Convoluted and Artistic. Fletch has come to Boston from Italy to investigate an art theft and finds himself in the middle of a murder. His counterpoint on the Boston police department is inspector Flynn. A merry chase. ( )

Ok, the first was pretty good. The abundance of dialog seemed to get in the way of character and plot development. ( )

I enjoyed this followup to the first book in the series. I hear the original Fletch 2 film was nothing like the book, and that's why it flopped. I want to watch the new film, and have heard it's actually based on this second book. ( )

"If you're saying you were framed, Mister Fletcher, you've already told us you know no one in town."
"I didn't say I don't know anybody in the world. Lots of people hate me."
"More every minute," said Flynn. "Take Grover there, for instance." ( )

In Confess, Fletch, the second book of the series, McDonald offers us another taste of a reworking of a classic pulp theme. As many pulp novels begin, this book begins with the main character discovering a beautiful naked woman in his rental, dead. Normally, in a pulp, you'd have the main character hiding the corpse and furiously covering his tracks and fleeing into the night because he knows that all the evidence points to him. The story has femme fatales, murder, kidnapping, lushes, seductions, international intrigue, and all kinds of fascinating characters.

What turns that classic set-up on its head, however, is that Fletch isn't too concerned. with being charged with murder. He has other things on his mind like stolen paintings, a countess who wants to seduce him, his fiancé in Italy, and other things. So we have his calm conversations with Inspector Flynn and the cat and mouse game they play with each other as Fletch calmly goes about his business. This is not an action-packed story. There aren't car chases and gunfights. It's a much more subtle story. But it's really good and a real satisfying read. ( )