Scam: A Stanley Hastings Mystery Novel

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but Stanley Hastings -- Parnell Hall's New York private investigator -- is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you know what I mean. But he is the funniest p.i. in mysteries today. Don't misunderstand me. Hastings has enough brains to handle his job, which mostly involves recruiting accident victims for the attorney he works for. But when it comes to a real case, the reactions of the people who know him -- his boss, Richard Rosenberg, his short-suffering wife, Alice (who loves him, but doesn't take as a personal insult his lack of mental acuity) and his contact on the police force, Sgt. MacAuliff -- all respond in the same way: "Somebody hired you?" In "Scam," Hall's 12th book, Hastings is hired by a man who chatted up a girl in a bar, and woke up hours later on the street. The man feels he is being set up, but he doesn't know by whom or why. Hastings finds the girl, but that is the last easy thing that happens, as New York's most hapless detective bumbles into a scheme involving a company's proxy fight and Hastings becomes suspect number one in three murders. Hall's books are characterized by dialog-friendly writing and tight plotting, and the shaggy-dog feel of "Scam" is funny as it is clever. Stanley, too, can be a kick to watch working. While he's an easy target, he's also decent and honorable, worrying as much as Nintendo's moral effect on his son as the three murder charges have on him. Despite the humiliation and ribbing he receives, he presses onward, which makes him -- surprise, surprise! -- an admirable figure. While waiting for the refrigerator light to go on inside Hastings' head, Hall throws in enough plot twists and genial insults to keep the reader's attention until the inevitable and satisfying finish.

I have read all of Parnell Hall's Stanley Hastings mysteries. Scam lives up to his reputation as a funny, creative and inventive writer. The plot is so well-written that there are no loose ends at all-the entire Scam is like a sting operation. Ihope Mr. Hall's characters lives on and on

Cranston Pritchert hires New York private investigator Stanley Hastings to learn more about a woman he recently met in a singles bar, one who may be used to hurt him at his job at the Philip Greenberg Investment Company. Stanley thinks the story is full of holes, but Cranston is a paying customer and that is more important than indulging in one's pride of being used. Stanley accepts the case and starts to investigate who the woman is and why someone at Cranston's firm would want to set the man up to take a fall. ..... Stanley eventually identifies Cranston's singles pick up, but also finds a corpse. Soon other people involved in the case are also murdered. Stanley is framed by a rogue cop and arrested as the evidence against him piles up. Out on bail, he knows he better uncover the identity of the real killer before he is legally fried or locked away for several lifetimes. ..... SCAM will remind the reader of the classic Newman-Redford film, THE STING. It is just as entertaining with several twists to the story line and great characters providing a feel for the City. Especially interesting is Stanley, who proved he could act when he had to pull off the big SCAM. Parnell Hall scores big time with this humorous tale just as he always does. .....Harriet Klausner