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Corie Geller #2
Bad, Bad Seymour Brown
When Corie Geller asked her parents to move from their apartment into the suburban McMansion she shares with her husband and teenage daughter, she assumed they'd fit right in with the placid life she’d opted for when she left the Joint Anti-terrorism Task Force of the FBI. But then her retired NYPD detective father gets a call from good-natured and slightly nerdy film professor April Brown--one of the victims of a case he was never able to solve.
When April was five years old, she’d emerged unscathed from the arson that
killed her parents. Now, two decades later, someone has made an attempt on her life, and she's asking for help. It takes only a nanosecond for Corie and her dad to say yes, and they jump into a full-fledged investigation.
If they don’t move fast, whoever attacked April is sure to strike again. But while her late father, Seymour Brown, was the go-to money launderer for the Russian mob--a mercurial and violent man with a penchant for Swiss watches and cheating on his wife--April has no enemies. Well-liked by her students, admired by her colleagues, her only connection to crime is her passion for the noir movies of Hollywood’s golden age. Who would want her dead now? And who set that horrific fire, all those years ago?
The stakes have never been higher--yet as Corie and her dad are realizing, they still live for the chase.
When April was five years old, she’d emerged unscathed from the arson that
killed her parents. Now, two decades later, someone has made an attempt on her life, and she's asking for help. It takes only a nanosecond for Corie and her dad to say yes, and they jump into a full-fledged investigation.
If they don’t move fast, whoever attacked April is sure to strike again. But while her late father, Seymour Brown, was the go-to money launderer for the Russian mob--a mercurial and violent man with a penchant for Swiss watches and cheating on his wife--April has no enemies. Well-liked by her students, admired by her colleagues, her only connection to crime is her passion for the noir movies of Hollywood’s golden age. Who would want her dead now? And who set that horrific fire, all those years ago?
The stakes have never been higher--yet as Corie and her dad are realizing, they still live for the chase.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 2, 2023
283 people are currently reading
5746 people want to read
About the author
Susan Isaacs
48 books505 followersI was born in a thatched cottage in the Cotswolds. Oh, you want the truth. Fine. I was born in Brooklyn and educated at Queens College. After leaving school, I saw one of those ads: BE A COMPUTER PROGRAMMER! Take our aptitude test. Since I had nothing else in mind, I took the test-and flunked. The guy at the employment agency looked at my resume and mumbled, “You wrote for your college paper? Uh, we have an opening at Seventeen magazine.” That’s how I became a writer.
I liked my job, but I found doing advice to the lovelorn and articles like “How to Write a Letter to a Boy” somewhat short of fulfilling. So, first as a volunteer, then for actual money, I wrote political speeches in my spare time. I did less of that when I met a wonderful guy, Elkan Abramowitz, then a federal prosecutor in the SDNY.
We were married and a little more than a year later, we had Andrew (now a corporate lawyer). Three years later, Elizabeth (now a philosopher and writer) was born. I’d left Seventeen to be home with my kids but continued to to do speeches and the occasional magazine piece. During what free time I had, I read more mysteries than was healthy. Possibly I became deranged, but I thought, I can do this.
And that’s how Compromising Positions, a whodunit with a housewife-detectives set on Long Island came about. Talk about good luck: it was chosen the Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, auctioned for paperback, sold to the movies, translated into thirty languages, and became a bestseller. I was a little overwhelmed by the success. However, it’s hard to rise to a state of perpetual cool and go to slick downtown parties when you’re living in the suburbs with a husband, two kids, two dogs, and a mini-van, I simply wrote another book… and then another and another.
About half my works are mysteries, two fall into the category of espionage, and the rest are…well, regular novels. In the horn-tooting department, nearly all my novels have been New York Times bestsellers.
My kids grew up. My husband became a defense lawyer specializing in white collar matters: I call him my house counsel since I’m always consulting him on criminal procedure, the justice system, and law enforcement jargon. Anyway, after forty-five years of writing all sorts of novels—standalones—I decided to write a mystery series. I conceived Corie Geller with a rich enough background to avoid what I’d always been leery of—that doing a series would mean writing the same book over and over, changing only the settings.
I also produced one work of nonfiction, Brave Dames and Wimpettes: What Women are Really Doing on Page and Screen. I wrote a slew of articles, essays, and op-ed pieces as well. Newsday sent me to write about the 2000 presidential campaign, which was one of the greatest thrills of my life-going to both conventions, riding beside John McCain on the Straight Talk Express, interviewing George W. Bush. I also reviewed books for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Newsday. (My website has far more information about my projects than most people would want to know, but have a look.)
In the mid-1980s, I wrote the screenplay for Paramount’s Compromising Positions which starred Susan Sarandon and Raul Julia. I also wrote and co-produced Touchstone’s Hello Again which starred Shelley Long, Gabriel Byrne, and Judith Ivey. (My fourth novel, Shining Through, set during World War II became the 20th Century Fox movie starring Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith and Liam Neeson. I would have written the script, except I wasn’t asked.)
Here’s the professional stuff. I’m a recipient of the Writers for Writers Award, the Marymount Manhattan Writing Center Award, and the John Steinbeck Award. I just retired (after over a decade) as chairman of the board of the literary organization, Poets & Writers. I also served as president of Mystery Writers of America. I belong to the National Book Critics Circle, the Creative Coalition, PEN, the Ameri
I liked my job, but I found doing advice to the lovelorn and articles like “How to Write a Letter to a Boy” somewhat short of fulfilling. So, first as a volunteer, then for actual money, I wrote political speeches in my spare time. I did less of that when I met a wonderful guy, Elkan Abramowitz, then a federal prosecutor in the SDNY.
We were married and a little more than a year later, we had Andrew (now a corporate lawyer). Three years later, Elizabeth (now a philosopher and writer) was born. I’d left Seventeen to be home with my kids but continued to to do speeches and the occasional magazine piece. During what free time I had, I read more mysteries than was healthy. Possibly I became deranged, but I thought, I can do this.
And that’s how Compromising Positions, a whodunit with a housewife-detectives set on Long Island came about. Talk about good luck: it was chosen the Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, auctioned for paperback, sold to the movies, translated into thirty languages, and became a bestseller. I was a little overwhelmed by the success. However, it’s hard to rise to a state of perpetual cool and go to slick downtown parties when you’re living in the suburbs with a husband, two kids, two dogs, and a mini-van, I simply wrote another book… and then another and another.
About half my works are mysteries, two fall into the category of espionage, and the rest are…well, regular novels. In the horn-tooting department, nearly all my novels have been New York Times bestsellers.
My kids grew up. My husband became a defense lawyer specializing in white collar matters: I call him my house counsel since I’m always consulting him on criminal procedure, the justice system, and law enforcement jargon. Anyway, after forty-five years of writing all sorts of novels—standalones—I decided to write a mystery series. I conceived Corie Geller with a rich enough background to avoid what I’d always been leery of—that doing a series would mean writing the same book over and over, changing only the settings.
I also produced one work of nonfiction, Brave Dames and Wimpettes: What Women are Really Doing on Page and Screen. I wrote a slew of articles, essays, and op-ed pieces as well. Newsday sent me to write about the 2000 presidential campaign, which was one of the greatest thrills of my life-going to both conventions, riding beside John McCain on the Straight Talk Express, interviewing George W. Bush. I also reviewed books for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Newsday. (My website has far more information about my projects than most people would want to know, but have a look.)
In the mid-1980s, I wrote the screenplay for Paramount’s Compromising Positions which starred Susan Sarandon and Raul Julia. I also wrote and co-produced Touchstone’s Hello Again which starred Shelley Long, Gabriel Byrne, and Judith Ivey. (My fourth novel, Shining Through, set during World War II became the 20th Century Fox movie starring Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith and Liam Neeson. I would have written the script, except I wasn’t asked.)
Here’s the professional stuff. I’m a recipient of the Writers for Writers Award, the Marymount Manhattan Writing Center Award, and the John Steinbeck Award. I just retired (after over a decade) as chairman of the board of the literary organization, Poets & Writers. I also served as president of Mystery Writers of America. I belong to the National Book Critics Circle, the Creative Coalition, PEN, the Ameri
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews
July 20, 2025
It wasn’t until I posted this book to my currently reading status here that I realized it was second in the series. But it didn’t matter because the author did a stellar job within the first two pages of catching readers up as to what had happened with the characters in the first book.
Throughout the book she also gave great insights into how whatever occurred in the first book impacted the characters, so that I never felt lost about not reading the first book. I felt deeply grateful to the author for the best catch-up experience ever!
The series follows Corie Geller a former FBI agent, suburban housewife, and current Private Investigator and her retired NYPD detective father who now lives with her family since Covid. The two pair up on a cold case of her father’s when the daughter contacts him.
After the catch up, the plot dragged a bit, until it twisted itself into gear with a story that kept readers guessing with red herrings and misdirection. Readers will find Corie and her dad likable characters, who are interesting, feel real and fully developed.
The question is, will this be a series to follow?
3 stars +.5 stars rounded up for likable characters and the catch-up experience.
Throughout the book she also gave great insights into how whatever occurred in the first book impacted the characters, so that I never felt lost about not reading the first book. I felt deeply grateful to the author for the best catch-up experience ever!
The series follows Corie Geller a former FBI agent, suburban housewife, and current Private Investigator and her retired NYPD detective father who now lives with her family since Covid. The two pair up on a cold case of her father’s when the daughter contacts him.
After the catch up, the plot dragged a bit, until it twisted itself into gear with a story that kept readers guessing with red herrings and misdirection. Readers will find Corie and her dad likable characters, who are interesting, feel real and fully developed.
The question is, will this be a series to follow?
3 stars +.5 stars rounded up for likable characters and the catch-up experience.
May 14, 2023
Bad Bad Seymour Brown is the second book in the Corie Geller series by award-winning American author, Susan Isaacs. A little bored with being a literary scout, and still affected by PTSD from a nasty episode a year earlier, ex-FBI Special Agent Corie Geller is ready for something else. And when her dad, former NYPD cop, Dan Schottland gets a request for help from the only survivor of his most troubling cold case, she’s in.
Associate Professor of Cinema Studies at Rutgers University, April Brown has been targeted by someone in a dark SUV. Local police have done what they can, but are dismissive of April’s history. Over twenty years earlier, she survived, by climbing out the window, the deliberately-set housefire that killed her parents, Seymour and Kimberly Brown; a fire so intense that it completely obliterated their home, and almost every trace of the victims.
Seymour Brown was a CPA who laundered money for the Russian mob, and one theory was always that they took revenge because he hid their money too well. But April was five when the arson happened: what could the Russians, or anyone, want with her now?
Dan and Corie focus on Seymour Brown and the arson, meticulously going over every detail and interviewing everyone they can find with even the vaguest connection to the case, but particularly Seymour’s driver, his mistress and his business partner. That takes quite a bit of string-pulling and lateral thinking, and sometimes they need to use a proxy to get their information.
Particularly puzzling is the complete absence of any trace, any history, of Seymour before he qualified as a CPA. Just who was this mystery man? Whoever he was, he could be quite nasty at times so they can’t dismiss the idea that a disgruntled employee or an angry ex-girlfriend took action.
While there are some spoilers for the first book, this one can easily stand alone, and after Corie and Dan have been working together for a while, they decide to get their PI licences, so more of this likeable duo is probably in the pipeline. Isaacs gives the reader a few twists and red herrings in the lead up to an exciting climax. This is a very enjoyable cosy crime series.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Grove Atlantic.
Associate Professor of Cinema Studies at Rutgers University, April Brown has been targeted by someone in a dark SUV. Local police have done what they can, but are dismissive of April’s history. Over twenty years earlier, she survived, by climbing out the window, the deliberately-set housefire that killed her parents, Seymour and Kimberly Brown; a fire so intense that it completely obliterated their home, and almost every trace of the victims.
Seymour Brown was a CPA who laundered money for the Russian mob, and one theory was always that they took revenge because he hid their money too well. But April was five when the arson happened: what could the Russians, or anyone, want with her now?
Dan and Corie focus on Seymour Brown and the arson, meticulously going over every detail and interviewing everyone they can find with even the vaguest connection to the case, but particularly Seymour’s driver, his mistress and his business partner. That takes quite a bit of string-pulling and lateral thinking, and sometimes they need to use a proxy to get their information.
Particularly puzzling is the complete absence of any trace, any history, of Seymour before he qualified as a CPA. Just who was this mystery man? Whoever he was, he could be quite nasty at times so they can’t dismiss the idea that a disgruntled employee or an angry ex-girlfriend took action.
While there are some spoilers for the first book, this one can easily stand alone, and after Corie and Dan have been working together for a while, they decide to get their PI licences, so more of this likeable duo is probably in the pipeline. Isaacs gives the reader a few twists and red herrings in the lead up to an exciting climax. This is a very enjoyable cosy crime series.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Grove Atlantic.
March 7, 2023
I remember when Susan Isaacs burst upon the scene with Compromising Positions in which even the title reverberated with wit. In the late '70's, the literary world had not seen her like, and the popularity of the twisty suburban thriller was in the future. But she spearheaded that genre, and this is the latest example. With equal parts humor and mystery, she has crafted a father/daughter team of newly minted PIs, both retired from their previous occupations, and able to employ the crafts they learned from them. Corie and her Dad are hired by April Brown, a professor on tenure track who lost her parents in a horrific arson-set fire decades before, when she was only five. Dad has kept up with April through the years, so when she feels threatened, she calls on him and the cold case is hot again. There is plenty of Isaac trademark repartee as well as some twisty turns, however it could have done with a bit of trimming and not lasted as long as it did.
March 30, 2023
This is the second in the Corie Geller series. Although I have read both of them, this one works well as a stand alone.
Former FBI agent and an Arabic language translator, Corie is happily married to a judge and step mom to a teenager. She is dealing with PTSD due to a kidnapping and torture in the recent past. During Covid, her parents moved in with them and are continuing to live there. Her father is a retired NYPD detective. One of his unsolved cases from twenty plus years ago was the arson murder of Seymour Brown and his wife. Seymour was an accountant who worked with the Russian mob, helping to launder their money. Their five year old daughter, April, managed to escape the house fire by jumping out a window.
When April, now a university professor, contacts Corie’s father because it appears someone tried to run her down, the father daughter team look into the case as well as try to solve the historical one. Along the way, they decide to become licensed as PIs and become partners in a new business venture.
With richly drawn characters, and Isaac’s signature wit, this is not a fast read.
It is more of a slow burn. The storyline strained credulity a bit as did the belief that Corie was once a savvy, successful FBI agent. But if you are OK with that, this is an entertaining read. I enjoyed Corie’s somewhat cynical but loving view of and relationship with her parents.
Thanks to #netgalley and #groveatlantic #atlanticmonthlypress for the ARC.
Former FBI agent and an Arabic language translator, Corie is happily married to a judge and step mom to a teenager. She is dealing with PTSD due to a kidnapping and torture in the recent past. During Covid, her parents moved in with them and are continuing to live there. Her father is a retired NYPD detective. One of his unsolved cases from twenty plus years ago was the arson murder of Seymour Brown and his wife. Seymour was an accountant who worked with the Russian mob, helping to launder their money. Their five year old daughter, April, managed to escape the house fire by jumping out a window.
When April, now a university professor, contacts Corie’s father because it appears someone tried to run her down, the father daughter team look into the case as well as try to solve the historical one. Along the way, they decide to become licensed as PIs and become partners in a new business venture.
With richly drawn characters, and Isaac’s signature wit, this is not a fast read.
It is more of a slow burn. The storyline strained credulity a bit as did the belief that Corie was once a savvy, successful FBI agent. But if you are OK with that, this is an entertaining read. I enjoyed Corie’s somewhat cynical but loving view of and relationship with her parents.
Thanks to #netgalley and #groveatlantic #atlanticmonthlypress for the ARC.
May 24, 2023
An interesting story line that was difficult to read. Too much fluff, not enough substance. It’s written with a YA tone but about middle aged and older characters. Did not enjoy it at all. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
December 30, 2022
I saved this book as a special treat for my Christmas vacation. It was even more delicious than I expected. Seymour Brown and his wife died in a spectacular fire, which was a murder probably from his mob connections. Corie Geller and her retired detective father become involved when Seymour’s daughter, who survived the fire, is now threatened by attempts on her life.
Corie and Dan are pulled into the case, but soon realize how much they enjoy detecting together, and soon they become PI partners…voila, the start of a new series for Isaacs!
Every character in this book plays a supporting role, but there are never too many at the same time. As a reader, I like to digest the story and not have it overcrowded with characters. Isaacs perfectly cast these characters and slowly unraveled their roles in Seymour’s death. Of course, lots of twists are involved. Corie has the gift of snappy Isaacs dialogue, which I love.
This book is really PERFECT for fans ofIsaacs earlier books and gives us hope for more in the future. Thank you NETGALLEY for my favorite holiday gift!
Corie and Dan are pulled into the case, but soon realize how much they enjoy detecting together, and soon they become PI partners…voila, the start of a new series for Isaacs!
Every character in this book plays a supporting role, but there are never too many at the same time. As a reader, I like to digest the story and not have it overcrowded with characters. Isaacs perfectly cast these characters and slowly unraveled their roles in Seymour’s death. Of course, lots of twists are involved. Corie has the gift of snappy Isaacs dialogue, which I love.
This book is really PERFECT for fans ofIsaacs earlier books and gives us hope for more in the future. Thank you NETGALLEY for my favorite holiday gift!
March 18, 2023
Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the copy of Bad, Bad, Seymour Brown by Susan Isaacs. There was a lot of dialogue and not a lot of action. I wasn’t expecting a thriller-type book because I have read this author years ago, but there were so many ‘interviews’ (aka dialogue) it was hard to keep invested in the story. It did pick up and things started to happen, but by then I wasn’t really interested. The book was long and felt like it. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because the end was clever and if you like cozy mysteries this book is for you. I just need more action.
January 8, 2023
4.5 stars, rated up
Susan Isaacs is one of my must read authors; ever since I came across a hardcover of Shining Through in the early 00’s, I bought it, and I fell in love with that story and have read each of her books since, with great enjoyment.
Bad, Bad Seymour Brown is an excellent follow-up to Takes One to Know One. It catches us up with Corie Geller, her husband and step-daughter, her parents, the pandemic and its aftermath in a close family, as well as Corie’s PTSD (I really appreciated this nod to mental health and its importance) until the now-adult survivor of an old cold case of Corie’s father’s reaches out to him after a frightening experience, seemingly being the target of an assassination attempt. Dad, who’s never forgotten it and kept in touch with the victim throughout the years is immediately concerned with the safety of the survivor and gets his old files (most of which he borrowed from the station - cold case that no one else was looking at) out of storage, and he and Corie start investigating.
Thoughts -
* The story here is compelling and keeps you turning the page
* I love how the author writes dialogue - her wit continues to get me with each book
* The family dynamics here are conveyed wonderfully
* The descriptive writing allows the reader to see so much of the story
* oooh, twisty
The worst part of reading this was that it put Jim Croce's 1970's song, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown in my head on an almost continuous loop.
Recommended!
Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the DRC!
Susan Isaacs is one of my must read authors; ever since I came across a hardcover of Shining Through in the early 00’s, I bought it, and I fell in love with that story and have read each of her books since, with great enjoyment.
Bad, Bad Seymour Brown is an excellent follow-up to Takes One to Know One. It catches us up with Corie Geller, her husband and step-daughter, her parents, the pandemic and its aftermath in a close family, as well as Corie’s PTSD (I really appreciated this nod to mental health and its importance) until the now-adult survivor of an old cold case of Corie’s father’s reaches out to him after a frightening experience, seemingly being the target of an assassination attempt. Dad, who’s never forgotten it and kept in touch with the victim throughout the years is immediately concerned with the safety of the survivor and gets his old files (most of which he borrowed from the station - cold case that no one else was looking at) out of storage, and he and Corie start investigating.
Thoughts -
* The story here is compelling and keeps you turning the page
* I love how the author writes dialogue - her wit continues to get me with each book
* The family dynamics here are conveyed wonderfully
* The descriptive writing allows the reader to see so much of the story
* oooh, twisty
The worst part of reading this was that it put Jim Croce's 1970's song, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown in my head on an almost continuous loop.
Recommended!
Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the DRC!
March 27, 2023
I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
The setting: "When Corie Geller asked her parents to move from their apartment into the suburban McMansion she shares with her husband and teenage daughter, she assumed they'd fit right in with the placid life she’d opted for when she left the Joint Anti-terrorism Task Force of the FBI. But then her retired NYPD detective father gets a call from good-natured and slightly nerdy film professor April Brown--one of the victims of a case he was never able to solve.
When April was five years old, she’d emerged unscathed from the arson that killed her parents [Seymour and Kim]. Now, two decades later, someone has made an attempt on her life, and she's asking for help."
And so it begins.
I was captured from the start. A fast read. Wry humor. Clever. A mystery. Some laugh-out loud moments at descriptions. I was along for the ride.
I think this is somewhat of a beach read--so keep that in mind.
Although the title is about Seymour Brown--who sets the book/plot in motion--until the end, Seymour is somewhat peripheral. It's more about Corie, her dad, and April--and some of the other characters--the dad's chauffeur, Kim's friends, and Corie's friend, Wynne.
I first read Susan Isaacs in 1978, when she came out with Compromising Positions--which I remember loving [who knows what I'd think 45 years later?!!]
Solid 3.5, but can't quite pull the trigger on rounding up.
The setting: "When Corie Geller asked her parents to move from their apartment into the suburban McMansion she shares with her husband and teenage daughter, she assumed they'd fit right in with the placid life she’d opted for when she left the Joint Anti-terrorism Task Force of the FBI. But then her retired NYPD detective father gets a call from good-natured and slightly nerdy film professor April Brown--one of the victims of a case he was never able to solve.
When April was five years old, she’d emerged unscathed from the arson that killed her parents [Seymour and Kim]. Now, two decades later, someone has made an attempt on her life, and she's asking for help."
And so it begins.
I was captured from the start. A fast read. Wry humor. Clever. A mystery. Some laugh-out loud moments at descriptions. I was along for the ride.
I think this is somewhat of a beach read--so keep that in mind.
Although the title is about Seymour Brown--who sets the book/plot in motion--until the end, Seymour is somewhat peripheral. It's more about Corie, her dad, and April--and some of the other characters--the dad's chauffeur, Kim's friends, and Corie's friend, Wynne.
I first read Susan Isaacs in 1978, when she came out with Compromising Positions--which I remember loving [who knows what I'd think 45 years later?!!]
Solid 3.5, but can't quite pull the trigger on rounding up.
January 13, 2026
REVIEW:
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
🕵🏼♂️🕵🏼♀️
This book was very, very slow, dragging and annoying. I read it for a week. It was when I got to 60% of the book that it got better. I loved the plot and I love cold cases, but this was not 'it' for me.
🕵🏼♀️🕵🏼♂️
I felt like Seymour Brown got what he deserved, he was a such an asshole. Towards the ending of the book, it felt like he was pitied and the characters all forgot about the bad things he'd done. Although the perp was also deserving of the scorn, I just wished Seymour hadn't been turned into a seemingly good person
🕵🏼♀️🕵🏼♂️
I loved the father- daughter duo of Dan and Corie. Both of them are not working for law enforcement agencies anymore, and they still got the skills. I'd wanted Dan's POV too. I loved the rest of their family too, Corie's husband, stepdaughter and her mom, they were such lively characters.
🕵🏼♀️🕵🏼♂️
I'd have loved this book if it had been faster and shorter.
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
🕵🏼♂️🕵🏼♀️
This book was very, very slow, dragging and annoying. I read it for a week. It was when I got to 60% of the book that it got better. I loved the plot and I love cold cases, but this was not 'it' for me.
🕵🏼♀️🕵🏼♂️
I felt like Seymour Brown got what he deserved, he was a such an asshole. Towards the ending of the book, it felt like he was pitied and the characters all forgot about the bad things he'd done. Although the perp was also deserving of the scorn, I just wished Seymour hadn't been turned into a seemingly good person
🕵🏼♀️🕵🏼♂️
I loved the father- daughter duo of Dan and Corie. Both of them are not working for law enforcement agencies anymore, and they still got the skills. I'd wanted Dan's POV too. I loved the rest of their family too, Corie's husband, stepdaughter and her mom, they were such lively characters.
🕵🏼♀️🕵🏼♂️
I'd have loved this book if it had been faster and shorter.
June 25, 2023
Tedious. I just wanted it to end.
August 10, 2023
me when I read the second book in a series without realizing it was a series nor reading the first one
June 12, 2023
Isaacs' 1978 debut mystery, Compromising Positions, was a great read with a sassy heroine, snark, and terrific plot. Isaac's new book, the second one featuring ex-FBI agent Corie Geller, is another fun read; it has a solid, suspenseful plot and amusing lines. This time, Corie joins forces with her dad, a retired NYPD detective when April Brown, the now grown daughter from one of her father's old unsolved murder cases, asks for help. Corie and her Dad are more than happy to help and ditch the tedium of upscale suburban Long Island. When April was five, she escaped the house where an arsonist left too few remains of her parents for identification. To discover who has recently tried to run April down, Geller and her Dad investigate the old, mostly mob, associates of April's nasty money laundering father who died, leaving untraceable millions. That April grows up to be a professor of film studies at Rutgers is an added bonus for me. Also, the Geller family has a dog that doesn't die during the novel. Though the book's final twist was unnecessary, and the detective duo 's interference with police investigations was annoying to me, as well as the cops, the novel is properly suspenseful and Isaac's cast of possible evil-doers is terrific.
July 1, 2024
“BAD, BAD SEYMOUR BROWN thrusts readers into the relentless pursuit of justice led by newly minted PIs Corie Geller and her retired NYPD detective father, Dan Schottland. Their investigation into Russian mob money laundering spirals into a heart-pounding whirlwind of suspense, wit, and action. A dynamic father-daughter duo at its finest.”
September 14, 2023
Susan Isaacs is one of my favorite authors. she is smart, funny and entertaining. this mystery is fun to read and has very detailed information.I enjoyed the twists and how she developed the characters. The cori Geller series is lots of fun. Highly recommended
September 10, 2023
Slow read but good ending. Loved the writing style
November 22, 2023
Just out of respect to Susan Isaacs I finished the book. I can’t believe she wrote it. Total waste of time. Was fortunate to listen to an audio on 1.5 speed. Very disappointed.
December 1, 2023
This was a well plotted mystery story.
May 28, 2023
Used to laugh out loud reading this author ,but now she is so preoccupied introducing Woke elements and conservative bashing into every segment the mystery takes a back seat as does her usual witty banter.
Read
June 8, 2023Bad, bad Susan Isaacs. Long, tedious, boring.
If you want quality Susan Isaacs, go back to Compromising Positions.
If you want quality Susan Isaacs, go back to Compromising Positions.
July 24, 2023
Because I have really liked previous books by this author, I kept reading.....until page 120. At that point, there just wasn't much to keep my interest engaged.
November 1, 2025
I’ve been a fan of Susan Isaas’s novels since she debuted with Compromising Positions in 1978. That was fifteen novels ago, and she’s only gotten steadily better at her craft. She was originally categorized as a producer of “women’s fiction” -- a form of ghettoization I dislike and try to avoid -- and it’s true that her protagonists are always women. They’re usually middle-aged, Jewish, well-educated, and residents of the more affluent New York suburbs outside the city proper. In her earlier books, they often were widowed or divorced, too -- women suddenly on their own in the world and unsure how to handle it -- but that has changed somewhat in recent years as the author has upped her game to what are now almost exclusively crime stories and mysteries combined with social and personal concerns of particular interest to women.
This one is a direct sequel to Takes One to Know One, which I read last year, an which kind of broke new ground for this author. The heroine (she’s definitely more than just a protagonist) is Corie Geller, now married to a federal judge in Shorehaven on Long Island (the fictional setting for many of her books), but she grew up in a not-huge apartment in Queens, the daughter of an NYPD homicide detective and a small-time movie and TV actress. She used to be an FBI Special Agent working in counter-terrorism, and she still does contract work for them -- she’s an extremely talented snd skilled interviewer and interrogator, but mostly she’s a stay-at-home now, looking after her large home (over-decorated by her husband’s late first wife) and her teenage stepdaughter.
But that’s boring, and she’s been looking for some way to occupy her very active mind. That got her into rathe horrific difficulties in the previous book (I won’t go into specifics in case you haven’t read it yet, but you certainly should), but she also discovered that her previous law enforcement training was vey useful in her adventure as an amateur private investigators. It also woke up her retired Dad, who had also been in the doldrums.
Now one of her father’s very cold unsolved cases. a double-homicide from two decades before, has popped up again when Dad is contacted by April Brown, the daughter of the murdered couple in a massive home fire, who was five at the time and escaped by climbing out her ground-floor bedroom window. Now she has a Ph.D. in film studies and is a tenure-track professor at Rutgers, and doing well -- except that someone recently tied to kill her by chasing her across a lawn on campus in an SUV. Corie’s Dad has kept track of April all these years, exchanging Christmas cards and so on, and so she has turned to him for help.
Bingo. Dad has a chance to get back in the game and Corie becomes fascinated by what he relates to her of the case, so she’s joining him. Especially since figuring out who’s out to get April -- their first real “client” -- seems to require they also solve the original crime. And that’s going to be complicated by that fact that April’s father, Seymour Brown was not at all a nice guy. He was a highly- successful and increasingly powerful money-launderer for the Russian Mafiya in Queens, and also frequently abused to every he knew, including his mild wife -- except for his young daughter, whom he absolutely adored. This is one of those terrific yarns that I hated to put down, even to deal with the necessities of my own life, because I really wanted to now what was going to happen next. Good stuff.
I should add that Isaacs’s narrative style in many of her books includes a fair amount of wandering off the main topic, but this time it incorporates far more than the usual amount of detail in the development of the plot. I mean, worldbuilding is a part of the process of fiction writing that especially interests me, and I’m a patient reader, so I’m usually okay with that. But I suspect some readers -- those in a hurry to get on to the action and impatient with exposition -- will be put off by it. And I have to admit, it sometimes does seem somewhat like unnecessary padding this time, but the book runs to almost 450 pages, so you could probably cut the arguably extraneous material by fifteen percent without actually sacrificing any of the story. On the other hand, I found most of the extended detail on how Corie and her father organize their investigation without access to official law enforcement resources to be very interesting, and how Corie steers her interviews so deftly truly fascinating. YMMV, I guess. Also, the ending feeling a set-u for a third volume, so I’m crossing my fingers.
This one is a direct sequel to Takes One to Know One, which I read last year, an which kind of broke new ground for this author. The heroine (she’s definitely more than just a protagonist) is Corie Geller, now married to a federal judge in Shorehaven on Long Island (the fictional setting for many of her books), but she grew up in a not-huge apartment in Queens, the daughter of an NYPD homicide detective and a small-time movie and TV actress. She used to be an FBI Special Agent working in counter-terrorism, and she still does contract work for them -- she’s an extremely talented snd skilled interviewer and interrogator, but mostly she’s a stay-at-home now, looking after her large home (over-decorated by her husband’s late first wife) and her teenage stepdaughter.
But that’s boring, and she’s been looking for some way to occupy her very active mind. That got her into rathe horrific difficulties in the previous book (I won’t go into specifics in case you haven’t read it yet, but you certainly should), but she also discovered that her previous law enforcement training was vey useful in her adventure as an amateur private investigators. It also woke up her retired Dad, who had also been in the doldrums.
Now one of her father’s very cold unsolved cases. a double-homicide from two decades before, has popped up again when Dad is contacted by April Brown, the daughter of the murdered couple in a massive home fire, who was five at the time and escaped by climbing out her ground-floor bedroom window. Now she has a Ph.D. in film studies and is a tenure-track professor at Rutgers, and doing well -- except that someone recently tied to kill her by chasing her across a lawn on campus in an SUV. Corie’s Dad has kept track of April all these years, exchanging Christmas cards and so on, and so she has turned to him for help.
Bingo. Dad has a chance to get back in the game and Corie becomes fascinated by what he relates to her of the case, so she’s joining him. Especially since figuring out who’s out to get April -- their first real “client” -- seems to require they also solve the original crime. And that’s going to be complicated by that fact that April’s father, Seymour Brown was not at all a nice guy. He was a highly- successful and increasingly powerful money-launderer for the Russian Mafiya in Queens, and also frequently abused to every he knew, including his mild wife -- except for his young daughter, whom he absolutely adored. This is one of those terrific yarns that I hated to put down, even to deal with the necessities of my own life, because I really wanted to now what was going to happen next. Good stuff.
I should add that Isaacs’s narrative style in many of her books includes a fair amount of wandering off the main topic, but this time it incorporates far more than the usual amount of detail in the development of the plot. I mean, worldbuilding is a part of the process of fiction writing that especially interests me, and I’m a patient reader, so I’m usually okay with that. But I suspect some readers -- those in a hurry to get on to the action and impatient with exposition -- will be put off by it. And I have to admit, it sometimes does seem somewhat like unnecessary padding this time, but the book runs to almost 450 pages, so you could probably cut the arguably extraneous material by fifteen percent without actually sacrificing any of the story. On the other hand, I found most of the extended detail on how Corie and her father organize their investigation without access to official law enforcement resources to be very interesting, and how Corie steers her interviews so deftly truly fascinating. YMMV, I guess. Also, the ending feeling a set-u for a third volume, so I’m crossing my fingers.
August 19, 2023
This book was very enjoyable, and light reading for me after some of the non-fiction and somewhat intense historical fiction I've been delving into lately. Some people might think a book that features murder by arson, the Russian mob, money-laundering, and a possible attempted murder would be heavy stuff, but Susan Isaacs is such a master of recognizable but not caricature-ish New York Metro characters and locations, gentle snark, and believable plot points and dialogue, that this latest novel is really more like indulging in a plate of chocolate chip cookies with a glass of cold milk or a nice bowl of matzoh-ball soup. It's kind of homey and delicious in a non-pretentious way.
Corie Geller is a former member of the Joint Terrorist Task force of the FBI, and her dad is a retired NYPD detective. During COVID, she asked him and her mother to move to her large home on Long Island where she lives with her husband, a judge, and her teenaged stepdaughter. After being held in a hostage incident, she is still experiencing some symptoms of PTSD, and has been doing some work as a literary scout for Arabic-speaking novelists (she is fluent in Arabic after studying it in college and using it as part of her FBI position).
She gets back into action when her dad, Dan, gets a call from April Brown, the now grown-up daughter of a couple burned to death in the arson fire of their Brooklyn home. Twenty or so years before, as a little girl, April had escaped through a window and was sent to live with relatives. Her father, Seymour Brown, had been a brilliant accountant and money-launderer for the Russian mob. Corie's dad had been one of the investigating detectives.
April is now a college professor of film at Rutgers in New Jersey. She called Dan because she had just had a big scare when a car seemed about to deliberately run her down. She asks for his help, and before you can say the title of your favorite vintage film, Corie and Dan are on the case.
Isaacs keeps the action moving, telling the story from Corie's first person point of view. It's compelling, believable, and very visual. This was the second of two Corie Geller novels, and I have to go back to read the first one, and will then look forward to another. Thanks, Susan Isaacs, for keeping me entertained through the years!
Corie Geller is a former member of the Joint Terrorist Task force of the FBI, and her dad is a retired NYPD detective. During COVID, she asked him and her mother to move to her large home on Long Island where she lives with her husband, a judge, and her teenaged stepdaughter. After being held in a hostage incident, she is still experiencing some symptoms of PTSD, and has been doing some work as a literary scout for Arabic-speaking novelists (she is fluent in Arabic after studying it in college and using it as part of her FBI position).
She gets back into action when her dad, Dan, gets a call from April Brown, the now grown-up daughter of a couple burned to death in the arson fire of their Brooklyn home. Twenty or so years before, as a little girl, April had escaped through a window and was sent to live with relatives. Her father, Seymour Brown, had been a brilliant accountant and money-launderer for the Russian mob. Corie's dad had been one of the investigating detectives.
April is now a college professor of film at Rutgers in New Jersey. She called Dan because she had just had a big scare when a car seemed about to deliberately run her down. She asks for his help, and before you can say the title of your favorite vintage film, Corie and Dan are on the case.
Isaacs keeps the action moving, telling the story from Corie's first person point of view. It's compelling, believable, and very visual. This was the second of two Corie Geller novels, and I have to go back to read the first one, and will then look forward to another. Thanks, Susan Isaacs, for keeping me entertained through the years!
June 15, 2023
I dunno.....
Let's face it. Some novels turn up all the lights in the room for ya. This one not so much. I looked forward to this one with that catchy title: Bad, Bad Seymour Brown. Unfortunately, there was more bad involved in that title.
Susan Isaacs had a great idea with combining a former FBI agent suffering from PTSD and a retired New York City cop. It happens to be that they are father and daughter. They become an overflowing family unit during Covid when they move in together under one roof: Corie, her husband and step-daughter and her parents with dad being the former Detective Schottland. There's a pup involved by the name of Lulu.
Schottland gets a call from a woman involved in one of his cold cases. It was a case in which a tragic fire occured. Kim and Seymour Brown perished in the house fire, but their five year old daughter, April, escaped through her bedroom window. The case was never solved. Seymour was a crafty accountant with ties to the Russian mob. Nothing was proven.
April Brown is now a filmmaking professor. She's moved on with still good memories of her father. But a recent incident has shaken her. Someone tried to run her over in a black SUV while she was walking on campus. And they meant business. She's lucky to be alive. Schottland was the lead detective on her father's case. He brings in Corie as back-up. What does April know about her father that others may want to snuff out? Locked in and ready to go.
But the storyline gets bogged down with so many information dumps and actions that are out-right fill-ins. There were some laugh out loud moments, but the rest were futile attempts that went nowhere. Characters were brought in to take up space. We were treading water here on out until the conclusion. You know the feeling when the reader is beyond ready for lights out.
Susan Isaacs has a long list of novels under her belt. The woman can write. But this one just tried too hard and it shows. I loved the father/daughter relationship here. That's what kept me turning pages. I'd be up for the next one to see if the weighty parts will be trimmed off. More father/daughter investigation style and less foo foo business. There's talent here and the potential for a very solid series in the making.
Let's face it. Some novels turn up all the lights in the room for ya. This one not so much. I looked forward to this one with that catchy title: Bad, Bad Seymour Brown. Unfortunately, there was more bad involved in that title.
Susan Isaacs had a great idea with combining a former FBI agent suffering from PTSD and a retired New York City cop. It happens to be that they are father and daughter. They become an overflowing family unit during Covid when they move in together under one roof: Corie, her husband and step-daughter and her parents with dad being the former Detective Schottland. There's a pup involved by the name of Lulu.
Schottland gets a call from a woman involved in one of his cold cases. It was a case in which a tragic fire occured. Kim and Seymour Brown perished in the house fire, but their five year old daughter, April, escaped through her bedroom window. The case was never solved. Seymour was a crafty accountant with ties to the Russian mob. Nothing was proven.
April Brown is now a filmmaking professor. She's moved on with still good memories of her father. But a recent incident has shaken her. Someone tried to run her over in a black SUV while she was walking on campus. And they meant business. She's lucky to be alive. Schottland was the lead detective on her father's case. He brings in Corie as back-up. What does April know about her father that others may want to snuff out? Locked in and ready to go.
But the storyline gets bogged down with so many information dumps and actions that are out-right fill-ins. There were some laugh out loud moments, but the rest were futile attempts that went nowhere. Characters were brought in to take up space. We were treading water here on out until the conclusion. You know the feeling when the reader is beyond ready for lights out.
Susan Isaacs has a long list of novels under her belt. The woman can write. But this one just tried too hard and it shows. I loved the father/daughter relationship here. That's what kept me turning pages. I'd be up for the next one to see if the weighty parts will be trimmed off. More father/daughter investigation style and less foo foo business. There's talent here and the potential for a very solid series in the making.
May 19, 2023
Susan Isaacs has been writing bestsellers since the late 1970s, and she’s hilarious! I’ve been a fan since then. During that earlier time, a period of third wave feminism, her tales often featured rotten husbands and ex-husbands reaping what they’d sown. Her creativity and trademark snark have always kept me running back for more. Her new novel, Bad, Bad Seymour Brown is the second in the Corie Geller detective series, and it’s deeply satisfying. My thanks go to Net Galley and Grove Atlantic for the review copy. This book is for sale now.
Seymour Brown was an accountant for the Russian mob. “I’ve never heard of a violent accountant before,” my mom observed. “At worst, they’re a little pissy.” But by all accounts, Seymour was a rotten guy. “He made regular bad look good.” Bad to everyone, that is, except his five year old daughter April, his only child, for whom the sun rose and fell. But Seymour’s family was tucked away for the night when an unknown assailant came and burned the house to the ground with the Browns inside it. Happily, April made it out the window alive. The case was never solved.
Now April is an adult, a professor in film studies. She’s put her past behind her, and now, all of a sudden—someone is trying to kill her! She contacts the detective that was assigned to the murder investigation; he’s retired now, and he is Corie Geller’s father.
All of the things that I love about Isaacs’s work are here in abundance. The story is full of feminist moxie—Geller isn’t an assistant to her father, but rather retired from the FBI in order to raise her stepdaughter—she is his partner in this new investigation, and as it happens, in the new detective agency they’ve begun. But another thing I’ve always loved about Isaacs’s prose is her trademark snark, and I snickered and chortled all the way through this engaging novel. The pages flew by, and I found myself looking for extra reading time when I could sneak off to plunge in once more. Susan Isaacs writes the most creative figurative language I’ve seen anywhere. She’s funny as hell.
You can read this book as a stand-alone, but I’ll tell you right now, once you read the second, you’ll want to read the first one, Takes One to Know One also.
Highly recommended, particularly to feminist boomers.
Seymour Brown was an accountant for the Russian mob. “I’ve never heard of a violent accountant before,” my mom observed. “At worst, they’re a little pissy.” But by all accounts, Seymour was a rotten guy. “He made regular bad look good.” Bad to everyone, that is, except his five year old daughter April, his only child, for whom the sun rose and fell. But Seymour’s family was tucked away for the night when an unknown assailant came and burned the house to the ground with the Browns inside it. Happily, April made it out the window alive. The case was never solved.
Now April is an adult, a professor in film studies. She’s put her past behind her, and now, all of a sudden—someone is trying to kill her! She contacts the detective that was assigned to the murder investigation; he’s retired now, and he is Corie Geller’s father.
All of the things that I love about Isaacs’s work are here in abundance. The story is full of feminist moxie—Geller isn’t an assistant to her father, but rather retired from the FBI in order to raise her stepdaughter—she is his partner in this new investigation, and as it happens, in the new detective agency they’ve begun. But another thing I’ve always loved about Isaacs’s prose is her trademark snark, and I snickered and chortled all the way through this engaging novel. The pages flew by, and I found myself looking for extra reading time when I could sneak off to plunge in once more. Susan Isaacs writes the most creative figurative language I’ve seen anywhere. She’s funny as hell.
You can read this book as a stand-alone, but I’ll tell you right now, once you read the second, you’ll want to read the first one, Takes One to Know One also.
Highly recommended, particularly to feminist boomers.
July 6, 2025
400 pages that coulda and shoulda been 300.
The pace is glacial.
Too much description and too many similes; not enough action.
Corie Geller and her father are investigators, unofficially. Dad has heard from the sole survivor of an unsolved arson/murder case he worked as an NYPD detective. Now retired, bored, and living with Corie, he decides to call on some old contacts, get the files, and figure out who's trying to kill the survivor and (fingers crossed) also find the arsonist/murderer from decades ago. The Russian mob, general shady characters, friends and family, they're all part of the story, which makes for a lot of extraneous telling. And it's not just the people. Corie and Dad are working in their office, and then for no good reason they move outdoors, and then they're back inside again. This makes no sense or difference to the story. I understand that Corie is married and has a stepdaughter, and some of the action takes place at her home, and her judge husband has info and advice to offer, but Corie's stepdaughter and mom are just in and out for no discernible reason. It gets boring. And it's irritating when characters show up, wander through a scene, add nothing to it but talk anyway, and leave. Over and over.
Also, the story is clunky. Corie and Dad decide they should get PI licenses, because that would allow them to access databases (at least, that's what I think they said), and it requires applications and exams. And then like a day or two later, they have their licenses and are using the aforementioned database. It's a whirlwind!
I picked this up at the library, and I'm pretty sure I read the first one in the series a good while ago. But it made no real impression on me, I guess. Also pretty sure I'll forget this one eventually and that probably won't be a long time from now.
The pace is glacial.
Too much description and too many similes; not enough action.
Corie Geller and her father are investigators, unofficially. Dad has heard from the sole survivor of an unsolved arson/murder case he worked as an NYPD detective. Now retired, bored, and living with Corie, he decides to call on some old contacts, get the files, and figure out who's trying to kill the survivor and (fingers crossed) also find the arsonist/murderer from decades ago. The Russian mob, general shady characters, friends and family, they're all part of the story, which makes for a lot of extraneous telling. And it's not just the people. Corie and Dad are working in their office, and then for no good reason they move outdoors, and then they're back inside again. This makes no sense or difference to the story. I understand that Corie is married and has a stepdaughter, and some of the action takes place at her home, and her judge husband has info and advice to offer, but Corie's stepdaughter and mom are just in and out for no discernible reason. It gets boring. And it's irritating when characters show up, wander through a scene, add nothing to it but talk anyway, and leave. Over and over.
Also, the story is clunky. Corie and Dad decide they should get PI licenses, because that would allow them to access databases (at least, that's what I think they said), and it requires applications and exams. And then like a day or two later, they have their licenses and are using the aforementioned database. It's a whirlwind!
I picked this up at the library, and I'm pretty sure I read the first one in the series a good while ago. But it made no real impression on me, I guess. Also pretty sure I'll forget this one eventually and that probably won't be a long time from now.
January 23, 2023
How could I possibly resist a book entitled, “ Bad, Bad Seymour Brown” ? I dare you to read this title without singing it to the tune of Jim Croche’s song. Just to sweeten the anticipation of this read is the author, Susan Isaacs, one of my favorite writers who never fails to write with humor, originality and pizzazz. And I love her characters.
This is the second installment in a detective series headlining Corrie Geller, retired government agent suffering from PTSD. Corrie lives on the Gold Coast of Long Island with her formerly widowed judge husband and step daughter. Her father, retired from the NYPD and her mother have moved in to complete the three generation family.
When Corrie’s father finds out that April Brown, orphaned daughter of Bad Bad Seymour Brown and his wife Kim, has been frightened by a driver who seemed intent to run her down, the two private detectives take on April’s cause as a way of having closure on a long ago disturbing unsolved murder case.
This is an interesting, fun, clever read with incredibly good dialog ( a Susan Isaacs trademark,) and many twists and turns. From Long Island to Brooklyn to New Jersey, the action never stops. From Russian housewives to Russian mobsters to a witless accomplice the characters come alive and dance off the pages.
Look for this book to be published on May 2, 2023. I fell in love with the characters, the story and the series. It’s a five star winner. Many thanks to #netgalley and publisher #grove/Atlantic for gifting me a prepublication copy in exchange for an honest review.
This is the second installment in a detective series headlining Corrie Geller, retired government agent suffering from PTSD. Corrie lives on the Gold Coast of Long Island with her formerly widowed judge husband and step daughter. Her father, retired from the NYPD and her mother have moved in to complete the three generation family.
When Corrie’s father finds out that April Brown, orphaned daughter of Bad Bad Seymour Brown and his wife Kim, has been frightened by a driver who seemed intent to run her down, the two private detectives take on April’s cause as a way of having closure on a long ago disturbing unsolved murder case.
This is an interesting, fun, clever read with incredibly good dialog ( a Susan Isaacs trademark,) and many twists and turns. From Long Island to Brooklyn to New Jersey, the action never stops. From Russian housewives to Russian mobsters to a witless accomplice the characters come alive and dance off the pages.
Look for this book to be published on May 2, 2023. I fell in love with the characters, the story and the series. It’s a five star winner. Many thanks to #netgalley and publisher #grove/Atlantic for gifting me a prepublication copy in exchange for an honest review.
January 23, 2023
How could I possibly resist a book entitled, “ Bad, Bad Seymour Brown” ? I dare you to read this title without singing it to the tune of Jim Croche’s song. Just to sweeten the anticipation of this read is the author, Susan Isaacs, one of my favorite writers who never fails to write with humor, originality and pizzazz. And I love her characters.
This is the second installment in a detective series headlining Corrie Geller, retired government agent suffering from PTSD. Corrie lives on the Gold Coast of Long Island with her formerly widowed judge husband and step daughter. Her father, retired from the NYPD and her mother have moved in to complete the three generation family.
When Corrie’s father finds out that April Brown, orphaned daughter of Bad Bad Seymour Brown and his wife Kim, has been frightened by a driver who seemed intent to run her down, the two private detectives take on April’s cause as a way of having closure on a long ago disturbing unsolved murder case.
This is an interesting, fun, clever read with incredibly good dialog ( a Susan Isaacs trademark,) and many twists and turns. From Long Island to Brooklyn to New Jersey, the action never stops. From Russian housewives to Monet laundering for the Russian mafia, the characters come alive and dance off the pages.
Look for this book to be published on May 2, 2023. I fell in love with the characters, the story and the series. It’s a five star winner. Many thanks to #netgalley and publisher #grove/Atlantic for gifting me a prepublication copy in exchange for an honest review.
This is the second installment in a detective series headlining Corrie Geller, retired government agent suffering from PTSD. Corrie lives on the Gold Coast of Long Island with her formerly widowed judge husband and step daughter. Her father, retired from the NYPD and her mother have moved in to complete the three generation family.
When Corrie’s father finds out that April Brown, orphaned daughter of Bad Bad Seymour Brown and his wife Kim, has been frightened by a driver who seemed intent to run her down, the two private detectives take on April’s cause as a way of having closure on a long ago disturbing unsolved murder case.
This is an interesting, fun, clever read with incredibly good dialog ( a Susan Isaacs trademark,) and many twists and turns. From Long Island to Brooklyn to New Jersey, the action never stops. From Russian housewives to Monet laundering for the Russian mafia, the characters come alive and dance off the pages.
Look for this book to be published on May 2, 2023. I fell in love with the characters, the story and the series. It’s a five star winner. Many thanks to #netgalley and publisher #grove/Atlantic for gifting me a prepublication copy in exchange for an honest review.
May 3, 2023
Bad, Bad Seymour Brown by Susan Isaacs is a highly recommended detective novel and the second novel in the Corrie Geller series.
Corie Geller, former FBI agent, and her father Daniel (Dan) Schottland, retired NYPD detective are living a quiet life until April Brown, a film professor, calls Dan. April was five-years-old when her parents were killed and she survived. The twenty-year-old case was never solved, so when April tells Dan about an attempt on her life, both he and Corie immediately start investigating. The overriding question is who would want April dead? She is well-liked and has no enemies, so is the attempt on her life related to the fire that killed her parents years earlier? They know that April’s father, Seymour, laundered money for the Russian mob.
The focus of the narrative is solving the mystery, but along the way there is plenty of clever dialogue intermixed with the action. Corie and her dad become PIs in this case, which may indicate future cases. There is humor in the plot and plenty of twists along the way. It does drag a bit and some editing might have been beneficial.
The investigation may be the reason for the novel, but the real focus is on the characters. They are all portrayed as fully realized, likeable individuals and the father/daughter duo work well together. This is an entertaining, humorous novel which can certainly be read as a stand-alone. 3.5 rounded up.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Grove/Atlantic via NetGalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2023/0...
Corie Geller, former FBI agent, and her father Daniel (Dan) Schottland, retired NYPD detective are living a quiet life until April Brown, a film professor, calls Dan. April was five-years-old when her parents were killed and she survived. The twenty-year-old case was never solved, so when April tells Dan about an attempt on her life, both he and Corie immediately start investigating. The overriding question is who would want April dead? She is well-liked and has no enemies, so is the attempt on her life related to the fire that killed her parents years earlier? They know that April’s father, Seymour, laundered money for the Russian mob.
The focus of the narrative is solving the mystery, but along the way there is plenty of clever dialogue intermixed with the action. Corie and her dad become PIs in this case, which may indicate future cases. There is humor in the plot and plenty of twists along the way. It does drag a bit and some editing might have been beneficial.
The investigation may be the reason for the novel, but the real focus is on the characters. They are all portrayed as fully realized, likeable individuals and the father/daughter duo work well together. This is an entertaining, humorous novel which can certainly be read as a stand-alone. 3.5 rounded up.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Grove/Atlantic via NetGalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2023/0...
October 11, 2023
Book 2 with Corey Geller was a lot smoother than the first.
Kim and Seymour Brown die in a fire that burned so hot they were pulverized..only the Diamond in Kim’s engagement ring survived.. (aha! Red flag..someone must have faked their death)
Only their 4 year old daughter, April survived by climbing out her first floor window.
Twenty years later, someone is trying to kill her. After she is almost run down by a big SUV , she contacts Corie’s dad, an ex cop to find out if there is a connection to her parents’ death.
Seymour was an accountant who worked for the mob laundering money. Upon his death the bad guys had no way to find it.
Corie helps her daddy investigate. Fun scenes with her stepdaughter, Eliza, who is now 16.
She helps her screen a Bachelor season so she could fit in with the superficial Tasha, and her friends who invited her to watch the latest episode on her back patio with her friends. They had known April’s mother, Kim, so Corie wanted to get information about her.
Turns out Kim enlisted Seymour’s driver, Toddy, to help her burn the house down and murder a young woman who applied to be April’s nanny..so there would be a body, next to her husband
After Kim ran away and married 2 different rich men, she wanted to impersonate April, thinking she had access to offshore bank accounts (she didn’t)
Some exciting last scenes where Kim loses her mind but unfortunately they let her live
Kim and Seymour Brown die in a fire that burned so hot they were pulverized..only the Diamond in Kim’s engagement ring survived.. (aha! Red flag..someone must have faked their death)
Only their 4 year old daughter, April survived by climbing out her first floor window.
Twenty years later, someone is trying to kill her. After she is almost run down by a big SUV , she contacts Corie’s dad, an ex cop to find out if there is a connection to her parents’ death.
Seymour was an accountant who worked for the mob laundering money. Upon his death the bad guys had no way to find it.
Corie helps her daddy investigate. Fun scenes with her stepdaughter, Eliza, who is now 16.
She helps her screen a Bachelor season so she could fit in with the superficial Tasha, and her friends who invited her to watch the latest episode on her back patio with her friends. They had known April’s mother, Kim, so Corie wanted to get information about her.
Turns out Kim enlisted Seymour’s driver, Toddy, to help her burn the house down and murder a young woman who applied to be April’s nanny..so there would be a body, next to her husband
After Kim ran away and married 2 different rich men, she wanted to impersonate April, thinking she had access to offshore bank accounts (she didn’t)
Some exciting last scenes where Kim loses her mind but unfortunately they let her live
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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