New York Times-bestselling author Lisa Lutz conspires with-or should we say against?-coauthor David Hayward to write an original and hilarious tag-team crime novel. Meet Paul and Lacey Hansen: orphaned, pot-growing twentysomething siblings eking out a living in rural Northern California. When a headless corpse appears on their property, they can't exactly dial 911, so they move the body and wait for the police to find it. Instead, the corpse reappears, a few days riper . . . and an amateur sleuth is born. Make that two. When collaborators Lutz and Hayward (former romantic partners) start to disagree about how the story should unfold, the body count rises, victims and suspects alike develop surprising characteristics (meet Brandy Chester, the stripper with the Mensa IQ), and sibling rivalry reaches homicidal intensity. Think Adaptation crossed with Weeds. Will the authors solve the mystery without killing each other first? Watch Videos
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"This is a quirky and hilarious novel, a story within a story. Within the main mystery plot is a side story--the book is being co-written by two authors, ex-lovers, and their increasingly snarky comments at the end of each chapter. Very entertaining and different. "
— Homerun2 (4 out of 5 stars)
" This was a funny book. Lisa's chapters were her usual style, a la Spellman. David's were different but also funny. I do think the funniest parts, however, were their notes back and forth to each other in between chapters. I LOL in places, so I'm giving it 5 stars. "
— Glennie, 2/19/2014" I kind of liked this quirky, funny relationship book masquerading as a crime mystery. As a warning to my friends it does have some bad language in it. "
— Kirstin, 2/16/2014" I bought this book after falling in love with Lutz's Spellman series. However, it was nowhere near as good. I had a really hard time getting into this book. I enjoyed Lisa and David's conversations more than I did the story line of this novel. The ending was decent but I just felt like it was drug out too far. "
— Brooke-Book, 2/16/2014" Clever, entertaining, and funny. [Book:Spellman] fans will not be disappointed. "
— Elizabeth, 2/2/2014" By page 28 I was laughing out loud. It take real talent to write a book this bad the format was totally funny. It has been months if not years since i read such a funny book. "
— Patrick, 1/28/2014" Expected more after hearing the authors interviewed. It was a great interview and a so-so book. "
— Kathleen, 1/28/2014" Went from clever to bad... "
— Casey, 1/10/2014" I would actually give this 3.5, but what the heck...I'll give it 4 since I don't have that option. I thought it was very clever, almost too clever. Still, very fun. "
— Joelle, 1/8/2014" Read this story for the snarky exchange between Lisa Lutz and David Hayword. It's especially fun in audiobook format. "
— Diana, 12/28/2013" Not as funny as the Spellman series, but still made me laugh. "
— Shannon, 12/14/2013" While not well written in the typical sense, the back and forth of Lutz and her ex, David Hayward make this book impossible to read without laughing out loud. "
— Karen, 12/5/2013" 3.5 stars. The concept of the book is pretty clever (dueling authors write a mystery) and I enjoyed it, but towards the end I wanted them to stop bickering and solve the murders already. "
— Bonnie, 7/18/2013" I felt that the book was a little gritty. Also, the emails between the authors, which were inserted in the book was a unwanted interruption. But, overall I enjoyed the book. "
— Ann, 9/1/2012" Meh.....This book had an interesting concept but just got boring and redundant. I just did not care what ultimately happened to these characters. I like Lisa Lutz's other books, just not this one. "
— Paula, 6/6/2012" Compelling and interesting murder mystery with a dysfunctional relationship between the authors that is chronicled between the chapters - how can you go wrong? "
— Cortney, 2/20/2012" The way this book is written and the authors comments to each other during the writing is better than the actual story. A very fun read! "
— Sally, 10/14/2011" Not as successful as her Spellman series, but mildly entertaining. "
— Becky, 5/24/2011" Lutz always makes me laugh! This is really a two-for-one as there are parallel stories going on... the one that the authors are telling and the one that the authors are living. Definitely worth the read. "
— Julianne, 5/22/2011" Cute gimmick at first but got really annoying towards the end. Give me a well formulated book any day. "
— Melissa, 5/22/2011" I love Lisa Lutz. Her books are very fast, "in between" reads. "
— Lisa, 5/19/2011" Gruesome tale of a serial killer and the orphaned, pot-growing, twenty something siblings who bring him to justice is nothing like Lutz's highly entertaining and often hilarious Spellman quartet. "
— Caroline, 5/17/2011" The authors alternated writing the chapters. For the Spellman fans, yes, there are footnotes (but not as many nor as long as the ones in the Spellman books). Between chapters, there is correspondence between the authors. "
— Elaine, 5/16/2011" Still laugh out loud, but it is Lisa Lutz light. Loved the ending. "
— Louise, 5/13/2011" A little confusing since the chapters went back and forth between the two authors, but the notes were entertaining... "
— Laura, 5/12/2011Lisa Lutz is the New York Times bestselling, Alex Award-winning author of the Spellman Files series and The Swallows, among other novels. She has also written for film and TV, including HBO's The Deuce.
Abby Craden has been a professional actress and voice artist for over sixteen years and can be heard in numerous television and radio commercials, video games, and audiobooks. She has twice won the AudioFile Earphones Award.
Abby Craden has been a professional actress and voice artist for over sixteen years and can be heard in numerous television and radio commercials, video games, and audiobooks. She has twice won the AudioFile Earphones Award.