. Although each book can stand alone, there are too many character traits and plot lines that are developed in the earlier books. Start with one of them, or better yet, start with the first one ("Vengeance," 1999) and read your way through. You will not be disappointed.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this book in a double shot with Not Quite Kosher. They were my introduction to Stuart Kaminsky. Much like Not Quite Kosher I was diving in the middle of a series and while it left me wondering how everyone came to be there, the wondering took nothing away from the current story, but made me curious about the earlier books in the series. I like the Florida setting with Illinois transplants. In the back of my mind I wondered if Kaminsky retired to Florida and decided to use that a setting, but that's neither here nor there. Good book with fun character who's heads it is interesting to be inside of. I really look forward to the earlier books to see what Fonesca's bitterness is like when his past tragedy is fresh, and to see how much Kaminsky has him grow free of this as the series progresses. Great interaction throughout the book, but I think the conversations between Fonesca and his therapist were my favorites.

[Nancy Day · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unlike most other reviewers, I found this book extremely dissatisfying. If I hadn't spent an Audible credit on it, I wouldn't have finished it. The writing is cumbersome in many places, and while I agree with other reviewers that many characters are 'quirky,' they weren't much else besides that. Not sympathetic or interesting. The main character's motivation seemed inconsistent and unbelievable - he's been beat up, but then asks something that's supposed to be cute and endearing. In one paragraph, the author goes from mourning the dead wife to a "cute" joke. The plot was uninteresting and not suspenseful. The victim is supposedly a pedophile conservative businessman, but everything we hear about him is from other people, and with the lighthearted overall tone, we don't get the idea that the murder is very important. All in all, this was a lousy mystery.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Kaminsky book I have ever read and the first in this series. I found the character of Lew Fonseca intriguing, but the overall mystery was not intense enough for my liking. I guess, mystery can be light hearted and less dark as in other mysteries I have read. So, if you like the lighter side of mystery Kaminsky does a good job. I hope to read the books previous to this one. However, not reading it in order did not create a mess in my mind-the past was lightly touched upon. Definitely a different kind of read. I guess we can all do with the lighter side of a mystery. Now, I want to make this clear-it is not like an Agatha Christie book-which nowadays are considered tame.

[Scilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, my rating is probably 3.5. Lew Fonesca lives in Sarasota Florida as a process server. He is asked to look into a murder of a prominent wealthy local man who was opposed to school children and programs for the gifted. Lew is asked to help the arrested suspect, a student from the gifted school, by two high school friends. Lew is helped by the Chinese man who killed Lew's wife in a hit and run accident as well as several friends. During the process, Lew discovers that he has many friends and maybe life is worth living.

[Clark Hallman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bright Futures is another entertaining Lew Fonesca novel from Stuart Kaminsky. Like all of Kaminsky's novels it has a complex and interesting plot, which kept me guessing until the last few pages. To me the most appealing aspect of all Kaminsky novels is that they are populated with lots of quirky, unpredictable, and very entertaining characters. I find this to be particularly true for the motley characters that inhabit his Lew Fonesca series. I really could be friends with these people and I look forward to each new episode of their lives. This is a fun read.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sixth in Kaminsky's excellent Lew Fonesca series, set in Florida. I love Kaminsky's Rostnikov series, along with the Leiberman books and these. Again, I may have just been in the right mood, but this story helps explain much about Fonesca's past and gives insight into his character. Kaminsky is just plain darn good.

[Katherine Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG I love this series. Lew Fonesca--what I keep thinking is that I want to be this man's friend, and in some strange ways, I want to live his life. One of my favorite mystery series.

Just finished this wonderful book, and made the terrible discovery that Kaminsky died in 2009. I don't know how I didn't know that! I am sad for the loss to the mystery community. This is one of my favorite series.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I suspected, I cried and cried when I finished this awesome series by the late great Stuart M Kaminsky. He did a good job of tying up some loose ends of Lew Fonesca's story, while leaving the reader wanting more. There were some story inconsistencies that may be Kindle-related errors, but the story itself was quite suspenseful. A fitting ending to an amazing, but too brief tale.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

really good language, thoughts and suspensful at a measured pace
really fine book - do like the authors' books set in WWII better but lot of thoughtful comment on life and human motivation without be3ing didactic

[Harry Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting characters, more than a bit unlikely but still within the realm of possibility. Story unfolds in fits and starts. Two of the three villians seem relatively plausible, the third not so much. Not a bad way to spend a few hours.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the narrator in the novel. Some of the sidekicks need not be mention - it seems that the mention of them further characterize the narrator. This isn't necessary

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fun but not fabulous. I read this series for the characters first, then the plot. The mystery wasn't much of one his time, but I enjoyed catching up with the characters.

[Frank Taranto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good story about Lew Fonesca and his slow recovery from the death of his wife. What I really like about this series is that the characters change and grow over time.

[Cyndee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read anything by this author before. Humorous, and good tale.

[Nan Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

50 pages were enough.
Bleh

[Aviva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Lou Fonesca character and his side kick. I am so sorry that the wonderful author Stuart Kaminsky is no longer with us.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Lew Fonesca story. I keep reading them to find out if he ever comes out of his funk. This ones shows some progress he makes a lot of positive steps.