writerlibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Not as good as the last two novels featuring Hitchcock Sewell, amateur detective in his spare time and funeral parlor director the rest of the time. We find in this novel a friend of Hitch being accused of murder but Lucy is one unlucky girl and a bit of a simple girl too. There is plenty of people who wanted her boyfriend dead but she's the most convenient suspect since she shot him. An intricate plot that takes way to long to gel, too much of zany Julia, bad guys that are more cartoon than bad and a depressed private eye slow down the pace and my enjoyment of this novel. Won't stop me from reading the next one but this is an average title in the series.
realbooks4ever's review
4.0
Tim Cockey’s third book in his ‘Hearse’ series, the 2002-published THE HEARSE CASE SCENARIO, is a very funny tale of undertaker Hitchcock ‘Hitch’ Sewell’s investigation of a local murder.
I thought I knew who the murderer was, changed my mind, changed it back, and not once was I right. A part of what makes a great mystery is this: a story where you can’t guess the ending.
The story starts with Hitch’s friend Lucy appearing at his funeral home and telling him she just killed her boyfriend Shrimp, a local who owns a popular jazz lounge. More murders pile up and lots of people may have the motives to do them. Meanwhile: Krishnas give away food, a man has hands the size of toasters, and a large painting is maneuvered out of a second story window.
As I’ve said, this is a great mystery just in the fact that you can’t guess the murderer (at least I didn’t). Other strengths of this book include the great building of characters and the several sub-plots going on.
My favorite character has to be Hitch himself with his slanted look at life. His conversations with his P.I. friend Pete Munger are classic. Hitch has a fabulously dry sense of humor. I LOVED it and kept laughing out loud all through the book.
I believe everyone who likes a good modern mystery will enjoy THE HEARSE CASE SCENARIO.
I thought I knew who the murderer was, changed my mind, changed it back, and not once was I right. A part of what makes a great mystery is this: a story where you can’t guess the ending.
The story starts with Hitch’s friend Lucy appearing at his funeral home and telling him she just killed her boyfriend Shrimp, a local who owns a popular jazz lounge. More murders pile up and lots of people may have the motives to do them. Meanwhile: Krishnas give away food, a man has hands the size of toasters, and a large painting is maneuvered out of a second story window.
As I’ve said, this is a great mystery just in the fact that you can’t guess the murderer (at least I didn’t). Other strengths of this book include the great building of characters and the several sub-plots going on.
My favorite character has to be Hitch himself with his slanted look at life. His conversations with his P.I. friend Pete Munger are classic. Hitch has a fabulously dry sense of humor. I LOVED it and kept laughing out loud all through the book.
I believe everyone who likes a good modern mystery will enjoy THE HEARSE CASE SCENARIO.
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