Rex Anderson, Lawnmower Blues

Lawnmower Blues

Rex Anderson

Five Star, Sep 2005, $25.95, 243 pp.

ISBN: 159414320X

In 1999 Houston private investigator Tony Aapt inherited a ton of debt when his grandfather died and left him the family sleuthing business. Fiftyish former bartender Maggie Hawk recently won a sweepstakes that guarantees her 500K per year for twenty years. She wants Tony, who frequented her bar with exaggerated tales of his work, to look into the death of her husband George W. Hawk in 1966. Tony looks at the detailed information she provides him and agrees with the official ruling of suicide until she begins to make a case that her spouse did not kill himself; he was murdered to steal his invention, a safe lawnmower blade.

Needing the money but feeling guilty as the clues will be cold and he has no experience with this type of inquiry Tony begins his investigation. He soon becomes convinced that people were paid off by the legendary lawnmower king Jason Woods to hide a homicide and a stolen invention, but how to prove it proves difficult especially when the target of his case offers him a job he cannot afford to refuse.

Tony makes the case fun to follow as he fumbles and bumbles the investigation, but perhaps it is in the DNA because he keeps moving forward one clue at a time. The hero is apt to fail not only due to his lack of experience, but also he is going up against a highly regarded superheavyweight who has much more power than when he seemingly bribed the world three decades ago. Fans will enjoy the twists to LAWNMOWER BLUES as Rex Anderson provides a fine mystery starring a wannabe hard boiled detective who is undercooked and truly a softy.

Harriet Klausner