It Happened One Knife (A Double Feature Mystery)

Elliot Freed has long been a fan of the comedy team Lillis & Townes. When he finds out that Harry Lillis lives in a retirement center near his New Jersey home, he can't resist going for a visit and asking the comic to appear at a special screening of his classic CRACKED ICE. Things get even better when Les Townes also shows up. Elliot's soaring spirits are short lived, however, when Lillis mentions in passing that Townes killed his own wife in a fire 50 years before and got away with it. Despite the fact that all the evidence is long gone (not to mention on the other side of the country), Elliot begins poking around to see what he can find. And the response he gets makes him think that there is something to Lillis' claims. As if that weren't enough, a student film also has disappeared from his theater. Can Elliot figure out either crime? I was disappointed with the first book in the series, mainly because I knew the author could do better. I'm happy to report that this book is a return to form. The two plots move forward at consistent paces. The characters are highly entertaining, endearing, and real. I especially like Elliot's relationship with police chief Dutton. Their dueling wit is great. Which brings me to the humor. I didn't feel like it was forced here like in the first book. I found myself laughing quite a bit, in fact. My only complaint would be a climax that is a bit too theatrical, but it fits Elliot's character. And it sure did surprise me. I'm glad to be able to recommend this book. It's got a great plot, great characters, and lots of laughs.

I really enjoyed the first book in the Elliot Freed series, "Some Like It Hot-Buttered," but "It Happened One Knife" is even faster and funnier -- I laughed out loud for the first time on page 4, and stayed up past my bedtime finishing it. Elliot and the crew at his theater, along with his ex-wife Sharon and the local chief of police Barry Dutton, are a likable and appealing cast of characters, ones I'll look forward to meeting again and again in future books.

Jeffrey Cohen has done it again, made me laugh out loud while puzzling my way through his newest Elliot Freed mystery. This time Elliot gets a chance to meet one of his all-time comedy hero's, one half- of the comedy team of Lillis and Townes. The meeting happens when he get a chance to show one of their best movies, Cracked Ice, at his comedy theatre. Lillis arranges to do an appearance before the showing and from there the tale is off and running. Mix in Elliot's complicated relationship with ex-wife Sharon and his motley crew of young employees and you have a wonderful read. I love Jeff's writing style, his sense of humor and his ability to deftly mix his love of the puzzle with the outright funny. Congratulations Jeff, you did it again!

Hooray! IT HAPPENED ONE KNIFE has opened at a bookstore near you! Cohen's effortless, breezy and relentlessly upbeat style keeps you laughing. Nonstop. Uproariously. Slapstick, witty repartee, dry sarcasm, one-liners; Cohen has mastered them all. The mystery and the humor go hand-in-hand, seamlessly. Readers of all ages will love this book. After consuming KNIFE in one sitting, our teenage daughter actually emerged from her room demanding, and I do mean demanding, "who is this Jeffrey Cohen and why is he so funny?!". Is there any greater testimony to a tremendous talent? Buy this book and laugh; a lot.

The good news, Elliot Freed is back, in Jeffrey Cohen's newest book and the second in the series, It Happened One Knife." The better news, it's just as good as the first one [and that was very, very good]. Elliot has just re-opened his theater, Comedy Tonight, also known as The State's Only All-Comedy Movie Theatre, exclusively showing comedy classics alongside newly-released films. An unfortunate incident occurs the night before the officially re-opening when Anthony, the projectionist, is showing for the first time his very own film project, called "Killin' Time" [which Elliot, who was underwhelmed by Anthony's effort, sums up by saying "They're all dead. He didn't leave any of them alive." Not exactly comic fare]: The only copy of the film disappears from the projection room. Since no one other than Anthony and Elliot had keys to that room, the suspect list is narrow. [Vic, Elliot's film distributor, has a much higher opinion of the film, saying: "It's got blood. It's got cursing. Killing, sex, cruelty, characters nobody could possibly like. It can't miss."] But the missing film takes a backseat in Elliot's mind when he is given the opportunity of hosting his boyhood heroes, comic legends Lillis and Townes, at a showing of their greatest comic hit, "Cracked Ice." His awestruck enthusiasm is curbed, however, when Lillis tells Elliot that Townes killed his own wife [who Lillis had dated before she met Townes] in an arson fire many decades before, and Elliot decides he must figure out the truth about her death, however unlikely that seems. [He justifies it by saying:"I'm a classic comedy film fanatic. This is as close as I'm going to get to being involved with the movies I spend my life watching."] In between the mysteries, there is Elliot and his screwy cast of regulars, his ex-wife, with whom he may be moving past their weekly lunch dates to something closer akin to what they used to have when she sort of separates from her new husband; his father; his sullen, teenage feminist snack-counter person, Sophie, et al; and there is a smile, grin or guffaw on every page. [I didn't know there were that many ways to describe a monumentally large and probably steroid-enhanced male person, for instance.] The writing is so wonderful that before you know it people's lives have been endangered [or worse], mysteries have been solved, and you've finished a terrific book. Highly recommended.