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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9781416532415
ISBN number: 1416532412
Label: Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 416
Printing Date: March 11, 2008
Publishing house: Simon & Schuster
Sale Popularity Level: 48349
Studio: Simon & Schuster
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Product Description:
THEY'RE BAAAAACK.
Their very first caper, The Spellman Files, was a New York Times bestseller and earned comparisons to the books of Carl Hiaasen and Janet Evanovich. Now the Spellmans, a highly functioning yet supremely dysfunctional family of private investigators, return in a sidesplittingly funny story of suspicion, surveillance, and surprise.
When Izzy Spellman, PI, is arrested for the fourth time in three months, she writes it off as a job hazard. She's been (obsessively) keeping surveillance on a suspicious subsequent door neighbor (suspect's name: John Brown), convinced he's up to no good -- even if her parents (the management at Spellman Investigations) are not.
When the (displeased) management refuses to bail Izzy out, it is Morty, Izzy's octogenarian lawyer, who comes to her rescue. But before he can build a defense, he has to know the facts. Over weak coffee and diner sandwiches, Izzy unveils the whole truth and nothing but the truth -- as only she, a thirty-year-old licensed professional, can.
When not compiling Suspicious Behavior Reports on all her family members, staking out her neighbor, or trying to keep her sister, Rae, from stalking her 'best friend,' Inspector Henry Stone, Izzy has been busy attempting to apprehend the copycat vandal whose attacks on Mrs. Chandler's holiday lawn tableaux perfectly and eerily match a series of crimes from 1991-92, when Izzy and her best friend, Petra, happened to be at their most rebellious and delinquent. As Curse of the Spellmans unfolds, it's clear that Morty may be on retainer, but Izzy is still very much on the case...er, cases -- her own and that of every other Spellman family member.
(Re)meet the Spellmans, a family in which eavesdropping is a mandatory skill, locks are meant to be picked, past missteps are never forgotten, and blackmail is the preferred form of negotiation -- all in the name of unconditional love.
Amazon.com Review:
Lisa Lutz, author of The Spellman Files, is back with another story of the shenanigans of the Spellman family: The Curse of the Spellmans. The 'parental unit' started a private investigation business when Dad retired from police work. His wife assists him and their two daughters, Isabel, (Izzy) a 30-year-old with a habit of being arrested, and Rae, a 15-year-old Cheetos-loving teen, would like to think that they help out in the family business. Especially where Izzy is concerned, this is a stretch. Brother David is a successful attorney who has nothing to do with the family enterprise. He has troubles of his own.
Izzy has been living in the apartment of a friend while he is away. When he returns unexpectedly, it quickly becomes clear that being roommates with an old, cigar-smoking, poker-playing, big drinker isn't going to work. Izzy moves home temporarily and then the fun begins. She decides that their new subsequent door neighbor, John Brown, whose landscape gardening business she judges to be a cover, is somehow making women disappear. She gets herself invited to dinner, discovers a locked room, believes his name is phony, follows him everywhere, has a restraining order against her, and still she can't let it go.
Meanwhile, Rae has befriended a great guy, a cop named Henry Stone, who is almost too good to be true. The reader starts pulling for him and Izzy to get together right away, even though he doesn't deserve the aggravation. Lutz keeps the ball rolling faster and faster with David's problems, her parents' frequent vacations, which they refer to as 'disappearances,' and the fact that everyone in the family has secrets from one another. If there is any curse at work here, it is that all the family members are terminally nosy. What they discover about each other and the other players keeps you turning pages and hoping that Lutz is hard at work on the subsequent installment of this zany family's misadventures. --Valerie Ryan
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Rated by buyers 
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I'm mainly giving this book four stars because of the excessive "footnotes". It was cute in the very first book but is annoying in the second because it is extensively overused. Also, the references to Lutz's other novels are very tacky and detract from the story. However, I still love the book and would recommend it for a rollicking good time. I have a friend who read The Spellman Files and really didn't like it because of the dysfuntional family but I think most people can relate to it. I know it all sounded too familiar to me and continues on with Curse of the Spellmans.
Rated by buyers 
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I am listening to the audiobook and it is so great. I read the very first book and was completely enchanted with it. This one is just as good. I laugh to myself and cannot wait for the subsequent edition.
Rated by buyers -
I just finished Curse of the Spellmans, the second book written by Lisa Lutz. Her very first book, The Spellman Files, I read and reviewed earlier this year. This is such a unique take on the mystery series that I was very excited to read this second offering and I was not disappointed.
When Izzy isn't dealing with her sister harassing Henry Stone, or explaining why arrests #2 and #3 aren't 'real arrests', or writing 'suspicious person' reports on her other family members, she is investigating her subsequent door neighbor, John Brown. She is just sure that he is up to something because who has such a common name?
I love these books! Izzy is such a lovable and completely flawed young lady who I, in equal parts, want to 'mother' and straight out at the same time I want to just go along with her on her adventures and enjoy! She makes me laugh at her antics and explanations.
The entire Spellman clan are quite the 'characters'. Each is a little (okay, more than a little) odd and that manifests itself in clever situations and conversations. Henry Stone as the straight man is quite lovable and quirky in his own way.
I highly recommend this fun mystery series. The more I think about these books, I am reminded of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum. But as the book jacket for Curse of the Spellmans states, I am also reminded of Harriet the Spy. For a light, fun mystery, this is a great pick.
micheleonel.blogspot.com
Rated by buyers -
I found both this book and the very first one outrageously funny and kind of touching. Now I'm noodling around the amazon site, searching in vain for anything comparable, with no luck at all. I will POUNCE on the subsequent opus of the Spellman oeuvre to appear, and I hope Ms. Lutz goes on writing about them for a long long time.
Rated by buyers -
I love Lisa Lutz's books! They're very well written, funny, and have a novel (pun intended) storyline. I read many mysteries, and I'm very picky about what I'll spend time reading. I've enjoyed both of her books and look forward to the next. Hurry up, Lisa!
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