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Brady Coyne #11
Tight Lines
Hired by a dying New England blue blood, Brady Coyne must locate Mary Ellen Ames, who has run away and to whom the dying woman wishes to bequeath her considerable worldly possessions. Reprint.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
41 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
William G. Tapply
79 books89 followersWilliam G. Tapply (1940–2009) was an American author best known for writing legal thrillers. A lifelong New Englander, he graduated from Amherst and Harvard before going on to teach social studies at Lexington High School. He published his first novel, Death at Charity’s Point, in 1984. A story of death and betrayal among Boston Brahmins, it introduced crusading lawyer Brady Coyne, a fishing enthusiast whom Tapply would follow through twenty-five more novels, including Follow the Sharks, The Vulgar Boatman, and the posthumously published Outwitting Trolls.
Besides writing regular columns for Field and Stream, Gray’s Sporting Journal, and American Angler, Tapply wrote numerous books on fishing, hunting, and life in the outdoors. He was also the author of The Elements of Mystery Fiction, a writer’s guide. He died in 2009, at his home in Hancock, New Hampshire.
Besides writing regular columns for Field and Stream, Gray’s Sporting Journal, and American Angler, Tapply wrote numerous books on fishing, hunting, and life in the outdoors. He was also the author of The Elements of Mystery Fiction, a writer’s guide. He died in 2009, at his home in Hancock, New Hampshire.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 19, 2017
It's autumn in New England when Boston attorney Brady Coyne drives out to historic Concord, Massachusetts to visit another of his very wealthy and very elderly clients, Susan Ames. Sadly, Susan, a widow, is dying of cancer and has only a month or so to live. For the last eleven years, she's been estranged from her only child, Mary Ellen, who went away to college shortly after her father died and who has never returned or contacted her mother since.
Mary Ellen had been devoted to her father, who indulged her every whim, and never had a good relationship with her mother, who was the family disciplinarian. Hence her long absence. But Susan's death will have practical consequences. The Ames family has lived in the same historic house since 1748. It's a national treasure and it will now go to Mary Ellen. There's a fair amount of money in the estate as well, and these matters have to be addressed before Susan passes on. Beyond that, Susan simply wants the chance to reconnect with her daughter before she dies.
Susan informs Brady that the Ames family does not hire "sleazy private eyes," and so she assigns him the task of finding her daughter. Brady fairly quickly locates the town home where Mary Ellen lives, but finding Mary Ellen herself proves to be a more difficult proposition. Before long, there will be the inevitable murder, followed by a couple more for good measure, and Brady is soon up to his neck in complications and in physical danger.
This is among the better books in the series with an intriguing plot and an interesting cast of characters. Brady is his usual subdued but very effective self and, as usual, he'll find time in and around his investigations for a new romantic entanglement. A very good read for those who prefer fairly classic mystery novels.
Mary Ellen had been devoted to her father, who indulged her every whim, and never had a good relationship with her mother, who was the family disciplinarian. Hence her long absence. But Susan's death will have practical consequences. The Ames family has lived in the same historic house since 1748. It's a national treasure and it will now go to Mary Ellen. There's a fair amount of money in the estate as well, and these matters have to be addressed before Susan passes on. Beyond that, Susan simply wants the chance to reconnect with her daughter before she dies.
Susan informs Brady that the Ames family does not hire "sleazy private eyes," and so she assigns him the task of finding her daughter. Brady fairly quickly locates the town home where Mary Ellen lives, but finding Mary Ellen herself proves to be a more difficult proposition. Before long, there will be the inevitable murder, followed by a couple more for good measure, and Brady is soon up to his neck in complications and in physical danger.
This is among the better books in the series with an intriguing plot and an interesting cast of characters. Brady is his usual subdued but very effective self and, as usual, he'll find time in and around his investigations for a new romantic entanglement. A very good read for those who prefer fairly classic mystery novels.
February 18, 2018
This is certainly one of the best of the Brady Coyne series (well, the first 11 anyways). Brady is, as usual, Brady and the plot ticks along at a good clip. Well worth the read.
December 8, 2019
(3). Always nice to spend a day or so with Brady. I am slowly working my way through this series and it entertains every time. Brady gets a little more stressed than usual in this one, as he is balancing a couple of possible new relationships along with a job for a dying client. This moves a little slow at first, but picks up nicely and really rolls for the last third or so. A couple of good twists, especially at the end, and Brady is still the man. Good stuff.
April 6, 2021
We’ve finished in order herewith Tapply’s 11th in his 28-book Brady Coyne series, about a nice-guy attorney to the greater Boston-area wealthy. His activities often edge into detective work as he not only charms and handles typical duties for his clients, but unravels mysteries and their other predicaments with just occasional help from various cop buddies.
In “Tight Lines” (a fisherman’s expression for “good luck”, reflecting that a fish has been snared), Brady’s free hours for autumnal fishing are curtailed by a dying client who has been estranged from her only daughter for over a decade. The lady would like a final encounter, both for emotional reasons and as preliminary to the disposition of her estate. She insists Brady try to hunt up the daughter rather than hire a PI, so he goes into action and soon enough discovers where she lives, but that no one has seen her for a couple of weeks. As he investigates her past and former associates and close friends, a few deaths complicate the situation to say the least.
Our protagonist, a bit of a playboy, has some interesting dates with his client’s attractive household manager which add to the fun, as does his atypical refusal to involve himself with a condo manager who would clearly prefer his company to her stalking and abusive separated husband.
At any rate, after Brady even takes a prime suspect fishing, eventually a suspenseful dénouement caps a pretty clever and entertaining tale. {3.5}
In “Tight Lines” (a fisherman’s expression for “good luck”, reflecting that a fish has been snared), Brady’s free hours for autumnal fishing are curtailed by a dying client who has been estranged from her only daughter for over a decade. The lady would like a final encounter, both for emotional reasons and as preliminary to the disposition of her estate. She insists Brady try to hunt up the daughter rather than hire a PI, so he goes into action and soon enough discovers where she lives, but that no one has seen her for a couple of weeks. As he investigates her past and former associates and close friends, a few deaths complicate the situation to say the least.
Our protagonist, a bit of a playboy, has some interesting dates with his client’s attractive household manager which add to the fun, as does his atypical refusal to involve himself with a condo manager who would clearly prefer his company to her stalking and abusive separated husband.
At any rate, after Brady even takes a prime suspect fishing, eventually a suspenseful dénouement caps a pretty clever and entertaining tale. {3.5}
March 2, 2021
Another good mystery for Boston lawyer Brady Coyne, with very little fishing in this one despite the title. A quest to reconcile a mother and daughter leads to a mysterious death.
March 10, 2017
March 2017 Lots of action in this 1992 novel.
February 6, 2016
#11 in the Boston attorney Brady Coyne series.
Boston attorney Brady Coyne series - Coyne, a Boston lawyer whose client base is profoundly rich if not famous, is called to the side of Susan Ames, a wealthy widow dying of cancer. Using the pretense of establishing ground rules for the disposition of the historically significant family estate, she asks Brady to find the daughter she hasn't seen in 11 years. His hesitance to go sleuthing is overcome by his guilt over accepting hefty retainers through the years and his insight that Susan Ames doesn't care about the house, she wants a "last hug." It's a short search. Brady finds the daughter's home and soon comes in contact with her lovers and friends and her analyst. The case becomes murder when first the daughter and then two of her lovers turn up dead.
Boston attorney Brady Coyne series - Coyne, a Boston lawyer whose client base is profoundly rich if not famous, is called to the side of Susan Ames, a wealthy widow dying of cancer. Using the pretense of establishing ground rules for the disposition of the historically significant family estate, she asks Brady to find the daughter she hasn't seen in 11 years. His hesitance to go sleuthing is overcome by his guilt over accepting hefty retainers through the years and his insight that Susan Ames doesn't care about the house, she wants a "last hug." It's a short search. Brady finds the daughter's home and soon comes in contact with her lovers and friends and her analyst. The case becomes murder when first the daughter and then two of her lovers turn up dead.
January 2, 2011
Once again Tapply does not disappoint. A mother is dying and seeks to visit with her estranged daughter one last time. Unfortunately the girl is missing. Brady Coyne is once again forced to play detective in order to fulfill a client's wishes. The mystery unfolds and remains unsolved until almost the last page.
March 4, 2011
I really enjoyed this book. It is nice to find another author with a series it looks like I will enjoy as much as Robert B Parker's Spenser for Hire series. If you like Parker's works, you will like this book.
August 16, 2009
Very Good; Continuing character: Brady Coyne; an elderly client asks Coyne to find her estranged daughter before she passes away, instead the lawyer finds a series of dead bodies
February 25, 2017
A Brady Coyne story is always a treat.
March 7, 2023
This story talks directly to me
This story talks directly to me. I feel like Brady Coyne’s friend, listening to him over a beer or two. I learned about investigations, human nature, psychology, and the Boston area, all interesting. There was enough plot and character development to hold my interest. And there were thankfully no car chases, and no overt violence. Brady is a likable character, imperfect but morally upright, attracted to good looking women, fishing and beer. I could identify with his actions and his thinking. This is my kind of mystery.
This story talks directly to me. I feel like Brady Coyne’s friend, listening to him over a beer or two. I learned about investigations, human nature, psychology, and the Boston area, all interesting. There was enough plot and character development to hold my interest. And there were thankfully no car chases, and no overt violence. Brady is a likable character, imperfect but morally upright, attracted to good looking women, fishing and beer. I could identify with his actions and his thinking. This is my kind of mystery.
October 15, 2022
Read one, you'll read them all
If you lived in New England, esp the Greater Boston area, the settings of Tapply books will be familiar and you will probably have been to many of them. His characters are New Englanders through and through. The ways his estate lawyer, Coyne, gets innocently tangled up in crime and manages to survive unscathed are imaginative, tense and comical at the same time. I'm halfway thru the series. I will be reading them all.
If you lived in New England, esp the Greater Boston area, the settings of Tapply books will be familiar and you will probably have been to many of them. His characters are New Englanders through and through. The ways his estate lawyer, Coyne, gets innocently tangled up in crime and manages to survive unscathed are imaginative, tense and comical at the same time. I'm halfway thru the series. I will be reading them all.
July 25, 2019
2 1/2 Stars: An okay murder mystery book. The writing was very stilted and plodding. The murderer was revealed at the end and seemed to come out of nowhere. I didn’t find the characters engaging or interesting. It was my first book by this author and will be my last. I don’t understand the great reviews of this novel.
October 17, 2017
Great Tapply stuff.
November 17, 2023
Good book. Engaging characters and a real mystery.
July 30, 2017
Not one of the best Brady Coyne. I have others that were written after this one that I liked better.
March 3, 2015
Another great mystery.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews