Review of ‘This Doesn’t Happen in the Movies’
This Doesn’t Happen in the Movies by Renee Pawlish is book one in the Reed Ferguson mystery series. Reed is visited by an attractive woman who wants him to find her ‘dead’ husband. He has reservations, but needs a paying case to establish his credentials as a PI—also; did I mention she was beautiful?
He is again certain the case is a lemon when his client informs him that she was planning to have her husband killed, but changed her mind. Reed, however, is hooked. Like the cat, though, his curiosity could get him killed, despite the help of his neighbor Willie and his friends, the half-wit brothers, Ace and Deuce.
This is noir fiction at its best. Witty, gritty dialogue—without unnecessary profanity—and implicit physical attractions that are never explicitly described, making it acceptable reading for mystery fans with tender dispositions.
I’ve read some of the subsequent Reed Ferguson mysteries, so it was a treat to read the book that started it all. I’m giving Pawlish five stars for this one.
Charles Ray's Ramblings 