The Highly Effective Detective Goes to the Dogs

Having thoroughly enjoyed Yancey's first entry in this "detective" series starring the bumbling, ineffectual, but charming and ultimately triumphant Teddy Ruzak, I picked up the new story with eager anticipation. I was not disappointed at all. Yancey continues to add detail to Teddy's daily life and background on how he got to be the way he is. Even when not officially "detecting", but only consulting, Ruzak not only unravels the mystery, after some delightful twists and turns, he also amuses the reader greatly while doing so. Yancey at his best reminds me of Donald Westlake--quirky, ironic, and full of wit. I'm impatiently awaiting new entries in this enjoyable series!

Teddy Ruzak, the "Highly Effective Detective", has a bent for musing on philosophy, a knack for falling short of his ambitions, and a keen and refined ability to take what appear to be unadventurous circumstances and make them fraught with unexpected complexities. He also has a deadpan narrative style which conceals, and then adds nuance to, his ability to unravel a mystery. I had not read the introductory volume in this series, but found I could easily find my way into the Ruzakverse. Author Rick Yancey takes delicious liberties with the detective genre, creating a light, comic detective novel which is an enjoyable read. This is (and this satirizes) the type of mystery novel that one might read in the era from 1920 to 1940. The dialogue is a bit more modern, so that a word or two of the "seven words" banned from broadcast media do appear. The result is a light comic novel with mystery trappings which amuses--an intelligent middle-brow bit of fun.

For the second time Teddy Ruzak fails the Tennessee private investigator licensing exam; he also failed the police exam. Already despondent, he knows the two strikes your out state rule. He is notified to shut his practice. Teddy leaves his office only to notice a homeless man just outside; he gives the man his hat. The next day, Teddy returns to his office only to see the same man dead in the ally behind the building. Someone beat the homeless person to death. Rationalizing that he does not have a paying customer so he is breaking no violations, Teddy begins to investigate even as he is joined by Archie the clever sleuthing canine so intelligent he was residing at the pound and the pound desk assistant U of T philosophy student Amanda. Teddy is terrific in his second appearance as THE HIGHLY EFFECTIVE DETECTIVE who bumbles his way through the investigation. The story line is driven by Teddy who's "Noir-lit" asides and his sleuthing companions make for an amusing Tennessee waltz as he struggles to solve the case, feed the dog, and get the woman. His successful ineptitude makes for a fun anti-hardboiled detective. Harriet Klausner