Spiral

John Francis Cuddy #13

by Jeremiah Healy

Still reeling from an unfathomable tragedy, Boston P.I. John Francis Cuddy agrees to help a former Vietnam-era comrade who is searching for his granddaughter's killer. The thirteen-year-old was found dead in Colonel Nicolas Helides' heavily guarded mansion on the Intracoastal Waterway. Used by her own father to revive his rock band, called Spiral, Veronica Helides had been molded into a sexually provacative rock starlet. By the time someone drowned her, murder was merely the last crime committed against her. Now Cuddy is picking apart a cast of players in the life of Colonel Heilides and the girl everyone called "Very." From Helides' depressive son to former groupies, from a mysterious spiritual adviser to the woman who married the colonel for his money, Cuddy is seeing the worst of human nature at a time when his own heart is broken in two. As if that were not enough, the killing of Veronica Helides may not have been the isolated act it first appeared.

Genres: Mystery

388 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

About the author

aka Terry Devane

Jeremiah Healy was the creator of the John Francis Cuddy private-investigator series and the author of several legal thrillers. A former sheriff's officer and military police captain, Healy was also a graduate of Rutgers College and the Harvard Law School. He practiced law in Boston before teaching for eighteen years at the New England School of Law. His first novel, BLUNT DARTS, was published in 1984 and introduced Cuddy, the Boston-based private eye who has become Healy¹s best-known character. Moral, honest--and violent, when need-be--Cuddy makes his living solving cases that have fallen through the cracks of the formal judicial system.

Of his thirteen Cuddy novels and two collections of short stories, fifteen have either won or been nominated for the Shamus Award.
www.JeremiahHealy.com

Series:
* John Francis Cuddy

Reviews

[Brian O'Leary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average at best, but a simple quick read.

[allother · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written. I figured out ho the bad guy was after John Cuddy did. Also a good thing when I am outsmarted. Especially when there are no Red Herrings. Good book.

[Jeanne Cosmos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent. Excellent. Pitch perfect. Boston references awesome. This one moves the action to florida & that was disappointing.

I’m planning on reading more of the Cuddy series from Book #1 and would be more interested in setting in Boston area.

Actual mystery. I solved it a hundred pages prior to conclusion -so, yeah I bit of a slosh too wrap it up.

[Cat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decidedly NOT fun, but a good mystery. I'm really ticked that Nancy is dead though. This one mostly takes place in Ft. Lauderdale at the home of Cuddy's CO in Viet Nam. Talk about a dysfunctional family!! And rock-n-roll certainly gets its share of knock, at least life on the road with one pseudo-star. Depressing by well-written.

[Reynolds Darke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boston PI John Cuddy goes to Florida to help investigate the murder of the granddaughter of his Vietnam CO.