an intentionally unlikely and perhaps somewhat unlikable protagonist who somehow muddles through. I enjoyed the occassional abbott & costello like exchanges ( )

Meh. ( )

This caught my attention on the "new acquisitions" shelf in our local library, and I thought it looked promising. I found it funny, as advertised, with a quirky plot hook (the "murder" of six goslings crossing a busy highway), and the main character has enough going for him that I expect this will become a series. I didn't figure out exactly what went on, but I suspected all the right people of something well before the detective explained things. The edition I read had a glaring editorial goof in it---a reference to a significant phrase allegedly uttered by a character who never said any such thing. But a fun read. And the bonus was that it was set in Knoxville, which I didn't know when I selected it. Even with my limited experience of the place I recognized many of the settings he used (The Tennessee Theater, Kingston Pike, Alcoa Highway, the fountain in the airport, etc.)
If Yancey writes more of these, I'll give him another go.
Review written in March 2007

Once I put down the book it would take me ages to get back to it. But when I was reading it, I wouldn't stop until I just had to.

That kind of sums up my feelings towards this book. I really enjoyed it but at the same time am kind of apathetic. I definitely like Teddy, but to be honest I didn't care for any other characters. The plot was definitely interesting and twisty and had a very satisfying conclusion. So why didn't I love it more?

I don't know. Just fell short of brilliant, I guess. ( )

I really wanted to like this and I tried to, but I couldn't even bring myself to finish reading it. I was more than half way through the book and realized I didn't much like the characters, there was barely a mystery yet and I really didn't care who-did-it.

I do love light mysteries that are strongly carried by recurring characters, but I do like there to be some kind of real mystery going on. Preferably, I will get to know the characters as they solve the mystery. It felt like this book spent a lot of time introducing characters at the expense of giving me an engaging story. ( )