Hitman

Welcome once again to the wacky world of Stanley Hastings, a private investigator who works for a negligence attorney who reaps in loads of slip-and-fall cases through TV advertising. Stanley does nothing more exciting than sign up clients to a retainer agreement and take pictures of broken steps and potholes and the like. That is until one day a hitman comes in to hire Stanley to prevent him from killing the person he has been hired to kill. The only problem is the "client" gives a false name and fails to identify the victim. Stanley undertakes the task, but then the hitman is shot dead and the person Stanley thought was the target also is shot and killed. From that point the plot gets more and more complicated and confusing. However, the story, writing and dialog are very funny, in keeping with the tenor of the earlier entries in the series. Stanley's wry comments are multiplied by those of his wife and favorite police officers, as well as his attorney-employer. Fun to read, and recommended.

Hall's forte (at least in this series) is speedy repartee. His efforts to obtain information, "hypothetically" from his detective friend McAuliffe sound like the Abbott & Costello "Who's On First?" routine (which still cracks me up after some 70 years). His discussions with Alice, his wife, remind me of a Burns & Allen skit. The plot is sufficiently rational, though nothing to brag about. A fast, easy, often hysterically funny read. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Stanley Hastings is, like his creator Parnell Hall, smart and funny. Hastings is a New York Private Investigator, like Hall. He doesn't carry a gun, he goes home to his wife, and he tries to do the right thing. In Hitman, Hastings finds himself embroiled in a case far from the usual slip and fall investigations. With a cast of fascinating characters, plot twists, and crisp and amusing dialogue, Hitman will entertain new and old fans of the Stanley Hastings series, and encourage Hall's readers to check out his other work as well. Read it where you can, even if it's not at the Silver Moon Bakery.