Saturday Night Dead

Harvey Blissberg Mystery #3

by R.D. Rosen

It started when ex-jock private eye Harvey Blissberg was hired to keep a Red Sox outfielder sober long enough to host Saturday's legendary late-night comedy show. But this week, the jokes are dying—just like the show's ratings . . . and its producer!

Genres: Mystery, Baseball

280 pages, Hardcover

First published June 10, 1988

About the author

Richard Dean Rosen's writing career spans mystery novels, narrative nonfiction, humor books, and television. Strike Three You're Dead (1984), the first in Rosen's series featuring major league baseball player Harvey Blissberg, won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America in 1985. Blissberg's adventures continued in four sequels, including Fadeaway (1986) and Saturday Night Dead (1988), which drew on Rosen's stint as a writer for Saturday Night Live.

Rosen's three nonfiction books include Psychobabble (1979), inspired by the term he coined, and A Buffalo in the House: The True Story of a Man, an Animal, and the American West (2007). Over the past decade, he co-created and co-wrote a bestselling series of humor books: Bad Cat, Bad Dog, Bad Baby, and Bad President.
 
He attended Brown University and graduated from Harvard College.

Reviews

[Rodger Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's probably closer to 3.5. The title is a play on "Saturday Night Live," of course, as this mystery is based on the death of a major figure of a live Saturday night television program (not named SNL in the book). There's a convoluted backstory that Harvey Blissberg eventually unravels ahead of the police. It's actually a decent tale, but the entire setup seemed kind of contrived. The leap from babysitting a trouble cast member to becoming detective on a murder case is fairly large. I kind of liked the books, but a lot of it seemed quite implausible in the end.

[John Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing happened until about 70 pages in, then there was a death, thenm nothin more happened until pretty much then end. The wrapup was good but, overall, I thought that this was pretty dull and uninteresting, and nothing special.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Former MLB player now a P.I., witty Harvey and the cast of quirky characters make for a fun who-dun-it.

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this one as much as the earlier, more baseball-focused stories. Somehow, the story of a messed-up TV show and life of an ex-child star could not hold my interest.