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Library | Audience | Home Location | Material Type | Shelf Number | Status |
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Summary
Author Notes
Parnell Hall is a part-time actor, a former private detective, singer/songwriter, and full-time writer of novels and screenplays. He writes the Stanley Hastings Mystery series, the Steve Winslow courtroom drama series, and the Puzzle Lady Mystery series. He also writes under the pseudonym J. P. Hailey. He wrote the screenplay to the 1984 movie C.H.U.D.
Hall co-authored New York Times bestseller Smooth Operator with Stuart Woods.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hall made his notable debut with Detective. His hero, timid New York City private eye Stanley Hastings, recounts his new exploits here. By turns hair-raising and hilarious, the story concerns the troubles of Pamela Berringer, who lives in the same building as the detective's family and has a child in their son's kindergarten class. Pamela has been forced into prostitution because a pimp holds a tape that shows her as a seemingly consenting sex partner of a ``client,'' but she was actually duped into the rendezvous. A thoroughly frightened Stanley goes to the pimp's lair in hopes that no one is at home so he can search for the tape. He finds it, but unluckily, he also finds the blackmailer fatally stabbed, and once more comes under fire from suspicious Sergeant MacAuliff, his nemesis in the first mystery. To clear his name, Hastings must produce evidence against the killer; in fear and trembling, he insinuates himself into the company of hoodlums and other murderous types. In the close, the author delivers a surprise that stresses the sleuth's warm, human side rather than his daring fecklessness. Troll Book Club selection; paperback rights to NAL. (January 29) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Earlier this year in Detective (p. 677), hapless, cowardly Stanley Hastings--ex-actor, would-be writer, part-time N.Y. paralegal investigator--made a funny, fresh debut as a Lawrence Block-ish accidental sleuth. This time, in an over-hasty encore appearance, Stanley is more obnoxious than engaging, leaning hard on his foul-mouthed patter to compensate for a sketchy, stringy plot. As a favor to wife Alice, Stanley agrees to help neighbor Pamela Berringer--who's been trapped into sleazy hookerdom by a Harlem pimp who has videotaped Pamela in X-rated action. Looking for that blackmail-tape, Stanley finds the pimp murdered, of course--and finds himself a suspect, unable to clear himself because he doesn't want to implicate poor Pamela. So Stanley must get evidence to nail the real killer: a nasty rival pimp. And, to mislead the cops (who are trailing him), Stanley casts suspicion on a creepy congressman who is one of the customers featured in those porno-tapes. There's sporadic amusement in Stanley's perilous run-ins with knife-wielding cons and sadistic cops; the Manhattan locales are seedily animated. But the shapeless action this time is too blatantly unreal, heavy on genre cliches, to provide finn suspense-comedy--while the potential sources for superior Stanley episodes (his paralegal work, his family ties) are left largely unexplored. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Disinclined detective Stanley Hastings is up to his eyeballs in trouble. A friend of the family, earning extra money as a call girl, is a reluctant participant in a blackmail racket. She wants out. Soon Hastings has become the top suspect in the murder of the girl's pimp. He's not alone, however, since the pimp had plenty of enemies: bitter employees, wealthy businessmen resenting a shakedown, and rival pimps eager to muscle in on lucrative earnings. This thoroughly inventive novel heralds the very welcome return of Stanley Hastings, whose first appearance was in Detective (Donald I. Fine, 1987). Beneath Hastings' gumshoe bluster lurks the heart of a confirmed wimp who alternates his inspired blundering with rare moments of ruthless cunning. PLR. [OCLC] 87-81424
