Flipping Out by Marshall Karp (Review)

Flipping Out

By Marshall Karp

Mystery

Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s Press

ISBN# 0312378211 

Best-selling novelist Nora Bannister buys run-down houses in LA. While Nora’s business partners turn each one into a showpiece, she writes a book with the house as the scene of a grisly murder. When the book is released, the women put the house up for sale. A bidding frenzy ensues among those who wish to live in a place where a fictional character died a violent death.

All goes fine with the scheme until the real deaths begin. LAPD Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs are assigned the case, a case that hits close to home since some of the victims are cops’ wives. Lomax and Biggs must track down the murderer before Terry’s wife becomes a target.

The main problem with the story is that the motive for the murders seems to come out of nowhere, but still, the book is light and humorous and fun to read. Karp has a marvelous ear for dialogue, and a knack for one-liners. One of my favorites: The senior tech at the morgue says of her charges, “We don’t let them check in unless they’ve checked out.”

Karp says, “I write for people who want three-dimensional characters, real laugh-out-loud humor that is organic to the situation, and plot twists right up to the final pages. And while I make no guarantees, I’d say that a steady diet of my books can also help you lose weight, double your income, and improve your sex life.”

So, there you have it: Flipping Out by Marshall Karp.