Caper

Stanley Hastings #17

by Parnell Hall

Poor Stanley Hastings. After getting hired by a hitman and nearly getting shot, the put-upon PI needed some fun, so when a gorgeous damsel in distress walked through his office door she seemed just what the doctor ordered.


Wrong again.


The fair maiden turned out to be a married mom who wanted Stanley to find out why her teenage daughter was skipping school. Playing truant officer wasn't exactly Stanley's idea of fun, but at least it should be easy.


Fat chance.


Stanley being Stanley, nothing goes right, nothing is as it seems, bodies start to pile up, and faster than you can say 'fall guy', guess who's left holding the bag?


Before the case is resolved, Stanley will be nostalgic for the good old days, when all he had to worry about was a hitman.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published July 20, 2010

Reviews

[Lata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bumbling Hastings is hired by a woman to tail her daughter and save her from a paedophile. He does exactly that, but turns out, he was a pawn in a bigger scheme of things.
It was similar to the other Stanley Hastings book that I read (The Hitman). The same set of characters, with the same kind of dialogues. As it was a short novel, which i could listen (Audible) in less than 3 hrs, I didn't mind it. And it was funny at times. I might not pick up another Hastings book in the near future.

[Grey853 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the 17th Stanley Hastings novel and it seems to me that with each progressive book Stanley gets a little bit more dim. In this one he does something so stupid that I nearly stopped reading. I did finish, however. I'm just not sure I'll continue with the series.

[Brian O'Leary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stanley Hastings is a very under rated series, if you like a quick read with quickly formed characters that have strong personalities, this series is for you.

[Knuckles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stanley Hastings has to be about the dumbest Private Eye ever featured in a novel. That he manages to stay out of jail is a miracle. You can see events unfolding way before his penchant to be stupid and gullible and none of the outcomes are going to be in his favour. This book was a trial to read and several times I put it down only to pick it up with the desire to know how his stupidity was eventually going to get him out of trouble. Only if you're desperate and have nothing else to read.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first book solely written by Parnell Hall, this was rather fun to read. I looked for one of Hall's books because his collaboration with Stuart Woods vastly improved recent books by Woods. Private eye Stanley Hastings seems to bumble along but in the end he gets his man. or woman.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably more 2.5 stars. It started out fun, but slowed to a snail’s pace with little of substance going on through much of the 2nd half. Lots of smoke, almost no heat...

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great cozy series. Actor writer Stanley Hastings works as a PI between his other professions. Always ends up in crazy situations.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

19. Certainly an interesting main character. Plot was pacy and some good humour on display

[Fred Svoboda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm currently reading after Hall was recommended by a friend, but frankly I don't see why I should continue after getting halfway through. Initially I stopped at the end of chapter six. Stanley is incompetent, everyone including his wife and employer knows he is incompetent; even he knows it. So why should I care? (My wife had a similar reaction, multiplied by the protagonist's obsession with female breasts, and she got only a couple of chapters in before becoming disgusted with the book. "What would Spenser do?" she asked and also pointed out that Robert B. Parker's character is witty and also generally respectful of his clients, even those who don't look so hot. Stanley seems to be the opposite, we agreed.)

Stanley launches into his investigation of a teen supposedly working as a hooker by tailing and confronting her and without taking any number of sensible preliminary steps, including not getting more information from the mother (his client) and others, and of course he lands up in big trouble as a result. Several times.

I think this is supposed to entertain along the lines of the Agatha Raisin books, in which an annoying and fairly clueless character is supposed to be ironically funny, but I don't appreciate those books either.

I just finished one of Hall's Puzzle Lady books (#10), and it has somewhat the same problem, an incompetent person at the center of the novel, but not to the same degree. She doesn't spend as much time being stupid (she can't figure out how to take out the garbage!), and that book is light and entertaining. As I mentioned above, Stanley is stupid, his employer thinks he is stupid, his wife thinks he is stupid, and even he thinks he is stupid. Why should I care? I'm finding Stanley not endearing, but annoying.

I am abandoning the book half read and will try another of the Stanley Hastings book, but I don't feel hopeful.

[Sarah B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another fun mystery about Stanley Hastings. The PI is up to his usual tricks of getting himself into lots of trouble, sticking his nose where it doesn't really belong (to get himself into even more trouble!) and then trying to get himself out of the trouble so he won't end up in jail for murder! Well Stanley is in fine form in this book and he's very busy annoying many other characters, especially his friends the lawyer and the cop..I'm sure they regret they know him. He just has a gift of driving other people nuts. I think it's just how he looks at stuff. He likes to be exact. Specific. And normal people don't see things the way Stanley does.

Is it bad that Stanley reminds me of myself?

Stanley can be quite humorous as he double and triple thinks things..nothing is simple for him. Not even riding a train to Philly. Or figuring out how to sneak into a secure building with a doorman. But his biggest problem is that he truly is clueless as to what is going on. If he's lucky his wife might have the answers he needs!

This case is about Stanley being hired to follow a school girl who might be doing inappropriate things with adult males. Of course things go wrong right away and poor Stanley is left scrambling for solutions! And unfortunately those solutions involve running himself up big bills! And bodies keep showing up too. And what does all of this have to do with that girl who looks to be only ten years old? He really doesn't know.

I read this book in a few hours and it was very entertaining. I actually forgot everything else going on and totally fell into the story.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

this one has a young pretty woman hiring stanly to stop her teenage daughter from being a 'escort'.

he follows her from school and tries to 'straight talk' her which only scares her

he follows her and a congressman to a dinner club concert. he sees her drinking and puts a drug in her drink. she passes out and he abducts her and takes her home

only her parents at home are not the mother that hired him and he gets in trouble

then he goes to the congressman apt and finds him dead. not wanting to be the one to call it in, he leaves and calls 911 from a payphone (interesting enough this book has a cell phone for him and a dvr instead of his vcr, hes doing better than me).

they arrest a man he knows couldnt have done it casue he got there after the man was dead

that man was later found dead as well but stanly thinks that was a set up ( he called 911 from another payphone for that one)

turns out the mother of the other girl in the cheer squad had dressed up as the cute mother (stanlys wife figured that out) and hired him, seh was jealous as first she had the affair with the congressman and then the son was interested in the other girl, not her daughter so she killed him

it was good! im going to be sad to read the last book, i have enjoyed this series all summer

[Joanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

At first I really liked this witty take on the traditional noir novel. This hardboiled detective is really inept instead, and when the dame walks into his office ("She came wafting into my office like a jolt of adolescence"), he launches a pretty funny internal dialogue about how hard it is not to look at her chest, even when he is not wanting to look, but she probably thinks he's looking, etc.

However, the witty part isn't sustained, and over time degrades to lots of profanity and insults about how stupid he is, and in order to make the plot progress, he truly does make some stupid decisions, and I just got tired of it. Great possibilities, and I'd be open to reading another, but hope someone at the publishing level does a little more intervening beforehand.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everyone knows that Stanley Hastings is an inept detective--his lawyer boss, his cop friend, and his long-suffering wife Alice. But even Stanley should know better than to get involved with the attractive young woman who hires him to protect her teenaged daughter, who seems to be living a life on the streets. Not everything is as it seems in Stanley's world, however, and before he knows what's happened, he's mixed up in a murder case.

[John Kues · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story about a bumbling PI who questions every move he makes and questions himself continuously. Hard to believe he made a story out of it, and not a particularly good one. I can't recommend it. There were also a lot of errors towards the end, to/too, pronouns dropped, made it seem like it was rushed at the end.

[Alecia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am only giving this book 2 stars instead of 1 because I think Parnell Hall can write in a witty, sort of Donald Westlake fashion. The plotting and storyline of this novel, however, is murky, confusing, and just plain idiotic in parts. So, not recommended.

[Mark Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvelous fun.Spectacular dialogue.A nebbish who knows he's a neb yet perseveres and succeeds after a fashion.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, light PI novel. Entirely dialog driven, takes a minute to not be annoyed by the patter then you just go with it.

[Jayw]

Boob of a detective thinks he is helping teenager finds himself in hot water. He's inept so the more he tries to help the worse it gets.

[Ron Judenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

read

[Kathryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

didn't like, didn't finish