The B-Team: The Case of the Angry First Wife

by Melodie Campbell

Overview

Del's great-aunt, Kitty, has retired from a life of crime and embarked on a new venture, the B-Team. Although Del works at an animal shelter by day, by night she, her great-aunt and their cohorts, Dino and Ritz, use their criminal skills to right wrongs. In this fun book, the modern-day Robin Hoods set out to return a necklace to its rightful owner but along the way discover they've been duped by an imposter who also wants to get her hands on the necklace. The problem is, criminals can't go to the police, even if they are on the side of the good. Del comes up with a new plan, and the B-Team saves the day. Not without a few detours along the way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459818071
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	02/06/2018
Series:	Rapid Reads Series
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	4.75(w) x 7.25(h) x 0.37(d)

About the Author

Melodie Campbell is the winner of many awards, including the Derringer and Arthur Ellis Awards for crime writing. She has over 200 hundred publications, including 100 comedy credits, 40 short stories and the Goddaughter series in the Rapid Reads collection. Her work has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Star Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, Canadian Living, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail and many more. Melodie lives in Burlington, Ontario.

Read an Excerpt

"We're the B-Team. Maybe not your first choice, but, dammit, it could be your best choice. We deal in justice, not the law. Sometimes the law lets you down. We try to rectify that."

Editorial Reviews

"The Canadian literary heir to Donald Westlake."

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

"Campbell tells a full force mystery novel in a rapid read package…Her style is plot forward, fuelled by feel-real, snappy dialogue that reveals the sense of place right down to the street corner. The B-Team…[is] delivered with intensity and laughter."

Canadian Mystery Reviews Don Graves

"The B-Team is well written, attention grabbing and fun. Once started, most readers will be hooked and have a hard time putting the book down. "

CM Magazine

2017-11-28
While trying to reunite a diamond necklace with its former owner, a vigilante ignores her suspicions about the fairness of the case, to the detriment of her colleagues in nonprofessional justice.The B-team is an amateur investigation squad bent on righting wrongs. At least, that's how Del's great-aunt Kitty pitches it when she asks Del to lead the crew. Kitty recruits Dino, Del's twin brother, and Ritz, Del's friend from high school days, to round out the group. Kitty's latest candidate for vigilante justice is an ex-wife who wants to recover a diamond necklace her husband reportedly got sole custody of in the divorce. While Ritz and Del are casing the joint for a planned burglary, they come face to face with someone else lurking outside. Del recognizes the man as Mac, a high school acquaintance she always wanted to get to know better. Mac may recognize Del, but by the time Ritz is done with him, he's out cold and in no state to revisit old times. Distracted by Kitty's repeated demand that Del and Ritz finish the job, Del's also apprehensive. She got into this business to fight injustices, not to reunite the rich with their baubles. While Del and the rest of the B-team execute the plan, she wonders whether her instincts were right: maybe they aren't fixing an injustice but being tricked into perpetrating one.Less fully realized than Campbell's last rapid read (Worst Date Ever, 2017), with a skeletal back story that may make readers feel that they've jumped into the middle of a series instead of devouring a stand-alone.

Kirkus Reviews

02/01/2018
Although Del's great-aunt Kitty has retired from the cat burglar business, she still has plans for the family, enlisting Del to run her new business modeled on the TV series The A-Team. Del has a day job at an animal shelter but at night, she, Kitty, and cohorts Dino and Ritz avenge the victims of scams. Del feels uneasy with Kitty's latest job, though. A wife who lost everything in a divorce wants her diamond necklace back from wife number two. Despite a few hiccups, the team retrieves the jewelry. Then, they learn they've been hoodwinked by an imposter posing as the first wife. A team of "Robin Hoods" can't go to the police, but they can find a way to recover the goods. VERDICT The latest entry in the publisher's "Rapid Reads" series of high-low novels aimed at adults with a third-grade reading level, Campbell's (The Bootlegger's Goddaughter) humorous mystery is for readers who enjoy a cast of quirky characters with unusual talents. Fans of older television shows featuring likable cons working for the underdogs, such as The A-Team or Leverage, might appreciate this caper.—Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Library Journal

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