Author: Gwen Freeman

ISBN: 139780977627615

With  Murder…Suicide…Whatever…: A Fifi Cutter Mystery, Gwen Freeman, author, attorney, and artist has delivered a deceptively goofy thriller filled with dead-pan one-liners and punchy humor that would be the envy of many a stand-up comic.

Freeman’s concocted plot zeros in on Fifi Cutter and her half brother Bosco Dorff who unannounced shows up one day on her doorstep. Fifi is highly suspicious of Bosco’s motives and doesn’t think highly of her free loading fast talking half sibling who hasn’t been part of her life for sometime.

Even after refusing him entry into her home, Bosco still manages to push his way past her front door. He informs Fifi that he came to investigate the death of a family friend whom he refers to as their “Uncle Ted Heffernan," whom Fifi has no idea whom he is talking about.

It seems “Uncle Ted” passed away one Friday evening while working in his office at the insurance brokerage firm of Obermeyer & Schlefy, where he was one of the partners. When Fifi asks Bosco how certain is he that Ted died on Friday night, Bosco explains to her that a group of women from the office came in on Saturday and made a banner for Ted with a big 59 on it (it was Ted’s fifty-ninth birthday) with a picture of a cake, skull and crossbones. The banner completely covered Ted’s office door and it was intended that when he came to work on Monday morning he would need to break through the banner to get into his office.  Ted’s body was found on Sunday and as Fifi and Bosco later conclude, there was no conclusive evidence that he was in his office on Friday evening.

One of Ted’s co-workers, Eddie Waller, suspects foul play and is not convinced that Ted died of heart failure as indicated in the autopsy report. Eddie telephones Bosco to inform him of his uncle’s demise. Apparently, Eddie and Bosco kept up a friendly relationship from the time the latter worked as a student with the former at Obermeyer & Schlefy.

Eddie is conned into hiring Bosco and Fifi as private investigators after Bosco informs him that he had experience as an investigator for the FBI and that his sister is a licensed private investigator in California, where Ted died. However, as we learn from Fifi, she only holds an independent insurance adjustor’s license and is certainly far from being a private investigator. Nonetheless, this does not stop Bosco from recruiting his infuriated half-sister to go along with his scam with the promise that Eddie will be paying one hundred dollars a day-money that she could put to good use in paying off her debts and overdue house taxes.

Our team of Fifi and Bosco manage to pull off another ruse by convincing the senior partners of Obermeyer & Schlefy that they are grief counselors and it would be in the best interest of the firm’s employees to have grief counseling sessions.  This would enable Fifi and Bosco to perhaps pick up some useful information from the unsuspecting employees that may clue them in as to what exactly happened to “Uncle Ted.” Did he die of natural causes or was her murdered?

As the investigation proceeds, Fifi and Bosco learn that Ted was sued for sexual harassment by his firm’s receptionist, Dina Mraz.  Ms. Mraz successfully secured a judgment in her favor to the tune of one million, seven hundred thousand dollars. No doubt, as Fifi states, everyone would be extremely vexed at Ted, whose amorous escapades were not only immoral but also expensive. However, she further goes onto to say, “What I don’t see is what good it does to take him out now? The liability is the firm’s.” However, as they later discover, although, the firm carried key-man insurance, it was only a few months prior to Ted’s death that it had been increased to five million dollars. The partners would be the beneficiaries of the insurance and the amount to be paid out would be far and above the amount of the sexual harassment judgment-leaving them with an added bonus.

Fifi and Bosco also unearth a scheme involving Ted pertaining to insurance premium financing. It seems that Ted may have been borrowing money on insurance policies without his insured clients’ knowledge. On top of all of these shenanigans he may also have been indirectly involved in the porno industry.

Although this is Freeman’s debut novel, she has managed to supply us with a briskly paced mystery with the requisite elements of detecting, menace, and red herrings thrown in for good measure that will even surprise seasoned mystery readers.  She has also spiced up her tale with some mischievous characters, particularly Bosco with his buffoonery.  It is no easy feat to mix comic scenes with mystery however, Freeman succeeds in pulling it off with much aplomb.

The above review of the Advanced Reader's Copy was contributed by:  NORM GOLDMAN:  Editor & Publisher of Bookpleasures.  Here are more of  Norm Goldman's Reviews

To read Norm's Interview with Gwen Freeman CLICK HERE