Kiss

Fred Carver #3

by John Lutz

A "natural death" at the Sunhaven Retirement Home may be murder, and private eye Fred Carver must outwit a smooth-talking administrator, a menacing head nurse, and a host of others determined to stop him

Genres: Mystery, Detective

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Lutz has captivated suspense enthusiasts for over four decades. He has been one of the premier voices in contemporary hard-boiled fiction. His work includes political suspense, private eye novels, urban suspense, humor, occult, crime caper, police procedural, espionage, historical, futuristic, amateur detective, thriller; virtually every mystery sub-genre. John Lutz published his first short story in 1966 in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and has been publishing regularly ever since. He is the author of more than fifty novels and 250 short stories and articles.

His novels and short fiction have been translated into virtually every language and adapted for almost every medium. He is a past president of both Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. Among his awards are the MWA Edgar, the PWA Shamus, The Trophee 813 Award for best mystery short story collection translated into the French language, the PWA Life Achievement Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer Lifetime Achievement Award.

He is the author of two private eye series, the Nudger series, set in his home town of St. Louis, and the Carver series, set in Florida, as well as many non-series suspense novels. His SWF SEEKS SAME was made into the hit movie SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his novel THE EX was made into the HBO original movie of the same title, for which he co-authored the screenplay.

Lutz and his wife, Barbara, split their time between St. Louis and Sarasota, Florida.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good mystery. It's an old one I found in a pile of old books. Interesting reading a book from the 80s.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't get past the numbingly repetitive descriptions: every time Carver is mentioned, the author references his cane; every time DeSoto is on the phone, the author references his Latin music and his philandering. And so on. Every character has these little tags that the author brings up each time. For the first few times, it's fine, but it quickly gets old. I was distracted to the extent that I didn't want to keep reading.

[Carolyn (in SC) C234D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Florida. Fred Carver was a cop in Orlando until a crook shot him in the knee. Now he uses a cane and does P.I. work. I've read one previous book in this series; this is #3. In this one, Carver is asked by a friend to investigate possible suspicious deaths in a retirement home. A good story.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Fred Carver is hired by his good friend, Lieutenant Alfonso DeSoto of the Orlando police to investigate the death of his uncle at Sunhaven, a local nursing home. Carver is harassed by Raphael Ortiz, a viciously depraved thug bent on discouraging Carver from investigating Sunhaven.”

A quick easy read.

[Dov · Rating 5 out of 5]

good read

Some good character development, good plot and overall a very pleasant read.

Some good character development, good plot and overall a very pleasant read.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book I've read by the author and a great improvement from the first two Fred Carver books. It held my interest to the end, the cliches present in the first two books are almost all gone and I found the book enjoyable. The twist towards the end was unexpected but I felt that it was introduced clumsily and the ending was a little flat. The suspense at the end left me asking for description and the tidy up was a little too fast and convenient.

[David Fears · Rating 5 out of 5]

You want to see one of the badassingest bad guys ever? Meet Raffy Ortiz! I loved John Lutz's gripping tale of murders in an old folks home in Florida. I've read a couple of Lutz's mysteries and this is my favorite. IN fact, when I emailed John to compliment him, he confessed this was his favorite of the Fred Carver PI series also! You won't find much better stuff than this.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fred's friend asked him to check on his uncles death at a retirement home. Turned out there were several unexplaned deaths. The description of this book on goodreads does not match the book.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I nearly quit reading this. Scary, dark, depressing. Ended well, a surprise, and glad I finished it.

[Eliana]

Keeps you hooked til the very end every time. P.I. thriller/mystery.

[retronerd Steinkuehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Likeable characters. Good plot. Fast moving. A terrific end upped it from a 3 to a 4 star read.

[Tia Savva]

Excellent analogies, wonderful characters....
couldn´t put it down!

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Lieutenant DeSoto of the Orlando police hires Carver to investigate the death of his uncle at a nursing home. Thugs are soon after him.