The Spellman Files

The Spellman Files (2007) Lisa Lutz

The book opens with the main character involved in a car chase. The next chapter has the main character–Isabelle–being interviews. Then we go way back into the past.

The main character, Isabelle Spellman, is a private investigator for her family’s PI firm. She has a checkered past, and a very very strange family. She also tells her story through the lens of past investigations and lists and the other ways she organizes her thoughts and feelings the way she investigates a case.

Izzy has a very strange family. Of course, being raised as a private investigator probably warps the way you look at the world, and much of this book is a look at why Izzy is warped, and why her past is key to the events at hand.

As I said, the book is written in a somewhat unusual manner–as if Izzy were reviewing her past the way she would review her case. But it wasn’t a difficult style and very enjoyable to read. It’s also very funny.

Izzy has a quirky sense of humor and a quirky past, and I can see how the style might not be for everyone–this certainly isn’t a classical PI mystery in any sense, but I thought it was fun, and it was certainly enjoyable.
Rating: 8/10

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