BOOK: The Spellman's Strike Again by Lisa Lutz

The Spellman's Strike Again by Lisa Lutz, 390 pages

book 4 of 5 in series

The Spellman's are silly fun, and back to their antics in the fourth installment. Izzy whines about her crazy family narrates the story again, and I am sensing some actual growth in the thirty-two year old. Some of the silly pranks between family members are being treated a little more seriously. The story is told in various reports, with her amusing footnotes, and references to previous editions (now available in paperback!).

The funniest part of this book was the case where Izzy was investigating a missing butler for an eccentric old client. She installs one of her out of work acting pals as the temporary butler, but he goes all method actor, and becomes a classic English butler, even at home with his partner, forgetting to do much of the investigating she wants. 

There is one more book, but the story feels like it could have ended here, with a lot of wrap-ups to various characters and plot lines. Lutz includes a more serious aspect of wrongful conviction , as Izzy and her sister Ray both take on the case of a prisoner that appears innocent. The ability to test for DNA has proven a lot of wrongful convictions.  There is even a short article about how a person could help at the end, after the quizzes on her brother, and the dossiers on each character. There are a number of cute extras like this that make this series a lot of fun. They are quick to read, and pretty funny, and are only vaguely of the mystery variety.