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The Paul Mcdonald Mystery Series Vol. 1-2
All the soft-boiled Bay Area adventures of hardboiled-wannabe Paul Mcdonald-- now in a two-volume box set at a great price! A “blithe San Fran outing with a likeable journalist-sleuth by the name of Paul Mcdonald … this is [Drew’s] best to date.” --Kirkus Reviews Wise-cracking ex-journalist Paul Mcdonald’s main confidant is a cat named Spot; his best friend’s a burglar who’s trying to quit; his relationship status is commitment-phobic … what makes this Great American Novelist-in-waiting think adding “P.I.” to his resume is a good idea? Well, his boss was just poisoned in Paul’s living room right in front of him, and then somebody broke into his apartment; now he thinks they’re trying to kill him. Finally Paul’s got a story he can sell, if he can catch the murderer before the murderer catches him. And maybe he will … after all, there’s a Volume 2: HUCKLEBERRY FIEND, a risible treat for the rigorous bibliophile (and anyone else who loves a good puzzle) …
Vol. 1: TRUE LIFE ADVENTURE
Things were going lousy for ex-reporter Paul Mcdonald: No money, no girl friend, no bright new career as a mystery novelist … and then along came private investigator Jack Birnbaum with an offer: he’d detect, and Paul would write the client reports. It wasn’t much, but it would keep Spot the cat in Kitty Queen tidbits.
But then somebody poisoned Jack in Paul’s own living room. There must have been something someone didn't want him to know in one of those client reports. But what?
Vol. 2: HUCKLEBERRY FIEND
The most priceless American manuscript in existence—the missing holograph of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-- has unceremoniously dropped into Paul Mcdonald's hands-- now what?
In between much-needed therapy sessions, Paul's neurotic friend Booker the burglar stole it from his dad’s girl friend’s roommate, and now wants sometime-sleuth Paul to find its rightful owner. Because he’s pretty sure the roommate's not it. He’s only too right: Beverly, it turns out, is dead. Murdered for the manuscript, if Paul’s guess is right.
Fans of CASTLE, MURDER SHE WROTE, even ELLERY QUEEN will enjoy this fast-paced and funny take on the mystery-writer-as-detective. As will people who like their male sleuths wry, witty, and a little on the soft-boiled side—fans of Parnell Hall’s Stanley Hastings, say, Tony Dunbar’s Tubby Dubonnet, Gregory Mcdonald’s Fletch (this Mcdonald, it's worth noting, is Paul’s personal hero), and especially Rex Stout’s Archie Goodwin. Huckleberry Fiend will delight fans of mysteries about books-- Lawrence Block’s Bernie Rhodenbarr series, John Dunning's Cliff Janeway books, the Death on Demand books by Carolyn Hart, and Joan Hess's Claire Malloy series. Female sleuths with a sense of humor remind us of him too—for instance, Criminal Minds’ Penelope Garcia and the immortal Amelia Peabody (of whom he’d be terrified if they ever met).
Vol. 1: TRUE LIFE ADVENTURE
Things were going lousy for ex-reporter Paul Mcdonald: No money, no girl friend, no bright new career as a mystery novelist … and then along came private investigator Jack Birnbaum with an offer: he’d detect, and Paul would write the client reports. It wasn’t much, but it would keep Spot the cat in Kitty Queen tidbits.
But then somebody poisoned Jack in Paul’s own living room. There must have been something someone didn't want him to know in one of those client reports. But what?
Vol. 2: HUCKLEBERRY FIEND
The most priceless American manuscript in existence—the missing holograph of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-- has unceremoniously dropped into Paul Mcdonald's hands-- now what?
In between much-needed therapy sessions, Paul's neurotic friend Booker the burglar stole it from his dad’s girl friend’s roommate, and now wants sometime-sleuth Paul to find its rightful owner. Because he’s pretty sure the roommate's not it. He’s only too right: Beverly, it turns out, is dead. Murdered for the manuscript, if Paul’s guess is right.
Fans of CASTLE, MURDER SHE WROTE, even ELLERY QUEEN will enjoy this fast-paced and funny take on the mystery-writer-as-detective. As will people who like their male sleuths wry, witty, and a little on the soft-boiled side—fans of Parnell Hall’s Stanley Hastings, say, Tony Dunbar’s Tubby Dubonnet, Gregory Mcdonald’s Fletch (this Mcdonald, it's worth noting, is Paul’s personal hero), and especially Rex Stout’s Archie Goodwin. Huckleberry Fiend will delight fans of mysteries about books-- Lawrence Block’s Bernie Rhodenbarr series, John Dunning's Cliff Janeway books, the Death on Demand books by Carolyn Hart, and Joan Hess's Claire Malloy series. Female sleuths with a sense of humor remind us of him too—for instance, Criminal Minds’ Penelope Garcia and the immortal Amelia Peabody (of whom he’d be terrified if they ever met).
506 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 17, 2016
661 people are currently reading
604 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
June 30, 2016
This is a two novel bundle.
TRUE LIFE ADVENTURE
Paul McDonald is a journalist, when he can get work. In the meantime he is ghost writing a book for a PI. The PI is on a case and he inconveniently gets murdered. Then the people on his list to interview start getting knocked off. Since McDonald could be privy to whatever the PI knew, the only logical solution is to try and ax him too. Most police procedurals that are long on humor seem to have an antagonistic homicide cop that would like nothing more than to put our hero in jail, and this book is no exception. Putting together a jigsaw puzzle of clues, McDonald finally comes up with the answer. Very interesting read! Thank you to whoever recommended this author.
HUCKLEBERRY FIEND
Paul MacDonald is back, obviously. Homicide cop, Bing, is back too, but in a much more limited role. Our hero ends up with an actual partial manuscript of Huckleberry Finn. Then he has it stolen from him. He steals it back just to have it stolen from him again. His mission, which he already decided to accept, is to find the missing manuscript and it's rightful owner and reunite them. Several nice plot twists and a pretty darn good surprise ending.
TRUE LIFE ADVENTURE
Paul McDonald is a journalist, when he can get work. In the meantime he is ghost writing a book for a PI. The PI is on a case and he inconveniently gets murdered. Then the people on his list to interview start getting knocked off. Since McDonald could be privy to whatever the PI knew, the only logical solution is to try and ax him too. Most police procedurals that are long on humor seem to have an antagonistic homicide cop that would like nothing more than to put our hero in jail, and this book is no exception. Putting together a jigsaw puzzle of clues, McDonald finally comes up with the answer. Very interesting read! Thank you to whoever recommended this author.
HUCKLEBERRY FIEND
Paul MacDonald is back, obviously. Homicide cop, Bing, is back too, but in a much more limited role. Our hero ends up with an actual partial manuscript of Huckleberry Finn. Then he has it stolen from him. He steals it back just to have it stolen from him again. His mission, which he already decided to accept, is to find the missing manuscript and it's rightful owner and reunite them. Several nice plot twists and a pretty darn good surprise ending.
May 22, 2017
A little like a book from the 50's
Good old fashioned detective stories. I thoroughly enjoyed the rough detective in this set of books. Kind of like Mike Hammer, Sam Spade, or Philip Marlowe stories of my childhood. Read for enjoyment.
Good old fashioned detective stories. I thoroughly enjoyed the rough detective in this set of books. Kind of like Mike Hammer, Sam Spade, or Philip Marlowe stories of my childhood. Read for enjoyment.
October 31, 2025
I'm sad this was only a duology! Written in the mid-eighties, it feels like an old-school hard-boiled detective novel, like Dashiell Hammet, but with more humor.
Paul McDonald is a freelance newspaper journalist in the San Francisco Bay area, as well as a would-be author, if a publisher would show some interest. His love life isn't much better.
In book one, Paul takes a side job ghostwriting reports for a P.I., until the P.I. dies suddenly at Paul's apartment. A few days later, Paul apartment is robbed. The only thing taken is his tv - and the reports. Who took the reports & why & which one was the particular one they want? Throw in a child kidnapping, a housefire, & a pretty woman, & you have one exciting adventure!
In book two, Paul has a (sort of) girlfriend, & they work together to discover the whereabouts of an original, handwritten manuscript of Huck Finn, which was stolen, after being stolen, after someone was killed. Who wants a Mark Twain manuscript so badly they'd kill for it? Fun fact - the missimg manuscript was made up by the author, but a real, lost manuscript was found in 1990s!
The plots have a lot of threads & characters, making them a bit confusing in parts, but the endings all come together to make sense & are satisfying. They're something along the lines of a modern(ish)-day Raymond Chandler novel, with witty banter. Written in the 80s, there's no DNA, cell phones, or Internet, only old-fashioned gumshoe detective work. There's also a bit of language, including f-bombs.
Paul McDonald is a freelance newspaper journalist in the San Francisco Bay area, as well as a would-be author, if a publisher would show some interest. His love life isn't much better.
In book one, Paul takes a side job ghostwriting reports for a P.I., until the P.I. dies suddenly at Paul's apartment. A few days later, Paul apartment is robbed. The only thing taken is his tv - and the reports. Who took the reports & why & which one was the particular one they want? Throw in a child kidnapping, a housefire, & a pretty woman, & you have one exciting adventure!
In book two, Paul has a (sort of) girlfriend, & they work together to discover the whereabouts of an original, handwritten manuscript of Huck Finn, which was stolen, after being stolen, after someone was killed. Who wants a Mark Twain manuscript so badly they'd kill for it? Fun fact - the missimg manuscript was made up by the author, but a real, lost manuscript was found in 1990s!
The plots have a lot of threads & characters, making them a bit confusing in parts, but the endings all come together to make sense & are satisfying. They're something along the lines of a modern(ish)-day Raymond Chandler novel, with witty banter. Written in the 80s, there's no DNA, cell phones, or Internet, only old-fashioned gumshoe detective work. There's also a bit of language, including f-bombs.
January 4, 2022
i enjoyed the story’s silliness and light-hearted writing.
The story was good but if I was a serious Get-to-the-point, “who-dunnit” mystery reader, I would have become impatient and possibly not finished it. I chose a 4- star instead of a 5- because, although I really enjoyed the book, it was rather wordy and went into MUCH detail in some places. The detailed descriptions kind of lost me a little but I found that if I skipped some, I’d have to go back later to remind myself who did what. There were a LOT of names to remember but that was part of the silliness of the story. I had time to spend just relaxing and reading so I didn’t mind. I enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who likes silly private-eye/reporter stories with a cat thrown in for extra measure.
I also appreciate the “almost no” f-bombs.
The story was good but if I was a serious Get-to-the-point, “who-dunnit” mystery reader, I would have become impatient and possibly not finished it. I chose a 4- star instead of a 5- because, although I really enjoyed the book, it was rather wordy and went into MUCH detail in some places. The detailed descriptions kind of lost me a little but I found that if I skipped some, I’d have to go back later to remind myself who did what. There were a LOT of names to remember but that was part of the silliness of the story. I had time to spend just relaxing and reading so I didn’t mind. I enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who likes silly private-eye/reporter stories with a cat thrown in for extra measure.
I also appreciate the “almost no” f-bombs.
May 24, 2018
Paul's Misadventures
Two very different, very good stories. First, three people are murdered in someone's pursuit of finding a divorced woman who ran away with her daughter. No one knows where she is and anyone who had contact with her before her disappearance, is being threatened or killed. Second, Paul MacDonald',s burglar friend, Booker, has found some of the pages of the Huck Finn manuscript. Collectors and non-collector's alike, try to get there hands on it. Paul and Booker would like to get it back to its rightful owner. Worth the read!
Two very different, very good stories. First, three people are murdered in someone's pursuit of finding a divorced woman who ran away with her daughter. No one knows where she is and anyone who had contact with her before her disappearance, is being threatened or killed. Second, Paul MacDonald',s burglar friend, Booker, has found some of the pages of the Huck Finn manuscript. Collectors and non-collector's alike, try to get there hands on it. Paul and Booker would like to get it back to its rightful owner. Worth the read!
January 26, 2022
I did not much like this, I am sorry to say. I found the narrator, i.e. Paul McDonald, to be a self-centered never-grown-up egoist, and his partner (?) Sardis slightly less so. So much for the protagonists. The relationship between Paul and Bick? Childish to an extreme, and not very realistic.
The stories themselves, they dragged for me, and seemed far-fetched, nothing to sort of guess alongside the would-be detectives. I am sorry to say: I just found the two books quite boring.
And as always, this is my very own personal opinion, and what I dislike, others will love.
The stories themselves, they dragged for me, and seemed far-fetched, nothing to sort of guess alongside the would-be detectives. I am sorry to say: I just found the two books quite boring.
And as always, this is my very own personal opinion, and what I dislike, others will love.
January 28, 2023
Odd
Odd stories.
The first book was ok and followed a reasonable crime and storyline.
Sadly the second book was just bonkers and more akin to Keystone cops with McDonald and his fellow crime fighters running off in bizarre I’ll thought out directions, including landing a small aeroplane on a road! I really didn’t like the second book and it’s erased all the good thoughts I had about the first book.
Odd stories.
The first book was ok and followed a reasonable crime and storyline.
Sadly the second book was just bonkers and more akin to Keystone cops with McDonald and his fellow crime fighters running off in bizarre I’ll thought out directions, including landing a small aeroplane on a road! I really didn’t like the second book and it’s erased all the good thoughts I had about the first book.
January 30, 2018
Started out slow, and I REALLY do not like all of the vitriol between the main character and the murder investigator, but it was a gripping story, and I enjoyed seeing some of the weaknesses of the main character; he doesn't need to be perfect, and that other people had to deal with imperfection and still do their parts was refreshing.
September 23, 2018
A Great Book!
I loved how the author describes the story in such detail. This book is a fast moving mystery with lots of clues and investigations to find the killers. Both books are wonderful and full of suspense. I really enjoyed them.
I loved how the author describes the story in such detail. This book is a fast moving mystery with lots of clues and investigations to find the killers. Both books are wonderful and full of suspense. I really enjoyed them.
October 11, 2019
Easy reading
The books were easy reading while on my elliptical. However the stories were pretty sappy and unbelievable. Paul was not a like able man to begin with. Why Sardis liked him was hard to understand. The plots were fun and how the crimes were solved.
The books were easy reading while on my elliptical. However the stories were pretty sappy and unbelievable. Paul was not a like able man to begin with. Why Sardis liked him was hard to understand. The plots were fun and how the crimes were solved.
September 20, 2021
Confusing At Times
Might have been just me not following along, but I often lost the thread of who was talking and why they were saying what they were saying. Other than that, it was a catchy story,
Might have been just me not following along, but I often lost the thread of who was talking and why they were saying what they were saying. Other than that, it was a catchy story,
October 9, 2017
Should come with a warning about language!! Did not finish because of all the cuss words and foul language.
June 9, 2018
Enjoyable
A splendid blend of humor and mystery made this enjoyable to read. The Paul McDonald bumbles through eventually solving the mystery.
A splendid blend of humor and mystery made this enjoyable to read. The Paul McDonald bumbles through eventually solving the mystery.
September 24, 2018
An awesome read
I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a good mystery. It keeps you guessing all the way to the end.
I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a good mystery. It keeps you guessing all the way to the end.
April 13, 2019
Cool
A well written novel about a really cool dude. 😉
J. Paul Drew has a great writing style that I enjoy reading.
A well written novel about a really cool dude. 😉
J. Paul Drew has a great writing style that I enjoy reading.
December 27, 2019
Good mystery
I liked the main character. I thought the stories were a little lame though. The details were too specific and repetative and actually distracted from the mystery.
I liked the main character. I thought the stories were a little lame though. The details were too specific and repetative and actually distracted from the mystery.
February 2, 2020
Good Mysteries
I like the Bay Area settings of these books. Seems like the stories get kind of convoluted, though. Lots of characters to keep straight.
I like the Bay Area settings of these books. Seems like the stories get kind of convoluted, though. Lots of characters to keep straight.
February 23, 2020
Interesting
These mysteries are well developed. If you enjoy mysteries without graphic or gory details then you will probably enjoy these.
These mysteries are well developed. If you enjoy mysteries without graphic or gory details then you will probably enjoy these.
June 13, 2020
History after he wrote it
Read the authors note at the end! Amazing! You'll learn a lot about Huck Finn and Mark Twain. Delightful wit and twisty turny plots
Read the authors note at the end! Amazing! You'll learn a lot about Huck Finn and Mark Twain. Delightful wit and twisty turny plots
September 14, 2020
Easy reading from the mid-80s. Life before cellphones and Internet, it turns out, was almost the same. But mystery required a lot more travel and phone calls. ;)
July 30, 2021
Good over all
Very interesting story line, story dragged a bit in places and there were a few holes; overall a worth while read
Very interesting story line, story dragged a bit in places and there were a few holes; overall a worth while read
October 20, 2021
Twain
It got very tedious in the middle with the lectures about Twain. Had to skip over many pages to get to the mystery.
It got very tedious in the middle with the lectures about Twain. Had to skip over many pages to get to the mystery.
January 9, 2022
Enjoyed the book very much, thanks.
June 14, 2016
I've just finished the first book, and what a fun read! The first-person narrator is wry and just cleverly self-deprecating enough to be enjoyable. The story was interesting enough, but it was mostly the humorous narration that is appealing to me. I hope the second book measures up.
June 30, 2016
Private detective
I like the history of how he became a detective. But the second story of this did not appeal the same. Did not like the sex scene at all, it was unnecessary. At least it was not graphic. The short story at the end was pleasant.
I like the history of how he became a detective. But the second story of this did not appeal the same. Did not like the sex scene at all, it was unnecessary. At least it was not graphic. The short story at the end was pleasant.
June 28, 2016
Great characters
Ill be heading to the library today to look for a sequel. I thoroughly enjoyed the plots of these volumes and the short story. Well done.
Ill be heading to the library today to look for a sequel. I thoroughly enjoyed the plots of these volumes and the short story. Well done.
November 22, 2016
I just couldn't wade through this one.
Trying to read this one has held be up on reading something I would like. So now I am giving up.
Trying to read this one has held be up on reading something I would like. So now I am giving up.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews