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BLUE (As In Dead): A Harry Simmons Mystery

 
 
BLUE (As In Dead): A Harry Simmons Mystery
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BLUE (As In Dead): A Harry Simmons Mystery

Say your husband dies mysteriously, wouldn’t you want the one million buck insurance settlement you are entitled to? Seattle insurance investigator Harry Simmons has to find out why a widow, a Roman History professor at the University of Washington, is trying to avoid the money at all costs. And who has hired Nikki Yamamoto, top-tier criminal defense attorney to help Harry? Or is she supposed to distract him, which she easily does? Then people begin to shoot at Harry, not accurately, but enough to annoy him and make him more determined to find out what’s going on. When Harry declines a bribe, the campus cop offering it ends up murdered, and you guessed it, Harry is the prime suspect. Before long, the heavily guarded widow is raped and strangled, and her daughter kidnapped. Who commits that unusual combination of crimes? After almost being killed himself, Harry eventually ties the ends together in the sometimes lethal utility tunnels under the UW campus. David Zeigler has worked in Canadian logging camps, served in the U.S. Marine Corps, been a high school history teacher and worked in the legal department of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company. He lives in Seattle with his wife, and is writing the next Harry Simmons mystery, “RED (As In Blood)”

SKU: 

83,1439207364,15.0,1439207364,02

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Product Details:
Author: David Zeigler
Paperback: 246 pages
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Publication Date: September 26, 2008
Language: English
ISBN: 1439207364
Package Length: 8.9 inches
Package Width: 5.9 inches
Package Height: 0.9 inches
Package Weight: 0.55 pounds
Average Customer Rating: based on 2 reviews
 
 

Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Review:4.5 ( 2 customer reviews )
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3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

4Harry Simmons: a definite cut above  Oct 24, 2008
By Dr. Johnny
This is one of those books that you really need to enjoy by reading excerpts out loud with a good friend. Hilarious, quirky, sometimes beyond the wildest of imaginations, all begin to describe the characters and little vignettes surrounding the life of lead protagonist Harry Simmons in BLUE (As In Dead).

An old friend of mine, knowing that I like off-beat humor and a good murder mystery (difficult to find under one cover), not to mention insights into Seattle culture (which are sprinkled throughout BLUE like gold nuggets) sent me a copy of this new novel with the words "must read" on an attached Post-it. I took it on a recent trip to British Columbia and began this wonderful read on a two hour ferry crossing through the Gulf Islands. I was really irritated when the boat approached the Duke Point landing and I had to stuff the book into my back pack. (I'm sure the passengers around my wife and me wondered what the heck was so intriguing.)

Written with a big dose of crime noir, just like Sam Spade or Phillip Marlowe, BLUE'S primary character Harry Simmons is a wise cracking, half-cynical, half-romantic, first-person narrative detective (actually Harry's an insurance adjustor). And he's very lucky with the ladies, I might add.

With BLUE, Zeigler has masterfully crafted a well researched Seattle based novel. The many fascinating story tangents are supported by the author's high octane and sometimes bizarre imagination. This is perhaps first realized in a scene toward the beginning of the book where a gorgeous young client of Harry's named Ramona meets up with a polygamous Mormon elder named Ezra, who is planning to wed her. Is Ezra ever in for a shocker!

One neat little touch throughout the book is the smattering of "Editor's Notes," which are oddly pertinent to the story, and which only a history buff with an encyclopedic mind for obscure trivia could conjure up. But I guess these "notes" are understandable, given that the author's bio says he is a history teacher (retired). I bet his classroom lectures were filled with digressions that students, in a state of disbelief, went home to google for factualism. Not a bad teaching technique.

Most readers of contemporary murder mysteries know of a worn Seattle based detective (no names) who has, well frankly, gotten a bit old (hint: think J.P., and I don't mean J.P. Patches the Seattle clown). If you liked that old S.P.D. cop, you will love Harry Simmons, who for my money is a definite cut above. I can't wait for the next episode!

5In the Chandler tradition  Oct 28, 2008
By Robert Collman
This is a mystery in the mould of Parker or Crais - not Christie. The dialog is sharp and often very funny and Simmons, an insurance adjuster, not only gets on with the investigation, but gets off as well. There are plenty of interesting, but plausable, characters to keep him busy.

The action is mostly in Seattle, giving LA, Boston and Miami a rest. The plot hangs together and there is enough action to keep the pages turning.

I look forward to the next effort from Mr. Zeigler.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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