Cooperman Variations: A Benny Cooperman Mystery - Softcover

Engel, Howard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140295321 ISBN 13: 9780140295320

Publisher: Penguin Canada, 2002

Synopsis

Benny Cooperman's favourite lunch counter and diner have closed down and the fittings have been sold to Americans. The nation mourns the accidental death of its greatest artist, cellist Dermot Keogh. It's April and there's already a heat wave. Things are just not the way they used to be. Alas, not just the plots and settings have changed in Howard Engel's 10th Benny Cooperman mystery. While Canada's favourite fictional detective is still his smart-alecky but unsophisticated self ("Dim Sum may be unknown in Grantham, Mr. Cooperman, but we in Toronto have had it for nearly forty years"), his talents seem washed out, if not washed up, in this nasty little mystery set in the high-tech, high-pressure world of a Toronto TV station far up the road from his native Grantham. All the stock figures are the former high school love goddess who calls at the detective's office wondering if she's in the path of a killer, the small-town lawyer, the slobbish cops, the heavies in dark glasses. What's missing are the gritty small-town ambience and naked class antagonisms that drive best hard-boiled detective fiction, including Engel's early novels. Burdened with the bland homogeneity of the contemporary city and with convoluted literary references, the tale becomes progressively less gripping. In fact Cooperman hasn't been himself since 1990's Dead and Buried , when his creator first fell for the suits and the happy ending. The warning of his first sentence--"I should have seen the writing on the wall"--should have been a message to readers as well. --Robyn Gillam

About this title

About the Author

HOWARD ENGEL is the creator of the enduring and beloved detective Benny Cooperman, who, through his appearance in 12 bestselling novels, has become an internationally recognized fictional sleuth. Two of Engel s novels have been adapted for TV movies, and his books have been translated into several languages. He is the winner of numerous awards, including the 2005 Writers Trust of Canada Matt Cohen Award, the 1990 Harbourfront Festival Prize for Canadian Literature and an Arthur Ellis Award for crime fiction. Howard Engel lives in Toronto.

From Booklist

The new installment of the Canadian novelist's popular private-eye series finds perpetually struggling investigator Benny Cooperman leaving his usual setting--the fictional Ontario city of Grantham--and taking up temporary residence in the bustling metropolis of Toronto, where he's signed on as bodyguard to an old high-school acquaintance. Television exec Vanessa Moss was the object of Benny's adolescent affections, although she never knew it. Now he must protect her from some unnamed killers, despite her insistence on putting herself at risk at every possible opportunity. As usual, Benny fumbles his way through the case but eventually sorts out lies from truth and bad guys from good guys. This is a charming series (imagine Sam Spade as played by Woody Allen, or perhaps Jon Lovitz); readers new to Benny's world may find themselves a little confused from time to time, but this is only a minor inconvenience. Benny is a wonderful narrator, and once readers have spent a few minutes with him, they will feel like they've known him all their lives. Great fun. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Canada
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0140295321
• ISBN 13: 9780140295320
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288