"My mother used to say that if you can't verify a man's existence, you probably shouldn't go home with him."

Isabel Spellman

I am always looking for a new author to give a try to. If it works out, great, and I will sing (well, blog) their praises to one and all. Here is one that has become a favorite of mine that I have been recommending to people. The great thing is when they come back and thank me because I gave them a new author to read! That is always great stuff.

If you like Janet Evanovich, give Lisa Lutz a try.

Lisa Lutz writes a terrifically funny series about the Spellman family. We get the privilege of getting to know a family of private investigators: mom Olivia, dad Albert (ex-cop), the perfect oldest child, David, a perfect lawyer in a perfect house, the middle child Isabel (Izzy), 28, still living at home, with a strong sense of loyalty to her family-which ebbs and flows depending on what is going on in the family, then there is Rae, the baby of the family who is 14 going on 24 in many ways. David is the only member of the family not into the private investigating business-though as a lawyer he does use his family's unique skills when he needs to. Izzy realized very young that she would never outshine her brother so she did things her own way. Belonging to a family that, well, snoops for a living makes living your own life harder.

How do you date when your parents....and younger sister....check the guy out? When you storm out of the house and the family business, how do you get in to another line of work when your family sabotages your life? How do you explain that breaking and entering is second nature in your family? Eavesdropping is just something you do, even when out for dinner with someone? When your arrested your family shrugs their shoulders because it comes as no surprise. I always say that no family is perfect, look close and every family is dysfunctional in some way. Trust me, in the Spellmans we have a wonderful example of just that.

Laugh out loud moments in a delightful take on "hard-boiled" detectives. Give yourself a treat and check out Izzy and her cast of characters, you'll be glad did.