Trail of the Spellmans (Spellman Files Series #5)

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More About This Book

Overview

FOR THE FIRST TIME in Spellman history, Isabel Spellman, PI, might be the most normal member of her family. Mom has taken on an outrageous assortment of extracurricular activities—with no apparent motive. Dad has a secret. Izzy’s brother and sister are at war—for no apparent reason. And her niece keeps saying “banana” even though she hates bananas.

That’s not to say that Izzy isn’t without her own troubles. Her boyfriend, Henry Stone, keeps wanting “to talk,” a prospect Isabel evades by going out with her new drinking buddy, none other than Gertrude Stone, Henry’s mother.

Things aren’t any simpler on the business side of Spellman Investigations. First, Rae is hired to follow a girl, only to fake the surveillance reports. Then a math professor hires Izzy to watch his immaculate apartment while he unravels like a bad formula. And as the questions pile up, Izzy won’t stop hunting for the answers—even when they threaten to shatter both the business and the family.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Three cases, all surveillance operations, start out routinely enough but prove anything but in Lutz’s engaging fifth novel featuring San Francisco PI Isabel “Izzy” Spellman and her eccentric family of investigators (after 2010’s The Spellmans Strike Again). A wife wants her husband followed; a brother wants his sister observed; and parents hire the Spellmans to keep tabs on their Berkeley freshman daughter. Things soon become more complicated as unexpected connections crop up among the initially unrelated cases. Meanwhile, siblings Rae and David are at war over an incident neither will discuss; mother Olivia is overbooked with strange new hobby classes; father Albert makes a major decision without informing his children; and Izzy, loathe to discuss her personal life, refuses to define her relationship with boyfriend Henry Stone. Lutz’s dry, biting humor is in full force, yet there’s more than a hint of melancholy to be found in Izzy’s increasingly solitary pursuits. Agent: Stephanie Kip Rostan, Levine Greenberg. (Mar.)
Library Journal
The Spellmans make a business out of quirkiness, and they're running at full tilt in title number five (after The Spellmans Strike Again). Izzy's the one who must maintain order. [See Prepub Alert, 8/26/11.]
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
America's most dysfunctional family of detectives (The Spellmans Strike Again, 2010, etc.) are up to their deerstalkers in another gaggle of featherweight cases. Even though the Spellmans have assigned themselves animal nicknames to make coded communications among themselves easier, they still can't conduct coherent conversations. Adam Cooper wants Isabel, the Gopher, to follow his sister Meg. Margaret Slayter wants Izzy's father Albert, the Tortoise, to follow her husband Edward. Harvey Blake wants Izzy's kid sister Rae, the Weasel, to follow his daughter Vivien. Walter Perkins, convinced that something will go wrong in his house every time he leaves, wants Izzy to keep checking on it. Izzy's mother Olivia, the Eagle, can't follow anyone because she's immersed herself in so many crazy hobbies (pottery, yoga, crocheting, Russian). Sydney, the 18-month-old niece of Izzy's brother David, is too young to follow anyone, but not too young to call everything she sees or wants "banana." Just in case this sitcom zaniness seems incomplete, there'll be unexpected roles for Gertrude Stone, mother of San Francisco police inspector Henry Stone, whom Izzy presciently refers to as "Ex-boyfriend #13" even as she's sleeping with him, and for Al's mother Ruth, the inimitable Grammy Spellman, along dozens of Izzy's winking footnotes, which are likely to leave readers first amused, then bemused, then sleepy. Through it all, the clients and their trifling mysteries are hard-pressed to compete for attention with the regulars, who spend far more time battling each other than battling evildoers. Lutz's title couldn't be more apt.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781451608120
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • Publication date: 2/28/2012
  • Pages: 384
  • Sales rank: 21,749
  • Series: Spellman Files Series , #5
  • Product dimensions: 6.52 (w) x 9.88 (h) x 1.16 (d)

Meet the Author

Lisa Lutz
Lisa Lutz

Lisa Lutz is the New York Times bestselling author of The Spellman Files and Curse of the Spellmans, a nominee of the 2008 Edgar Award for Best Novel. She is most recently the coauthor of Heads You Lose, written with David Hayward.

Read an Excerpt

THE MAN IN THE LIBRARY

For reasons that will forever remain a mystery, my sister scheduled the client meeting at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library—specifically, the government section, which is low traffic, offering privacy for a new client intake. The file was left on my desk with all the relevant details, including the time and place of the meeting and a brief description of the client: male, five feet eleven, brown hair, brown eyes, fortyish, average in every way (apparently his own description). The only other detail in the newly minted file was the client’s contact information and his name: Adam Cooper.

I arrived early, sat down at one of the glass-encased study desks, and read the same page of a chess theory book that I had been reading over and over again. When I heard footsteps approach, I immediately stuffed the book in my bag. The last thing I needed was to get ensnared in a long-winded discussion on chess strategy when I don’t know any.

Adam Cooper was indeed average in every way—the kind of guy who could confound a police lineup by virtually blending into the wall. That’s not to say that Mr. Cooper’s face was entirely void of character, but the character surfaced at unsuspected times. The only other thing worth mentioning was that he wore a navy-blue sweater vest. Any time someone under the age of sixty wears a sweater vest it’s worthy of comment.

“Are you the Gopher?” he asked me with an ironic grin.

“Excuse me?”

“The woman who confirmed the appointment said that I should ask you that question to be sure I was meeting the right individual.”

“You are meeting the right person,” I said.

I’d never been asked that specific question before—“Are you the Gopher?”—but I had a feeling where it originated from. And I can assure you that the originator was going to suffer the consequences.

“Why do they call you the Gopher?” he asked, smiling. And here, a spark of character surfaced, teeth short and crooked in a way that made him seem friendlier. Maybe it was the sweater vest he wore, or the goofy boat shoes, or the way his bangs hung a little too low on his face. If pressed at the time, the one word I would have used to describe Adam was “harmless.”

“Call me Isabel,” I replied.

“Is that your real name?”

“No. It’s ‘the Gopher.’ But I use ‘Isabel’ professionally,” I said.

“That makes sense,” Adam replied, taking a seat. “So, Mr. Cooper.”

“Call me Adam.”

“Adam, how can I help you?”

“I want you to follow my sister.”

© 2012 Spellman Enterprises, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 40 )

Rating Distribution

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(18)

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(13)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 40 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted November 14, 2011

    Exciting book

    I'm not all the way through the sample, but so far it's amazing. I'm so excited for when the book comes out!!!! I lisa lutz's writing!!!

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 7, 2012

    The Saga Continues

    This book could be subtitled, "Izzy Grows Up." While the antics of the Spellman family continue, this book has an underlying seriousness as circumstances change for everyone in the family. I think the added gravity takes the series in a good direction, still humorous, but not as frivolous as the earlier books. I look forward to the next installment.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 23, 2012

    If you are a fan of the series its a must read!

    Lisa Lutz is awesome. Document 5 introduces you to two more crazy characters and gives you closure on one. Grammy Spellman shows up to shake the Spellman house up, and Henry Stone's mother shows us why Henry is a tedious person. Fast and fun read!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 20, 2012

    Great book...Great series!

    Another great book in the Spellman series. I recommend reading them all in order to get background on the family. I can't wait to see what happens next.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 9, 2012

    Boring

    This book is boring in my opinion. It starts nowhere and continues to spin its wheels. Not worth the money to purchase or time to read it.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 9, 2012

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  • Posted April 5, 2012

    Laugh out loud

    I always enjoy Lisa Lutz's books and have a laugh out loud fun time reading them. Enjoyed seeing how she is aging all the usual suspects. Not rocket science, but definitely fun.

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  • Posted April 4, 2012

    more from this reviewer

    great read!!!!!!!

    I have read all of the Spellman books and they are fabulous!!! I recommend them to everyone. It will be slightly confusing if you read this one before starting with the 1st. It can be done though. Enjoy!!!!

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  • Posted April 3, 2012

    Fun read

    Love the whole series, very clever.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 31, 2012

    Wickedly Delightful

    The Spellmans are back and I’m enjoying the party. Isabel chronicles her family daily activities with their clients and with each other and oh my goodness, the hilarious antics and dialogue continues to entertain me in this well-written and fast-paced tale. The quirky and dysfunctional family have all grown up, well, at least the illusion exists, as they try to one-up one another as they tackle their case load with the normalcy that is their style. Welcome back Spellmans and I can’t wait for the next installment in this wickedly delightful and amusing series.

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  • Posted March 30, 2012

    Recommend it

    Fun book. This series isn't great literature but it is an enjoyable and entertaining read.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 30, 2012

    Just ok

    Started reading it but have not contnued because it has not cartured my attention. Too much "filling" for my taste.

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  • Posted March 29, 2012

    I had high hopes for this book, and I was very excited when I f

    I had high hopes for this book, and I was very excited when I found out that it had arrived. What a disappointment. I thought the earlier books were funny and even witty to a point, but this book is disjointed and blah. There were any number of interesting avenues and character issues to explore. I cannot find any redeeming features in Isabel; I just wish the author would say "ok drunken pothead, now your going to pay back society and grow up." Henry was milquetoast, and the other characters were throwaway too. It was almost like the author decided that she's forced to write x number of pages just to get the publisher or public off her back, so she's going to just throw together a bunch of random sentences. It was certainly wasted reading time for me (almost as wasteful as reading the story with her new druggie characters).

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  • Posted March 29, 2012

    A Complete Reversal

    I LOVED the Spellman books 1-4. I thought they were hilarious, and had characters that were both fun and interesting. The author spent 4 books writing about the Spellmans and moving their relationships forward. Book 4 really seemed to wrap up the series in a nice bow, so I was surprised to find out that there was a book 5. After reading it, I almost feel that the author was also surprised. It's almost like she realized that if she wanted to continue the series, she had to unwind almost everything she did in Book 4. While I still enjoyed that author's writing style, I was very disappointed to see most of the characters take a big step backwards.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 26, 2012

    Trails behind the other books in series but still fun

    Not my favorite of the Spellman Files but a good read nonetheless. Word to ebook readers, there are about 100 pages of footnotes so pay no notice to the page count or you'll think there is much more story left when it ends.

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  • Posted March 5, 2012

    #5 had the humor and I did like the story except for Henry and

    #5 had the humor and I did like the story except for Henry and Isabel. For some reason, probably my mental status, I found the break-up of the relationship very heartbreaking. Not sure how or if "Spellman's" will continue, but I do hope to read other Lisa Lutz's stories. Thank You!

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  • Posted March 2, 2012

    Don't get in a nook book

    The footnotes can become tedious in a normal book but in the nook book format, when you have to go back and forth to the end of the book in order to decipher them, it's downright irritating. They need to figure out another way to hole them or just drop them altogether.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 1, 2012

    Loved it!

    This is exactly what you would expect from Lisa Lutz. Fantastic!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 3, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 6, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

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