Long Time No See Unabridged: A Novel [Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Courtney Logan, who retired from a financial occupation to stay home with her family and, as a sideline, had developed a small business of her own, has disappeared. She went to get some apples and although her vehicle was found in the garage she disappeared. Five months later her body is found in the pool under the pool liner with two bullet wounds to her head.

Judith, who is a history teacher and had lost her husband two years earlier, is a curious person. Since the loss of her husband she has been at loose endes and finds she needs something to give her life meaning. Years ago she had helped solve a mystery and felt the same stirrings in her to help get to the bottom of this one. During the other case, she had an affair with a cop for six months and then broke it off because they didn't want to hurt their families and now he, Nelson Sharpe, is back on the scene. They still have that old attraction to each other but will they follow their desires?

The police are looking at the husband but she doesn't think he did it and goes to him, Greg Logan, to offer her assistance. He runs her off, but his father, "Fancy Phil" Lowenstein, a mob boss, finds out and asks her to help. Greg had changed his name so that people wouldn't know who his father was and be judged because of his father's occupation. He was trying to lead a clean, honest life.

Judith questions several of Courtney's friends and acquaintances
and finds a wide variety of descriptions of what kind of person Courtney was like. Each person seemed to see her a little differently. Who was she? Judith keeps digging for the truth and finds more questions than answers.

She portrays her characters in a realistic manner with a good dose of humor, by which I mean, they are colorful characters who could have had better morals, but people we see all around us at times. Hopefully not as frequently as we read in the book, but then this is only a book.

I highly recommend the book. It is very entertaining.

Judith, now a widow for two years, has earned her doctorate in history and teaches at a local upscale college. She has mourned her husband, who though not the love of her life, was a much loved companion. She hasn't seen the love of her life, Homicide Detective Nelson Sharpe for twenty years. At their last meeting they made a mutual vow never to meet again. Nelson, however, lurks in Judith's mind, never far from her thoughts.

The now Dr. Singer has never lost the "detective bug" either, which she picked up in "Compromising Positions." When a local mother of two, Courtney Logan, suddenly disappears, the mystery peaks her interest. When Courtney's body is found, weeks later, in the family's covered pool, Judith's long suppressed detective instincts, chomp at the bit! Desperate for accurate information about the homicide, Judith actually knocks at the Logan's door and questions the uncommunicative, grieving husband, Greg Logan. What chutzpah! Logan's father, the renowned, very gauche, and dangerous gangster, Philip "Fancy Phil" Lowenstein, hears about Judith's visit, and pays her a visit himself. Yoiks! Actually, Lowenstein hires our "would-be sleuth" informally, to see what she can discover. The Nassau Police believe that his son Greg is the murderer, and have not made much of an effort to find another perp. "Fancy Phil" remembers Judith's effectiveness from "Compromising Position" days and hopes she will come up with some helpful clues...or maybe an answer to "who done it."

The mystery is a good one with some surprises. Romantic sparks fly with the reappearance of Nelson Sharpe. And Ms. Isaacs' wit is as sharp as ever. There is nothing deep here; no gripping suspense, nor complex characters or plot. "Long Time No See" is a fun and entertaining read, however. And if you're a Susan Isaacs fan, you'll love it!

The plot involves life in upper middle class Long Island, and the disappearance of a "mom" who is found months later in the swimming pool (which had been covered all winter). The dead woman's husband, the son of gangster Fancy Phil, is the obvious suspect -- too obvious. Judith offers her services to him to help "research" who really committed the murder; he declines but Fancy Phil accepts her offer. She refuses to take money from Phil but otherwise he has made her an offer she can't refuse. Complicating all of this is her reconnection with a former lover Nelson -- a police detective who is supposed to be investigating Fancy Phil. Judith pursues her investigation into the murdered woman's past -- with Nelson's simultaneous help and opposition.

I was genuinely surprised at the twist the plot took but found the "solution" to the mystery believable. Isaacs' mysteries always seem to me to be like watching a good movie -- they are very visual in their descriptions and the characters come alive. Her humorous take on affluent suburban life will be particularly amusing for those who have been there (which I haven't -- but perhaps that makes the sly commentary even funnier for me.)