Client

Stanley Hastings #5

by Parnell Hall

"What's wrong with me?" is the thought that crosses Stanley Hastings's mind when he gets his first paying client. Stanley has absolutely no interest in being a P.I., but hey, he needs to pay the bills. The novice P.I.'s first victim . um . client is Marvin Nickleson, an ex-husband on the rampage. Stanley's first job seems easy-just get a picture of Nickleson's ex-wife with another man-until . well . he finds her DEAD AS A DOORNAIL. The murder weapon? In Stanley's car, of course. Stanley's second case is to save his own hide. What will this aspiring-writer-turned-detective do?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Anthony Yvonnica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, another fun, exciting, funny, suspenseful story. I love this series so much!

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

another good one

this time stanly gets a client that wants him to follow his estranged wife, he wants to get back together with her

despite his reservations about the story, stanly needs the money for dental bills and is excited about his first case

he finds the woman and follows her around. the guy doesnt show up for the second payment but stanly doesnt want to lose the money he already made so he goes ahead and follows her out of town to a motel in the woods. she is murdered there, of course they arrest stanly, they found the gun in his car with his alarm on

the cop there stanly thinks is not very bright. stanly gets the lawyer he works for to come up and get him released so he can find who did it and clear himself

with the help of the cop from the first book, he gets clues and goes all over the place trying to piece together what happened. he did a real good job and when he went to the cop in the woods to tell him who did it, the cop already knew

it had to do with rezoning the land on the girls mothers house and the city council men voting on it.

they set up a trap to use him for bait, the guy came after him, and they caught him

he is so funny, he has so many of my same quirks i enjoy this series so much

started the next one this morning and ordered 3 more from the library.

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with Client. It’s a kind of cozy, PI story, where the main character is a bumbling detective who is well out of his depth. Hall is best when he is writing dialogue, which in places is excellent. But there is far too little of it in this story and, save for Chief Creely and Richard Rosenberg, there is not enough colour or depth to the characters. Not a whole lot happens in the first 100 pages – which also has some asides about bad teeth and buying sanitary towels which try to be humorous but fall flat. In the latter half of the book the plot unfolds in a very straightforward way when it could have benefited from some twists and turns. Overall, a passable read that needed more dialogue and plot.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our bumbling PI returns with his first proper non-friends-and-family client: a man who thinks his wife is cheating on him, and wants her followed. So Stanley gets to work, eventually following her to a motel, where she has a strange visitor, and (you can presumably see where this is going by now) promptly ends up dead. And then, of course, the murder weapon turns up in Stanley's car.

There are a few great moments, but for a series that mostly only works by flowing so smoothly, the story gets bogged down too often, and also relies a little too much on coincidences at key times to get more than ★★★.

[GlenK · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Client”, the fifth of Parnell Hall’s (so far 20) Stanley Hastings mysteries is a bit different from the four proceeding but is equally well plotted and entertaining. In this one, Hastings has moved into private detecting as a side line and has - with no effort at all - gotten himself a client. This client behaves oddly and is very demanding and - as Hastings soon discovers - is up to no good. As usual with this series, the characters and their interactions are well done (I especially like Hastings’ wife and their relationship) and the dialog is very natural and relaxed. An excellent read.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another highly entertaining read! I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

[Janet]

K

[Ron Judenberg]

to-read

[janjones · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked it, had interesting twist. Character is always getting to trouble, it's how he gets out of it that keeps you going.