Curse of the Spellmans

By: Lisa Lutz

Narrated by: Ari Graynor

They're baaaaack.

Their first caper, The Spellman Files, was a New York Times best seller and earned comparisons to the books of Carl Hiaasen and Janet Evanovich. Now the Spellmans, a highly functioning yet supremely dysfunctional family of private investigators, return in a sidesplittingly funny story of suspicion, surveillance, and surprise.

When Izzy Spellman, PI, is arrested for the fourth time in three months, she writes it off as a job hazard. She's been (obsessively) keeping surveillance on a suspicious next door neighbor (suspect's name: John Brown), convinced he's up to no good - even if her parents (the management at Spellman Investigations) are not.

When the (displeased) management refuses to bail Izzy out, it is Morty, Izzy's octogenarian lawyer, who comes to her rescue. But before he can build a defense, he has to know the facts. Over weak coffee and diner sandwiches, Izzy unveils the whole truth and nothing but the truth - as only she, a 30-year-old licensed professional, can.

When not compiling Suspicious Behavior Reports on all her family members, staking out her neighbor, or trying to keep her sister, Rae, from stalking her "best friend", Inspector Henry Stone, Izzy has been busy attempting to apprehend the copycat vandal whose attacks on Mrs. Chandler's holiday lawn tableaux perfectly and eerily match a series of crimes from 1991­-92, when Izzy and her best friend, Petra, happened to be at their most rebellious and delinquent. As Curse of the Spellmans unfolds, it's clear that Morty may be on retainer, but Izzy is still very much on the case...er, cases...her own and that of every other Spellman family member.

(Re)meet the Spellmans, a family in which eavesdropping is a mandatory skill, locks are meant to be picked, past missteps are never forgotten, and blackmail is the preferred form of negotiation - all in the name of unconditional love.

©2008 Spellman Enterprises, Inc. (P)2008 Simon and Schuster Inc.

Enjoyed it

I like this narrator. Except that she's different from the first, not sure why all the complaining. The story was good.

Not As Good As The First

I really enjoyed the first book in this series so I bought this book and was about a quarter of the way through but didn’t have time to sit and read an actual book so decided to buy more credits to get it on audiobook so I could finish it but I wish I would have saved the credit.

It didn’t state anywhere that it was abridged but only a few minutes in and I knew it had to be because it was missing parts of the book I had just read. It finally stated at the end of the book it was abridged. I hate abridged audiobooks and would not have bought it had I known that beforehand.

The narrator was just okay but definitely did not portray Isabelle Spellman as witty and with a dry sense of humor that the books portray her to be. I found the narrator to have sort of a monotone voice that really takes away from the story.

The story itself was fine and I like Lisa Lutz’s style of jumping around but I think in the future I’ll stick with the actual books and not audiobooks for this series.

I generally read mysteries and thrillers and do love that there is a sense of mystery to these books but they are not dark and instead are humorous and relatable to some degree especially the relationships between family members.

very entertaining

i would recommend this story as well as the reader.

Pretty Good

As a follow up to the introductory novel, this book was just OK. I still enjoyed getting to know the Spellmans.

What a difference the narrator makes

I listened to these books out of sequence, I first listened to the later books ready by Christina Moore. The story and maybe more importantly the performance of these books was hilarious. Ms. Moore;s dead pan deliver is spot on for this character. Now, we come to Ari Graynor, who sounds like a high school English Lit student reading her paper aloud to the class. No inflection, no dramatic performance, just....blah. i made the mistake of purchasing these two books without listening to her. Lesson learned. I don't know if I'll be able to finish them.

Not as good at the first one in the series

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I just loved the first one in the series and this one was just so-so.

Would you recommend Curse of the Spellmans to your friends? Why or why not?

no, just not as clever as I had hoped for.

Did Ari Graynor do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

She did ok, but sometimes just sounded to recited and young for the various roles/parts. Didn't think she really got the mother character this time around.

But why?

Why abridged? Why this terrible narrator? I love this series and I've listened to it several times since I purchased, regularly skipping over this book and the next because the performances are so terrible. I listened to it recently just to give it another shot. Unbearable. Luckily I was able to find at least book 3 (Revenge of the Spellmans) read by Christina Moore on Amazon. Loading up the 8 CDs worth of tracks is worth it to not have to listen to Ari again. If a Christina Moore version of this book exists, please please please make it available. This sucks.

Fun

I've only listened to two of this series, but while I find the premise rather silly, I'm pretty sure that's the point. This tongue-in-cheek treatment of the mystery genre with plenty of wise-guy comments worthy of comparison with Archie Goodwin, my all time favorite wise-guy, is fun. Period.

Antics continue

This is the family you'll love to...observe at a distance. You hope you never have to meet them, but still can appreciate their quirkiness. Once again there are several good chuckles and creative story lines. Sometimes though you wonder if they ever have a real case.

Overall good

I liked the first book in the series better, but the writing was still good. Something in Ari’s voice was harder to stomach this go round- it was higher and more nasal. I listened at 1.5 x speed to get through it. Even then some of the pauses between what I guess were paragraphs were exceptionally long. Long enough that I’d look down at my phone to see if it had stopped playing. So I took stars away for performance.