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Product Description
Amazon.ca
In this third Camilla MacPhee mystery, the no-nonsense, pain-in-the-ass victims' advocate and part-time investigator is once again dragged into a situation she feels she cannot avoid. Jimmy Ferguson, the brain-damaged brother of her multiply-pierced assistant, Alvin, has disappeared in Sydney, Nova Scotia, where Camilla arrives to provide her generally unwanted and unappreciated help, while uncovering multiple secrets from the town's distant past. Camilla must deal with the Fergusons (a stiff family if not quite a family of stiffs), semitruculent police forces in Cape Breton and Ottawa, and Gussie, a friendly dog with a bad case of flatulence. As always, she's ably assisted by her neighbor, Mrs. Parnell, 79, who chain-smokes Benson & Hedges, guzzles Harvey's Bristol Cream, and treats the case like a military campaign in wartime Italy.
Maffini is particularly adept at finding the humour in difficult situations. With an admirably complex plot, the novel fairly zips along, relying mostly on dialogue with minimal description of the various locales. The characters have all the irritating quirks and foibles of real people and are well delineated, especially the befuddled Jimmy and the ever irascible and engaging Camilla. --Mark Frutkin
Quill and Quire
"...a pleasant and challenging read...supported by well-defined ancillary characters and some engaging subplots."
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Bump In The Road,
By
This review is from: Little Boy Blues: A Camilla MacPhee Mystery (Paperback)
I really enjoyed the first two Camilla MacPhee stories. So, I was really looking forward to this third adventure. I must say that I was very disappointed. I found that the "bad guy" was identified early on in the story. I found many of the new characters flat and wooden, while the supporting characters did grow a little. I think the thing that I disliked the most was that the author allowed her politics to enter the story. Sorry, but I'm not interested. A mystery should allow me to get away from politics, not find them. I understand that a new Camilla MacPhee story is due in 2003. I can only hope that this was just a bump on the road, rather than the future direction.
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Hiccup on the road to Sydney,
By
This review is from: Little Boy Blues: A Camilla MacPhee Mystery (Paperback)
I really enjoyed Mary Jane Maffini's first two Camilla MacPhee stories. So, I was really looking forward to this one. I'm afraid I was truly disappointed. I found that I knew the identity of the "bad guy" very early on. The story took several predictable twists as it moved along. But, I think the thing that I disliked the most was that the author allowed her politics to enter the story. Sorry, but I'm not interested. There is slated to be a fourth Camilla MacPhee mystery dues in 2003. Hopefully, this will have just been a poor outing.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Camilla's Cross-Country Capers,
By
This review is from: Little Boy Blues: A Camilla MacPhee Mystery (Paperback)
The third entry in the Camilla MacPhee series finds the feisty Ottawa victims' advocate looking forward to life without her bete noire assistant, the annoying Alvin Ferguson, who has secured a job at an upscale local gallery. Just before Camilla can hoist a cold one in celebration, word comes from Alvin's family in Sidney, Nova Scotia, that his vulnerable younger brother has disappeared. The usually acerbic Alvin is paralysed with grief, but Camilla comes to the rescue, along with the martial strategy of the venerable Violet Parnell. In a borrowed Buick, they make a whirlwind trip to the Maritimes in search of clues to the boy's sudden vanishing. Brain-damaged by a tragic accident years ago, is he the angelic innocent he seems, or does his naivete mask a darker side? Is his quirky family a loyal team, or do they have something to hide, too? What are the police concealing in their Young Offender files?Maffini keeps the plot boiling as Alvin and Camilla comb alleys and interview a chip stand owner to trace Jimmy's last hours, stirring up old sins which threaten to destroy guarded lives. As usual, her trademark tongue-in-cheek humour provides a counterfoil to serious events: "You don't hear a slogan that says 'See Canada by Dark,' and for good reason." The redoubtable Mrs. Parnell plans World War II strategy as their unlikely squad, fuelled by Tim Horton doughnuts, speeds across provinces. Gussie the dog provides flatulent companionship and readers discover a touching new side to the cats-eye-glassed Alvin. Serving as an attractive and compelling frame is the famed Ottawa Bluesfest, a music festival which may be playing Camilla's swan song.
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