Revenge of the Spellmans

A Novel

By: Lisa Lutz

Narrated by: Ari Graynor

From the award-winning author of The Passenger comes the third novel in the hilarious Spellman Files mystery series featuring Isabel “Izzy” Spellman and her highly functioning yet supremely dysfunctional family of private investigators.

Private investigator Isabel Spellman is back on the case and back on the couch—in courtordered therapy after getting a little too close to her previous subject, leaving Izzy on hiatus from Spellman Inc. But when her boss, Milo, simultaneously cuts her bartending hours and introduces her to a “friend” looking for a private eye, Izzy reluctantly finds herself with a new client. She assures herself that the case—a suspicious husband who wants his wife tailed—will be short and sweet, and will involve nothing more than the most boring of PI rituals: surveillance. But with each passing hour, Izzy finds herself with more questions than hard evidence.

Meanwhile, Spellmania continues. Izzy’s brother, David, the family’s most upright member, has adopted an uncharacteristically unkempt appearance and attitude toward work, life, and Izzy. And their wayward youngest sister, Rae, a historic academic underachiever, aces the PSATs and subsequently offends her study partner and object of obsession, Detective Henry Stone, to the point of excommunication. The only unsurprising behavior comes from her parents, whose visits to Milo’s bar amount to thinly veiled surveillance and artful attempts (read: blackmail) at getting Izzy to return to the Spellman Inc. fold.

As the case of the wayward wife continues to vex her, Izzy’s personal life—and mental health—seem to be disintegrating. Facing a housing crisis, she can’t sleep, she can’t remember where she parked her car, and, despite her shrinks’ (yes, plural) persistence, she can’t seem to break through in her appointments. She certainly can’t explain why she forgets dates with her lawyer’s grandson, or fails to interpret the come-ons issued in an Irish brogue by Milo’s new bartender. Nor can she explain exactly how she feels about Detective Henry Stone and his plans to move in with his new Assistant DA girlfriend.

Filled with the signature side-splitting Spellman antics, Revenge of the Spellmans is an ingenious, hilarious, and disarmingly tender installment in the Spellman series.©2009 Lisa Lutz; (P)2009 Simon and Schuster

Couldn't stop listening

Lisa Lutz has delivered another deliciously funny out take of Izzy's world. She's being blackmailed, pushed around by an old man and she can't find her car. I laughed so hard my nose ran. I'm already getting a tissue ready for her next book.

Lighthearted fun!

Easy to listen to- lighthearted and humorous. I would definitely recommend. Also it was something that you can listen to with your entire family and no one will blush!

love this series

Her Spellman series is an easy going and funny read. I have read them all now I am listening to them all

Love the Spellmans!

Easy listening. Good story. I already own the series digitally. have bought 2 of the audiobooks so far.

Need therapy?

If therapy has been suggested, read this first. This hilarious read will show you some tricks on how to avoid making any progress with therapy, including mastering the long pause. Again, the Spellmans entertain with their distrust of family members, solving cases that are not at all what they seem, and heartwarming relationships that are disguised as nuclear war zones. Lutz ability to create rich characters is proven once more with the addition of a new bartender, a new girlfriend, and further development of the existing dossier.