Die Laughing is the 4th Amos Parisman PI mystery by Andy Weinberger. Released 3rd Oct 2023 by Turner Books, it's 256 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
This is an engaging, sarcastic, very much character driven PI mystery set in Hollywood, The protagonist who lives and breathes through the first person narration, is a smart-alecky old school gumshoe whose reminiscences on the comedy of yesteryear give the whole a somewhat nostalgic vibe.
The plot develops slowly/deliberately, and the measured pace isn't always completely in agreement with the seriousness of what was happening. Additionally, despite the sarcasm, some of the dialogue is stilted and a bit flat. As always, however, the author is quite adept at constructing an engaging, well engineered plot and satisfying denouement.
Despite being the 4th book in the series, it works well enough as a standalone. The language is rough, but not overly so for a semi-hard-boiled PI mystery. MC Amos is pragmatic, indelibly Jewish, and dogged. There's a fair bit of Yiddish slang involved which is easy to understand in context and adds a lot of color to the read.
Four stars. Well wrought mystery, occasionally uneven dialogue, but overall very engaging and worthwhile.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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