Reason to Kill
THE SECOND AMOS PARISMAN MYSTERY
Somewhat-retired L.A. private eye Amos Parisman is hired by lonely booking agent Pinky Bleistiff to find one of his missing singers, Risa Barksy. But what starts as a simple investigation turns into a complex puzzle when Pinky is murdered and Risa is still nowhere to be found. With suspects dropping dead at every turn, Parisman must act quickly to discover the truth about Risa’s relationship with Pinky before an innocent person gets sent to prison.
Amos Parisman’s return brings back the gruff, yet essentially goodhearted detective that charmed readers of An Old Man’s Game. This mystery brings him into twisted world of L.A.’s klezmer scene, where he encounters the best and worst human nature can offer.
What People Say
“The tight plot is enriched with Amos’s wry observations (“Free is what you are when you don’t want to retire yet but nobody’s beating a path to your doorbell. It’s a terrible thing to be free like that”). Descriptions of Amos’s tender yet increasingly fragile feelings for his dementia-stricken wife add poignancy. Hopefully, Amos still has a long career ahead of him.”
— Publishers Weekly
“The kind of traditional mystery I’m constantly on the lookout for but can rarely find: smart, funny, and plotted to the nth degree. Through in an endearing, older protagonist like Amos Parisman, and your formula for the perfect read is complete.”
Gar Anthony Haywood, author of Good Man Gone Bad
An Old Man’s Game
The first Amos Parisman Mystery
When a controversial celebrity rabbi drops dead over his matzhoh ball soup at Canter’s Deli in Los Angeles, a retired private eye Amos Parisman–a sixtysomething, no-nonsense detective who lives with his addled wife in Park La Brea–is hired by the temple’s board to make sure everything is kosher. As he looks into what seems to be a simple, tragic accident, the ante is raised after others start to die or disappear, and Amos uncovers a world of treachery and hurt that shakes a large L.A. Jewish Community to its core.
A little Philip Marlowe mixed with a pinch of Larry David, Amos Parisman is a secular Jewish detective with a philosophical bent, a dry sense of humor, and a practical frugality that hasn’t let him buy a new pair of pants in twenty years. He’s the freshest new (old) voice in private-eye fiction, and his debut in An Old Man’s Game set the stage for a terrific new series.
What People Say
A truly great detective novel that is fresh and original but already feels like a classic….I don’t want another Amos Parisman novel–I want a dozen more!”
Amy Stewart, author of the Kopp Sisters Mysteries
Andy Weinberger has created an absolutely charming private investigator that readers will follow from book to book. L.A.’s Fairfax District: get ready for your closeup!
Naomi Hirahara, author of the Edgar Award-winning Mas Arai mysteries
The writing here, to quote Sam Shepard, is ‘full of crazy and comical pathos,’ and the story brings the L.A. Jewish community fabulously and wildly alive. This is a ribald private-eye tale full of genius and originality.
Howard Norman, author of “My Darling Detective”
Praise for An Old Man’s Game
… pure entertainment … As characters go, Parisman is as no-nonsense as Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade, but unlike those classic detectives, there’s a bit more heart and nuance to our central character. Somewhere in his late 60s, Parisman is well-drawn, with many supporting characters feeling just as real as he does … The plot draws the reader along at a fast clip, moving from one clue to the next. As each new bit of information leads on, Weinberger is also playing a little sleight-of-hand with the reader … It’s not unlike many other P.I. novels. But the way Weinberger manages it, doling out clues here and there, showing one thing, only to take it back later, is mesmerizing and also frustrating in the same way a puzzle might be until it’s finished and you can see the whole, beautiful thing for what it is.
Urban Waite for the San Francisco Chronicle
… delightful … Mr. Weinberger writes as his hero detects, at a measured and thoughtful pace. Most of the book’s violence takes place offstage, leaving the detective to ponder and ruminate in contemplative fashion. And Amos himself proves pleasant company: a gruff mensch whose avowed atheism is balanced by a humanism that sees him tenderly caring at home for his dementia-prone wife. ‘Everybody matters,’ he says at one point, and as we follow his quest to find out what happened to Rabbi Ezra, we know he means it.
Tom Nolan for The Wall Street Journal
Parisman is a kind of “Paris Man” in the sense that he is urbane, witty, and charming in a Jewish, tough guy L.A. way. Unlike Raymond Chandler’s detective, Philip Marlowe, Parisman doesn’t walk alone down mean streets, or become romantically involved with the suspects he investigates. He’s married.…Weinberger has sprinkled satire and a wry sense of humor on almost every page.
Jonah Raskin for The New York Journal of Books
Andy Weinberger 