Book Review: A Farewell to Legs by Jeffrey Cohen (Aaron Tucker #2)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Another humorous tale with a good plot

Cons: No attention is paid to the passage of time. Writer's politics a little too obvious.

The Bottom Line:

A shifting timeline

Needless political swipes

Lower this story

Enjoyable but Needed Time for One Last Edit

Freelance writer Aaron Tucker is reuniting with people at his 25th high school reunion, including Stephanie, who can still make men drool with her drop dead gorgeous looks. But part way through the party, she gets a call that her husband, conservative political activist Louis Gibson, has been murdered in his current mistress's apartment. Stephanie insists that Aaron investigate, even getting him a lucrative article deal with a high profile magazine if he does so. Even though Aaron already solved one murder, he hardly knows where to start. Still, he can't turn down the money or the magazine, so he begins poking around.

Meanwhile, the principal of his kids' school has come to him for help. Someone has set off three stink bombs, and the parents are putting pressure on her to find the culprit. Only problem is, she has no clue where to start. As if that weren't enough, the Tuckers are also experiencing the joys of pet ownership. There's certainly never a dull moment in Aaron's life. But can he juggle it all and solve the mysteries?

There's certainly never a dull moment in the book either. Narrated first person with plenty of sarcasm and puns, I grinned, chuckled, and laughed my way through the entire book. You can't help but fall in love with the Tuckers. They are a wonderful, warm family who face life with a twinkle in their eye. The relationship between Aaron and his wife Abby is especially enjoyable. The plot starts a little slow, but gains speed the further you go in the book and has a few nice surprises before you reach the end. Being a conservative, I was a little put out by the "Liberal good, conservative bad" characterizations that popped up rather regularly, but I was able to shrug that off.

My real problem with the book was the timeline. Entire days seemed to drop off the face of the earth with no explanation. Characters agree to meet one day, then meet another and act like it's what the plans were all along. I kept flipping back in the book to make sure I hadn't missed something. It doesn't affect the plot, but, since following the timeline is something I work at hard in a book, I found it very annoying. A final edit for these things and a few paragraphs scattered throughout to fill in these missing days would have fix the problem.

Even with that issue in mind, A Farewell to Legs is still an enjoyable book anyone will love. I will certainly be spending more time with Aaron and his family and friends.