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Dek Elstrom #2
Honestly Dearest, You're Dead
A Safe Place for Dying, the first in Jack Fredrickson's highly acclaimed Dek Elstrom mystery series, was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best First Novel. Now, Chicago P.I. Dek Elstrom is back in an electrifying new mystery.A lawyer calls Dek with a fast, seven-hundred dollar proposition. A dead client named Dek to execute her will. No matter that Dek didn't know the woman. No matter, too, that the woman's estate was only worth a few hundred. Happens all the time, the lawyer said.To Dek Elstrom, broke and huddling in a cold stone turret in the middle of February, the sound of seven hundred falling down his chimney is louder than his voice of reason. He agrees, heads up to a hamlet ten miles north of nowhere. But instead of finding an easy-to-close estate, he finds blood and the markers of a shattered life. And something links to the darkest part of his own past. He races to chase down leads to the killer, and his own ghost…before the dead woman is killed again.
332 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 8, 2008
5 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Jack Fredrickson
16 books27 followersJack Fredrickson’s first Dek Elstrom mystery, A Safe Place for Dying, was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best First Novel. His short fiction has appeared in the acclaimed Chicago Blues and in Michael Connelly’s Burden of the Badge anthologies. He lives with his wife, Susan, west of Chicago, where he is crafting the next Dek Elstrom novel.
Series:
* Dek Ekstrom Mystery
Series:
* Dek Ekstrom Mystery
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
July 8, 2012
Rating: 3* of five
The Book Report: The book description says:
“A Safe Place for Dying, the first in Jack Fredrickson’s highly acclaimed Dek Elstrom mystery series, was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best First Novel. Now, Chicago P.I. Dek Elstrom is back in an electrifying new mystery.
A lawyer calls Dek with a fast, seven-hundred dollar proposition. A dead client named Dek to execute her will. No matter that Dek didn’t know the woman. No matter, too, that the woman’s estate was only worth a few hundred. Happens all the time, the lawyer said.
To Dek Elstrom, broke and huddling in a cold stone turret in the middle of February, the sound of seven hundred falling down his chimney is louder than his voice of reason. He agrees, heads up to a hamlet ten miles north of nowhere. But instead of finding an easy-to-close estate, he finds blood and the markers of a shattered life. And something worse: links to the darkest part of his own past. He races to chase down leads to the killer, and his own ghost…before the dead woman is killed again.”
My Review: I began with laughs, continued with chuckles, snickers, and smirks, then trailed off into arched eyebrows, muttered instructions, exasperated ejaculations, and ended in irked silence.
That is NOT the trajectory an author or a reader wants. This reader planned a vituperative dissection of the failings of the book as he went along his ever-less-merry way, honing a few choice witticisms to a rusty, blunt jaggedness.
Why? Why was I, the reader most tolerant and understanding, the beau ideal of sweet-temperedness and kindly generosity...stop making those horrible sounds, people will think you're choking...suddenly transformed into a whole nestful of hornets in a really bad mood? Because, dammit, I was HAD. Things were set up in the first pages of the mystery that weren't delivered on, and things ANY IDIOT not even a P.I., with more than a week's work experience anyway, would think to ask went unasked, and then, please dear goddesses let me type this without screaming in fury again, THEN I will have you know, the writer uses FLIPPIN' FLASHBACKS to tell us the sad sad tale of Longago, and holy maloley does that bring this shitwagon to a sloshing, urpsome halt in its mysterious progress.
Leave aside that I knew who the killer was around p5. I expect that. I been treadin' this footpath longer than mosta y'all been alive. A mysterian who can surprise or, even better, confound me gets five stars and whole freakin' operas of praise. So no, I don't expect to need to work too hard. I don't read mysteries for the puzzle-solving pleasure, but for the orderliness, the justice that is done, and the way the story is told.
But COME ON!!! This sleuth, Dek Elstrom, is given a build-up as a wildly successful investigator, and he fails to ask ANY BACKGROUND QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS CONTACTS?! Oh. Please. I don't care that he's given a fee up front Any, and I mean any, investigator would look at his sources pretty carefully.
In the normal course of events, then, this review would be a flame job out of literary, well, failure to launch shall we euphemize. It isn't, well not too much of one, for one reason and one reason only: Dek says, when served hot tea in a daisy-patterned cup, is asked, “How does your tea taste?” (There's a reason for that specific locution, but it's a little spoilery, so go with me here.) “Like a funeral home smells,” replies Dek.
Yes. Exactly. One entire star restored for putting your finger on the nub of something I've wanted to find words for for a long time.
Would I recommend the series, of which this is volume 2, with a third volume (Hunting Sweetie Rose)out this year? Not so much. The writing, apart from the genius moment above, is amusing, and consistently easy on the eyes; the plot is for poo; the net effect is ~meh~ minus, but some days that's okay. It's not a flee flee for your lives dear goddesses what are you still doing here run away kind of a book. It's not a sit here right here dammit and read this and love it kind of a book. It's just a barely adequate midlist means of wiling away a few hours. And as I've said, that can be enough for anyone some days.
I guess today was one of mine.
The Book Report: The book description says:
“A Safe Place for Dying, the first in Jack Fredrickson’s highly acclaimed Dek Elstrom mystery series, was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best First Novel. Now, Chicago P.I. Dek Elstrom is back in an electrifying new mystery.
A lawyer calls Dek with a fast, seven-hundred dollar proposition. A dead client named Dek to execute her will. No matter that Dek didn’t know the woman. No matter, too, that the woman’s estate was only worth a few hundred. Happens all the time, the lawyer said.
To Dek Elstrom, broke and huddling in a cold stone turret in the middle of February, the sound of seven hundred falling down his chimney is louder than his voice of reason. He agrees, heads up to a hamlet ten miles north of nowhere. But instead of finding an easy-to-close estate, he finds blood and the markers of a shattered life. And something worse: links to the darkest part of his own past. He races to chase down leads to the killer, and his own ghost…before the dead woman is killed again.”
My Review: I began with laughs, continued with chuckles, snickers, and smirks, then trailed off into arched eyebrows, muttered instructions, exasperated ejaculations, and ended in irked silence.
That is NOT the trajectory an author or a reader wants. This reader planned a vituperative dissection of the failings of the book as he went along his ever-less-merry way, honing a few choice witticisms to a rusty, blunt jaggedness.
Why? Why was I, the reader most tolerant and understanding, the beau ideal of sweet-temperedness and kindly generosity...stop making those horrible sounds, people will think you're choking...suddenly transformed into a whole nestful of hornets in a really bad mood? Because, dammit, I was HAD. Things were set up in the first pages of the mystery that weren't delivered on, and things ANY IDIOT not even a P.I., with more than a week's work experience anyway, would think to ask went unasked, and then, please dear goddesses let me type this without screaming in fury again, THEN I will have you know, the writer uses FLIPPIN' FLASHBACKS to tell us the sad sad tale of Longago, and holy maloley does that bring this shitwagon to a sloshing, urpsome halt in its mysterious progress.
Leave aside that I knew who the killer was around p5. I expect that. I been treadin' this footpath longer than mosta y'all been alive. A mysterian who can surprise or, even better, confound me gets five stars and whole freakin' operas of praise. So no, I don't expect to need to work too hard. I don't read mysteries for the puzzle-solving pleasure, but for the orderliness, the justice that is done, and the way the story is told.
But COME ON!!! This sleuth, Dek Elstrom, is given a build-up as a wildly successful investigator, and he fails to ask ANY BACKGROUND QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS CONTACTS?! Oh. Please. I don't care that he's given a fee up front Any, and I mean any, investigator would look at his sources pretty carefully.
In the normal course of events, then, this review would be a flame job out of literary, well, failure to launch shall we euphemize. It isn't, well not too much of one, for one reason and one reason only: Dek says, when served hot tea in a daisy-patterned cup, is asked, “How does your tea taste?” (There's a reason for that specific locution, but it's a little spoilery, so go with me here.) “Like a funeral home smells,” replies Dek.
Yes. Exactly. One entire star restored for putting your finger on the nub of something I've wanted to find words for for a long time.
Would I recommend the series, of which this is volume 2, with a third volume (Hunting Sweetie Rose)out this year? Not so much. The writing, apart from the genius moment above, is amusing, and consistently easy on the eyes; the plot is for poo; the net effect is ~meh~ minus, but some days that's okay. It's not a flee flee for your lives dear goddesses what are you still doing here run away kind of a book. It's not a sit here right here dammit and read this and love it kind of a book. It's just a barely adequate midlist means of wiling away a few hours. And as I've said, that can be enough for anyone some days.
I guess today was one of mine.
July 2, 2012
Dek Elstrom is a PI who's down on his luck and barely scraping by, reduced to living in an old turret that he's slowly rehabbing in Rivertown, Illinois. It's the middle of winter; he has no heat; he has practically no money, and he's also recently divorced.
From out of nowhere, and attorney in the tiny town of Rambling, Michigan calls Dek and tells him that a woman named Louise Thomas has named Dek executor of her will. Dek has never heard of the woman, but there's a $700.00 fee for handling the matter, which the lawyer insists will be a piece of cake.
Dek can use the seven hundred bucks and so heads off to Rambling to discover, of course, that the situation is a lot more complicated than the lawyer has suggested. Dek arrives at the woman's house, only to discover that she had apparently been murdered, a fact that the lawyer has conveniently neglected to mention. Also, there is no body.
Things get increasingly curious and before long, Elstrom finds himself deeply involved in a very puzzling mystery. He feels an obligation to clean up the mess he has found out of loyalty to the deceased woman, even though he is sure he never knew her. Or did he?
This is an entertaining book, even if it does require more than the usual suspension of disbelief. Dek Elstrom can occasionally be a touch irritating, but you have to admire a guy who is so devoted to finishing a job that's a lot more dangerous and involved than he bargained for.
From out of nowhere, and attorney in the tiny town of Rambling, Michigan calls Dek and tells him that a woman named Louise Thomas has named Dek executor of her will. Dek has never heard of the woman, but there's a $700.00 fee for handling the matter, which the lawyer insists will be a piece of cake.
Dek can use the seven hundred bucks and so heads off to Rambling to discover, of course, that the situation is a lot more complicated than the lawyer has suggested. Dek arrives at the woman's house, only to discover that she had apparently been murdered, a fact that the lawyer has conveniently neglected to mention. Also, there is no body.
Things get increasingly curious and before long, Elstrom finds himself deeply involved in a very puzzling mystery. He feels an obligation to clean up the mess he has found out of loyalty to the deceased woman, even though he is sure he never knew her. Or did he?
This is an entertaining book, even if it does require more than the usual suspension of disbelief. Dek Elstrom can occasionally be a touch irritating, but you have to admire a guy who is so devoted to finishing a job that's a lot more dangerous and involved than he bargained for.
January 21, 2009
Down-and-out documents inspector Dek Elstrom gets a mysterious commission to settle the estate of a woman he doesn't know. How the reclusive woman, living in Michigan, ever heard of an Illinois investigator is one mystery; how the woman was murdered and why no-one seems to be investigating are two more. As layer after layer of deceit is peeled back, Elstrom is brought back to the most painful episode of his all-too-painful life, taking a fair amount of physical punishment as he confronts a wintry landscape, a corrupt society, thugs and the real truth about what happened all those years ago...This is well-written and would appeal to those who enjoy noir atmosphere, it's just not for me.
September 2, 2009
very strange. not much else I can say about it.
May 10, 2012
Jack Fredrickson may have created one of the most likable anti-heros since Fletch. Honestly Dearest, You're Dead is the second in the young series of novels to feature disgraced Chicago PI Dek Elstrom. Dek is a down on his luck PI who fell on the wrong side of a much publicized corrupt city government and media run wild. Now, slowly rebuilding his life along with rebuilding an inherited turret he lives in, just the turret not the whole castle; Dek is trying to get his credibility, his wife and his life back. But somehow he just seems to get in his own way. What Dek has never lost is his sense of truth, of justice and his friends.
Friends whose characters like Dek, are just as singular and at the same time complex in their need to put right what was wrong. Midway through the novel, Dek's wife/ex-wife/girlfriend/off and on girlfriend Amanda asks his best friend Leo -
..."This is about old love?" Leo said Amanda asked, when they got back to the Art Institute. It was the first time she'd spoken since they left Rivertown.
"No," he'd said to Amanda. "This is about old guilt."
This is a mystery about setting right the wrongs of the past and the haunts that follow all good men reminding them that they were not always good men.
In the midst of this what Fredrickson delivers so well and what earned him the Shamus Award Nomination for his first Dek Elstom novel, a damn fine mystery.
Pick it up, enjoy it, you will be a fan.
Friends whose characters like Dek, are just as singular and at the same time complex in their need to put right what was wrong. Midway through the novel, Dek's wife/ex-wife/girlfriend/off and on girlfriend Amanda asks his best friend Leo -
..."This is about old love?" Leo said Amanda asked, when they got back to the Art Institute. It was the first time she'd spoken since they left Rivertown.
"No," he'd said to Amanda. "This is about old guilt."
This is a mystery about setting right the wrongs of the past and the haunts that follow all good men reminding them that they were not always good men.
In the midst of this what Fredrickson delivers so well and what earned him the Shamus Award Nomination for his first Dek Elstom novel, a damn fine mystery.
Pick it up, enjoy it, you will be a fan.
December 16, 2015
Dek Elstrom gets a phone call from an attorney in Indiana, telling him a woman has named him the executor of her will. She has disappeared and the police believe it was foul play. Dek drives to the very small town in Indiana and discovers something violent obviously happened, but without a body, the police are less than interested in pursuing the case. As Dek continues to investigate, he becomes convinced something more is going on. And, he uncovers a secret from deep is his past in his tiny, blue collar home town of Rivertown, east of Chicago. He puts everything he holds dear in danger as he delves into not just his own history, but an old flame's secrets as well. Entertaining writing and good plotting. I recommend this series.
October 31, 2018
I got a little confused at the end, but that could be on me. However Jack Fredrickson, if you are listening, you are incorrect in your description of Sheriff Andy and son Opie going fishing with their cane poles; at the beginning of each episode and during many shows Andy and Opie can be easily seen carrying and using rods and reels. Now when they used a boat, it was always a piece of crap boat, but their fishing poles were rods and reels. All the fish they caught appeared to be trout and probably were professional stunt-fish.
Rob Nixon
Rob Nixon
April 30, 2009
Not as funny or good as I had hoped.
July 16, 2024
“Honestly Dearest, You're Dead” is set in the present but deeply rooted in Dek Elstrom's past.
In the first book in the series Dek was recovering from the collapse of his business, his descent into alcoholism, and the breakup of his brief marriage.
Now things are looking up.
Out of the blue he receives a call from an attorney to inform him that he is the named executor of the late Louise Thomas - someone he doesn't know from a hole in the ground.
The estate is small and Dek is given $700 to sort it out.
But when he visits Louise's isolated ramshackle home there is clear evidence that it has been ransacked. Perhaps the one item of interest is an old Underwood typewriter, one that bring back good and bad memories from Dek's final high school year. But, no, it couldn't be … could it?
Louise Thomas, he soon finds out, was a woman on the run for years. She used different names and regularly moved around.
Who was she? Why did she choose Dek? And, is she even dead?
The plotting is beautifully done with nothing quite as it seems.
The finale is solid but the star of the show is the young woman Dek once loved. She doesn't appear in the present day but her past haunts Dek daily.
One of the best book I've read this year.
4 Stars.
In the first book in the series Dek was recovering from the collapse of his business, his descent into alcoholism, and the breakup of his brief marriage.
Now things are looking up.
Out of the blue he receives a call from an attorney to inform him that he is the named executor of the late Louise Thomas - someone he doesn't know from a hole in the ground.
The estate is small and Dek is given $700 to sort it out.
But when he visits Louise's isolated ramshackle home there is clear evidence that it has been ransacked. Perhaps the one item of interest is an old Underwood typewriter, one that bring back good and bad memories from Dek's final high school year. But, no, it couldn't be … could it?
Louise Thomas, he soon finds out, was a woman on the run for years. She used different names and regularly moved around.
Who was she? Why did she choose Dek? And, is she even dead?
The plotting is beautifully done with nothing quite as it seems.
The finale is solid but the star of the show is the young woman Dek once loved. She doesn't appear in the present day but her past haunts Dek daily.
One of the best book I've read this year.
4 Stars.
October 21, 2024
The second in the Dek Elstrom series.
Dek is trying to restore relations with his ex-wife after he fell apart, which caused them to fall apart.
He is asked to be the executor of a will for a woman who seems to have been murdered or kidnapped . When he arrives, the will is for someone he has no memory of.
After meeting the attorney, he heads to the house. There he meets a security guard for the local blueberry farms. Since it is off season, he has been asked to check out the place from time to time.
In a long, convoluted strong of events, he begins to believe he might have known her in high school. Because the cops don't seem overly interested and he might be too interested, he decides to solve the case himself.
I really like this series. I was able to figure out several key items that help solve the case, but it has tight writing in the noir style. I enjoyed the read.
Dek is trying to restore relations with his ex-wife after he fell apart, which caused them to fall apart.
He is asked to be the executor of a will for a woman who seems to have been murdered or kidnapped . When he arrives, the will is for someone he has no memory of.
After meeting the attorney, he heads to the house. There he meets a security guard for the local blueberry farms. Since it is off season, he has been asked to check out the place from time to time.
In a long, convoluted strong of events, he begins to believe he might have known her in high school. Because the cops don't seem overly interested and he might be too interested, he decides to solve the case himself.
I really like this series. I was able to figure out several key items that help solve the case, but it has tight writing in the noir style. I enjoyed the read.
November 19, 2019
Quite a surprise - this was picked up on a whim and it turned out to be a really good read. Really original plot, clever, emotive. After eons of reading murder mysteries, i can say i have never read one like this. The main character is an everyman - not stupid, not lazy, but functioning under the weight of circumstances not of his own making that would daunt many of us. Down, but not out, he takes on a surprise small job and it goes from there. I am not surprised that this is a 2nd in series, the main characters are well drawn with history behind them, but in my opinion can be read as a stand alone as i did. I liked it all! Sometimes you literally cannot judge a book by it's cover.
July 6, 2017
Much better than the first installment, but the glaring unresolved plot issue at the end is a real bother for me.
Dek isn't real bright, but he's loyal and dedicated to often doing the right thing. Not always, but often enough.
And, for a poor guy he's got enough scratch to log thousands of miles on the jeep and buy airfare to florida with no notice, so maybe he's just eccentric.
The love story woven into the book is not as distracting as it could have been. For that I am thankful. I still read this in a day, and chuckled out loud a few times.
On to book 3.
Dek isn't real bright, but he's loyal and dedicated to often doing the right thing. Not always, but often enough.
And, for a poor guy he's got enough scratch to log thousands of miles on the jeep and buy airfare to florida with no notice, so maybe he's just eccentric.
The love story woven into the book is not as distracting as it could have been. For that I am thankful. I still read this in a day, and chuckled out loud a few times.
On to book 3.
February 6, 2021
A sad story about an attempt to locate an old girlfriend who has taken up writing an advice column and become involved with a shady lawyer and a bank robbery. As you can imagine, it is complicated. The author was nominated for one of the big prizes in mysteries, and this is the second book in a series. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go buy the first book and a third if it's out yet.
July 22, 2017
I'd give it at least 3.5 stars. MUCH better than the first in this series. More like a Ross MacDonald tale: missing person turns out to be Dek's old girlfriend. Good story (plausible) and a better mystery than previous book.
August 21, 2020
What an awesome book. This is such a great series. Love this guys humor in this P.I. mystery
June 1, 2021
3.75 stars Fun mystery, quick read
Read
August 28, 2022A twisty tale.
I enjoyed reading this book. Jack Fredrickson will be a fellow panelist at Bouchercon. Our panel is "The Modern Gumshoe."
I enjoyed reading this book. Jack Fredrickson will be a fellow panelist at Bouchercon. Our panel is "The Modern Gumshoe."
May 4, 2010
First Sentence: She wouldn’t have heard the back door glass being punched out, not in those winds.
Investigator Dek Elstrom is unemployed, broke and living in a 5-story turret with no castle. He is contacted by an attorney in Michigan and advised that he has been named executor by a woman who was murdered, but that he doesn’t know. When Dek visits where the woman was living, there is an object he first thinks may have been connected to someone from his past. Dek determined to learn more about this woman, even at the risk of his own life.
I very much enjoyed Jack Frederickson’s first book “A Safe Place for Dying,” which had been nominated for a Shamus Award. I like this book even more.
The sense of place is excellent and created through vivid descriptions: “…a small red lighthouse…stood like a crimson exclamation point against the vanished horizon.” The book is mainly set in the winter and you are cold. When Dek travels to Florida, you feel the sudden heat and humidity. By providing background on many of the places, he brings them to life, making them characters in their own right.
The characters, themselves, are ones I really liked. While they are not as fully developed as I might like for someone who has not read the first book, they certainly have enough dimension so you have a real sense of who they are.
Dek is a particularly appealing protagonist in that he will sometimes do dumb things, but knows they are dumb when he does them. At the same time, he is smart and dedicated to putting the pieces together and following the trail. With the support of his wardrobe-challenged but brilliant, best friend Lou, one of my recently most-favorite characters, and ex-wife-but-not, Amanda, and even his nemesis Elvis Derbil, these are characters I want to continue to follow.
Don’t be fooled by the title, this is not a cozy and the title makes very good sense, once you’ve gotten into the book. The story, and the author’s voice with just the right touch of wry humor, was great. Okay, there was one hole in the plot, and a bit of redundancy which should have been caught in editing, but I’ll forgive that. There were so many unexpected twists, none of which felt contrived, and some very good suspense.
This was a straight-through, didn’t-put-it-down read for me. I am anxious for the next book.
HONESTLY DEAREST, YOU’RE DEAD (Lic Inv-Dek Elstrom-Midwest/Florida-Cont) – VG+
Frederickson, Jack – 2nd in series
Minotaur Books, ©2008, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780312380922
Investigator Dek Elstrom is unemployed, broke and living in a 5-story turret with no castle. He is contacted by an attorney in Michigan and advised that he has been named executor by a woman who was murdered, but that he doesn’t know. When Dek visits where the woman was living, there is an object he first thinks may have been connected to someone from his past. Dek determined to learn more about this woman, even at the risk of his own life.
I very much enjoyed Jack Frederickson’s first book “A Safe Place for Dying,” which had been nominated for a Shamus Award. I like this book even more.
The sense of place is excellent and created through vivid descriptions: “…a small red lighthouse…stood like a crimson exclamation point against the vanished horizon.” The book is mainly set in the winter and you are cold. When Dek travels to Florida, you feel the sudden heat and humidity. By providing background on many of the places, he brings them to life, making them characters in their own right.
The characters, themselves, are ones I really liked. While they are not as fully developed as I might like for someone who has not read the first book, they certainly have enough dimension so you have a real sense of who they are.
Dek is a particularly appealing protagonist in that he will sometimes do dumb things, but knows they are dumb when he does them. At the same time, he is smart and dedicated to putting the pieces together and following the trail. With the support of his wardrobe-challenged but brilliant, best friend Lou, one of my recently most-favorite characters, and ex-wife-but-not, Amanda, and even his nemesis Elvis Derbil, these are characters I want to continue to follow.
Don’t be fooled by the title, this is not a cozy and the title makes very good sense, once you’ve gotten into the book. The story, and the author’s voice with just the right touch of wry humor, was great. Okay, there was one hole in the plot, and a bit of redundancy which should have been caught in editing, but I’ll forgive that. There were so many unexpected twists, none of which felt contrived, and some very good suspense.
This was a straight-through, didn’t-put-it-down read for me. I am anxious for the next book.
HONESTLY DEAREST, YOU’RE DEAD (Lic Inv-Dek Elstrom-Midwest/Florida-Cont) – VG+
Frederickson, Jack – 2nd in series
Minotaur Books, ©2008, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780312380922
January 25, 2010
I first learned of this book through Suzanne Beecher's email reads. What I had read entertained me, so I decided to check the book out of the library.
Dek lives inside what looks like a castle turret in a small town in Illinois. He receives a phone call from a lawyer in a small town in Michigan, who tells him he's been named executor for a woman's will. The name isn't familiar to Dek, but he must drive to Michigan in order to settle the estate and get on with this life. What follows is a trail of suspense, more questions than answers, and deception.
It's up to Dek to figure out what happened to the woman who named him executor and, along the way, he learns more about this person whom he thought he didn't know.
I thought the book started out fantastically. It was well written, with good descriptions of place and people. As time went on, though, it really started to fall apart for me. The story within the story gets confusing to the point where you're not sure if you're reading the present or Dek's past. It was an enjoyable read, I just found it starting to get predictable, then spinning off into confusion, to get back on track. At one point, I couldn't tell if the main character was dreaming or acting out on something he had thought of, which was slightly confusing.
An enjoyable read, somewhat frustrating, but worth it. I think it'd make a good TV series, I could easily envision the characters and the plot and kind of felt that it would have been enhanced had I been watching it instead of reading it.
Dek lives inside what looks like a castle turret in a small town in Illinois. He receives a phone call from a lawyer in a small town in Michigan, who tells him he's been named executor for a woman's will. The name isn't familiar to Dek, but he must drive to Michigan in order to settle the estate and get on with this life. What follows is a trail of suspense, more questions than answers, and deception.
It's up to Dek to figure out what happened to the woman who named him executor and, along the way, he learns more about this person whom he thought he didn't know.
I thought the book started out fantastically. It was well written, with good descriptions of place and people. As time went on, though, it really started to fall apart for me. The story within the story gets confusing to the point where you're not sure if you're reading the present or Dek's past. It was an enjoyable read, I just found it starting to get predictable, then spinning off into confusion, to get back on track. At one point, I couldn't tell if the main character was dreaming or acting out on something he had thought of, which was slightly confusing.
An enjoyable read, somewhat frustrating, but worth it. I think it'd make a good TV series, I could easily envision the characters and the plot and kind of felt that it would have been enhanced had I been watching it instead of reading it.
November 29, 2010
I just finished this one and really liked it. The main character is a bit eccentric. He's a "researcher" that can't get a job because of bad publicity. He's inherited from his grandfather a tower, that was meant to be the start of a castle. He lives in it even though it is and in need of repair.
The story starts when he gets a call from a lawyer telling him he was named executor of an estate for a woman he didn't know. He finds out she was murdered and she had more than one identity. About half way through the book he finds out that he actually did know her from his high school days, and that she might not be dead after all.
"Honestly dearest" from the title is an syndicated advice column that he discovers that she wrote.
This is the second of a possible series. I'll have to read the first one.
The story starts when he gets a call from a lawyer telling him he was named executor of an estate for a woman he didn't know. He finds out she was murdered and she had more than one identity. About half way through the book he finds out that he actually did know her from his high school days, and that she might not be dead after all.
"Honestly dearest" from the title is an syndicated advice column that he discovers that she wrote.
This is the second of a possible series. I'll have to read the first one.
August 6, 2014
In Fredrickson’s mystery novel, former Chicago investigator Dek Elstrom has managed to clear his name of some trumped-up charges and now makes a meager living uncovering information for clients willing to pay for it. Out of the blue he learns that he has been named the executor of some stranger’s will. Heading off to West Haven, Michigan, Dek hopes to collect a quick paycheck making quick work of handling a will. But once there, he realizes that Louse Thomas’ death is anything but easy. To all appearances, she was killed in a home invasion gone wrong leaving only a lockbox key and some newspaper clippings to an advice columnist named Honestly Dearest behind. As Dek digs deep, he discovers a tie to his own past and with it the determination to track down a killer.
A fast-paced addition to the A Dek Elstrom Mystery series.
A fast-paced addition to the A Dek Elstrom Mystery series.
June 24, 2009
Thus Dek Elstrom mystery still finds our down and out private eye living in and renovating his turret, while trying to outlast the Rivertown city hall on the zoning restrictions matter. Dek is called, out of the blue, by a lawyer in Michigan. He's been named executor of a will for a woman he's never heard of, one Louise Thomas. He heads to MI with thoughts of the $700 he'll make, where he discovers on site that Louise just hasn't died, but was murdered. The discovery of an old Underwood typewriter at the cabin brings up memories of the old days and winds up being a integral part of solving the mystery.
August 7, 2009
This was a happy accident book - I've never heard of it, and had nothing to recommend it except its placement on the library display. I really enjoyed it, though it was a bit of a slow starter. It was a well-laid plot though, and was successful at layering the mysteries of present and past, and bringing them both satisfying conclusions in a really well done series of revelations rather than a giant climactic moment. On the surface, it seems like a familiar story, but somehow manages to avoid a lot of the tropes of the "borderline alcoholic private dick down on his luck with his love life in the crapper" story. I will definately seek out his first book, and look forward to the next.
February 9, 2009
Great locales--Chicago and the 'wilds' of Michigan, along with the suburban turret occupied by the down-on-his-luck detective--make this a fun read, in spite of the book's noir-ishness. The main characters, as well as the action, keep the story moving, as Dek Elstrom bounces between states, juggling the rehab on his turret with a job thrust upon him involving the settling of a mysterious woman's estate. The book's unfortunate title doesn't adequately reflect the story's dark dealings, but it turns out to be fairly suitable in the end, especially if 'Turret Trap' was already taken.
December 2, 2014
of your pants mystery is a fascinating change of pace from the usual whodunnits. Readers will enjoy Dek’s self-deprecating humor as he struggles to put the pieces of his life back together. There are four books in this series and this is a reprinting by a new publisher so we can hope there might be more of Dek’s adventures in store soon!
Kaitlin
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More
Official Review @ Coffee Time Romance & More
Kaitlin
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More
Official Review @ Coffee Time Romance & More
February 23, 2009
I enjoyed the story because Dek Elstrom is certainly a flawed "hero" and I don't often get to read mysteries set in southwestern Michigan. I know that I had a hard time following the twists clearly with the dead bodies and set up for visitors which almost made me put it down, except that I wanted to see where the mysterious benefactor had come from and whether or not Dek would make it further into Michigan.
August 12, 2009
I'm liking Dek Elstrom as a recovering P.I. He is handed a will naming him executor for a person he's never heard of. So he visits the house, picks up the car, and that's about the end of it. Except.....there are hints that not everything is as it seems. The banter Dek has with his lifelong buddy Leo, as well as the internal dialouge Dek engages in is entertaining. I look forward to a new book by Fredrickson.
March 11, 2010
This mystery was morally and emotionally satisfying, but also entertaining. I loved the protagonist--career in the dumps; personal relationships awry; Oreo-obsessed; and filled with nothing but the best motivation.
The story was complex enough to keep me intrigued, but also humorous enough to keep me smiling. I'll look forward to reading another Jack Fredrickson mystery.
The story was complex enough to keep me intrigued, but also humorous enough to keep me smiling. I'll look forward to reading another Jack Fredrickson mystery.
December 26, 2009
You would think this book would be funny, but it's not. "Honestly Dearest" is the name of an advice column syndicated in local shopper-type newspapers. The columnist is implicated in murders & explosions & general mayhem & is also connected to our hero,Dek's, past.
July 28, 2011
This book was just really fun to read. The narrative and dialogue were witty, the pacing was perfect, the mystery only a tad predictable, but in a good way. All in all, a great book for both male and female readers.
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