LUTZ, LISA — Trail of the Spellmans

Simon & Schuster. 2012. Hardcover with dust jacket, 24 Cm. Book, 373 crisp pp & over 500g to post. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SPELLMAN HISTORY, Isabel Spellman, PI, might be the most normal member of her family. Mom has taken on an outrageous assortment of extracurricular activities-with no apparent motive. Dad has a secret. Izzy's brother and sister are at war-for no apparent reason. And her niece keeps saying "banana" even though she hates bananas. That's not to say that Izzy isn't without her own troubles. Her boyfriend, Henry Stone, keeps wanting "to talk," a prospect Isabel evades by going out with her new drinking buddy, none other than Gertrude Stone, Henry's mother. Things aren't any simpler on the business side of Spellman Investigations. First, Rae is hired to follow a girl, but then fakes the surveillance reports. Then a math professor hires Izzy to watch his immaculate apartment while he unravels like a bad formula. And as the questions pile up, Izzy won't stop hunting for the answers-even when they threaten to shatter both the business and the family. Excellent/Excellent.