Monkey Wrench

Eva Wylie #2

by Lisa Cody

Eva Wylie, the heavyweight wrestler heroine of "Bucket Nut", returns. She has a big mouth and large biceps, but meets her match in tiny, tenacious Crystal, a street companion from the past. Crystal's prostitute sister has been beaten to death and she's seeking revenge.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Berengaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

short review for busy readers:
The 2nd book in the Eva Wylie 3-book mystery series. Pacts the same amount of punch as Bucket Nut, the first book in the series, perhaps even more. A very worthy follow up.

in detail:
There's less focus on the world of British semi-pro wrestling in this one, as Eva's skills as a fighter are requested by a group of prostitutes after one of them is beaten to death behind a local pub. Eva is none too thrilled, but money's money and she's got some spare hours.

Once again, Eva can tell she's being manipulated, but finds it hard to say no or extract herself. Esp when it's a neighbour. She just not good at long term thinking or planning. She trusts the wrong people and distrusts the right people -- like Anna Lee, who she calls "Anna Lee, the Enemy", because she is an ex-cop, when Anna is one of the few honestly helpful people in her world.

(And is the hero of Cody's Anna Lee series of 5 books). 🤫

There are a couple of really good fights, some great dialogue, lots of action and a cast of well-drawn characters (not all of them sober). And at the end, Eva comes by a new dog for her job at the breaker's yard.

Which is about as touching or cuddly as this series gets. Down Ramses! Down Lineker! Come here, Milo! 🐕🐕🐕

[Alan (the Lone Librarian on film festival hiatus) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

The London Lassassin
A review of the Chatto and Windus hardcover (March 3, 1994).

'You really Bucket Nut?' one of the kids asked.
'What you think?' I said. 'And watch yer mouth or I'll show yer.'
'My dad says wresling's all an act.'
'Yeah?' I said, taking just one pace forwards. I could tell the kid was impressed. He took two paces backwards.
I was chuffed to buggery. This time last year no one knew me. Now I get recognized in the street. It goes to show I'm on my way.
'My dad says wrestlers are about as much use as jelly doorknockers,' the kid said. 'When it comes to real fighting...'
'Tell you what,' I said, 'you give me your dad's name and address, if you know it, and I'll see what he says when I push you through his letter box.'

Security guard Eva Wylie moonlights on the wrestling circuit as the villain character the London Lassassin aka Bucket Nut. Otherwise she keeps a low profile and tries to avoid the authorities and bureaucracy. She lives in a trailer at a car wrecking yard which she guards with two fierce dogs. She trains and showers at a local gym which is overseen by a wrestling promoter. Against her instincts she agrees to provide self-defense training for a group of local prostitutes, after one of them is fatally assaulted. Cody's private eye character Anna Lee (see below under Trivia) makes a cameo appearance when she asks Wylie to keep some sites free from squatters.

The setup and the follow-up scenarios here were well done along with the "tough-gal" banter. Cody builds an intriguing portrait of a downtrodden character who is nevertheless a legend in her own mind. Her contempt for most others is tempered with the occasional acts of kindness, even if there is often a mercenary incentive behind them.

The only thing keeping it out of 5-star territory for me was the somewhat downbeat ending which I don't want to spoil, but let us just say that it had a lack of a Chekhov's gun follow through. The various villains do meet with retribution, but not always from the expected sources and methods. It did not need an UEA™ though, so no worries there.

This is the 2nd in author Liza Cody's Eva Wylie trilogy (1992-1997). I did not have access to a copy of the 1st book.

I read Monkey Wrench thanks to a very enthusiastic review by GR friend Berengaria which you can read here.

Somewhat surprisingly, I found this in the Toronto Library system as the single paper copy of any of Liza Cody's novels that were available for outside loan (a few others are reference copies only) and it is a copy from the 1994 first edition from Chatto and Windus in the UK.

Trivia and Links
Author Liza Cody is best known as the writer of the private detective Anna Lee series (1980-1991) which was adapted for a one season TV series in 1993 starring Imogen Stubbs as the lead character. Apparently Cody was so disappointed in the adaptations that she stopped writing any further books in the series, as otherwise the TV producers had the future adaptation rights.

Some promos and reviews say that Anna Lee was the first fictional female private detective, although P.D. James' Cordelia Gray came first in An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972). James did not build a series character out of Gray though, with only a single late follow-up in The Skull Beneath the Skin (1982).

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

i enjoyed this but as with the first book it could get a little frustrating at times. wish eva would get a clue and stop being so dense for even a little bit but if she did would she still be eva etc. fun time though i love reading her wrestling scenes. shes mean and mad and shes going to win!!! hype. i love u london lassassin

[Spuddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

#2 Eva Wylie mystery. The street-smart, tough female wrestler Eva Wylie (aka The London Lassassin) is back, this time reluctantly helping another old street friend Crystal, when her sister Dawn, a local doxie. is beaten and killed. Crystal has Eva attempting to teach self-defense to a group of prostitutes who hung out with Dawn, as they're naturally scared silly. It doesn't take long before Eva wishes she'd never laid eyes on the group, as they get her involved in several dodgy schemes, in trouble with her gym's owner, and put her in situations where her memories and emotions get stirred up, and trust me, you don't want to stir up Eva's emotions!

Eva's got her problems, but I like her--she tells it like it is, even if 'like it is' is anything but pleasant. She has a total blind spot about her own self, but given her past life, that's not surprising. More details about her childhood come out in this book and it's heartbreaking at the same time you admire this tough survivor, even as your mind boggles at some of the choices she makes. Looking forward to the next--and sadly, last--book in this powerful trilogy.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unreliable narrator that you root for, but there is always a sadness running through

[Nancy Hausladen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the Moneywrench series. It is about a group of computer engineers. They live in a home on Summit Avenue in St Paul, Minnesota. Every book has a great story.

[Judi · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is nothing about this mystery novel that is typical. Eva Wylie is a female wrestler called "The London Lassasin" in the ring and "Bucket Nut" by passing fans. In the ring, she's a villain, the louder the boos, the nastier the curses, the more satisfied she is. Eva Wylie is a big, ugly woman, proud of her muscles and unsympathetic to most of humankind. She's probably the only female protagonist that is clearly angry all of the time, often shouting, always rude and most appropriately compared to "a rogue elephant with a burr up its backside."
But she's not without an accidental soft side. In Monkey Wrench, one of her childhood street associates, Crystal, (remember she has no friends), begs her to teach self-defense to half a dozen women working out of the Full Moon. Crystal's sister, a prostitute, was just beat to death by two men behind the Full Moon. Other women had had the same fate in the past without the police really looking into the matter. So Crystal figures that Eva can teach these women a few tricks to protect themselves. But Eva is not so hopeful. As she watches them flounce around their make shift gym, she asks herself, "what do women think their bodies are for? ... to stuff food in one end and men in the other." Of course, she does not turn down a paying job.

The other thing that's atypical about this novel, is that our protagonist is not a sleuth. She's not looking for clues. The only thing she seeks is to maintain her routine of working out at the gym, a wild weekly fight and securing the junkyard she's paid to watch with with her two dogs. In fact, she's so narrow minded in her pursuit that she misses most of what's going on around her. About the only thing that gets her attention is when someone recognizes her as "Bucket Nut."

There is a lot of humor in this novel, due to Eva's self delusion and language. It is written in a hard street style similar to a hacker sci-fi novel. The metaphors are all the more colorful coming from a tough Londoner. What I like best about this book is that Liza Cody does not spell everything out for us, she assumes that we are more worldly than Eva Wylie and while Eva may misunderstand a situation, she assumes we won't. In fact it is this ability to allow us to see her fallibility that makes us understand why people bother with Eva at all. You have to admit that there is something very likable about this naive, oversized, ugly woman. Even Anna Lee, P.I. from Cody's other series likes her.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

When this book was suggested and its heroine described as a tough, perpetually angry, wannabe pro-wrestler who also commits crimes, I thought, "Why would I want to read about her?" But Cody got me! Eva Wylie is one of the most interesting and sympathetic characters I've read in a while. There's a lot going on beneath the surface for Eva, much of it having to do with her dysfunctional childhood/adolescense, and nearly all of which she'd rather not face. She's made a life for herself against all odds by going against people and striking out before she can be hurt, and she is woefully unable to understand others, yet she has her own often admirable code of ethics and a way of looking at the world that makes Sam Spade seem like a baby. In this mystery, Eva is roped into showing a bunch of prostitutes self-defense, since someone seems to be murdering them one by one. But this book is also about her being unable to say no to old frenemies and about her determined survival despite the numerous setbacks in her life. I can't wait to meet Eva again and see what new set of troubles she's been dragged into and how she will deal with them all in her own indominatable way!

[Kirsty Darbyshire]

Christmas holiday reading.... minimal comments.

The second of three books about Eva Wylie that I've read out of order. The first book, Bucket Nut, is definitely the best and I think this is the one that least belongs on a mystery shelf. I'm sorry that I don't have any more of Eva's adventures to read about now though.

[Ann]

Another entertaining read about a down and out English female pro wrestler. Lots of laughs and a few life lessons that manage to go over the head of the main character.

[lethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review 1996:
Een beetje over the top.