BRIGHT FUTURES: A Lew Fonesca Mystery
Stuart M. Kaminsky
Forge Books
Mystery
ISBN: 9780765318282
Private investigator Lew Fonesca is a complex man. The Sarasota, Florida, detective arrived in the Sunshine State as a grief-stricken widower whose wife had been killed in a hit-and-run accident in Chicago, Illinois. Fonesca left his job as an investigator with the State’s Attorney of Cook County, packed his grief and personal belongings in his car and headed south. He drove as far as Sarasota, where he moved into a small apartment overlooking a Dairy Queen. Never obtaining a Florida private investigator’s license, Fonesca considers himself a process server or, as he likes to describe it, a man who finds people. Sometimes the individuals he locates are criminals.
BRIGHT FUTURES is the sixth Lew Fonesca novel from the pen of Stuart M. Kaminsky, a prolific mystery writer who, like Fonesca, migrated from Illinois to Florida. While serving as a film and film history instructor at Northwestern University, Kaminsky authored his first mystery and introduced readers to Toby Peters, a Hollywood detective who numbered movie stars of the ’40s as his clients. Sixty novels later, Kaminsky is still going strong and Fonesca is the fourth protagonist he has presented in mystery series. In addition to the aforementioned Peters, he regularly sends his audience to Moscow for the adventures of Chief Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov and returns to the streets of Chicago for the cases of Detective Abe Lieberman. For his efforts, Kaminsky has been honored with the Grandmaster Award from the Mystery Writers of America.
When readers last encountered Fonesca, he had come face to face with the driver of the car that struck and killed his wife. Now that individual, Victor Woo, has come to Sarasota and is actually living with Fonesca in the building at the rear of the Dairy Queen parking lot. Alas, the Dairy Queen has been torn down and replaced by a bank, and Fonesca’s residence and office meet the wrecking ball in the opening pages of BRIGHT FUTURES. These goings-on are the backdrop for the request of two high school students for Fonesca to assist them in proving that their classmate, Ronnie Gerall, charged with the murder of Phillip Horvecki is innocent. Agreeing to look into Gerall’s case, Fonesca soon finds himself meeting a cast of unique characters who will test his abilities as well as his sanity. Along the way he will encounter repeated gun shots, blackmail and a few cases of stolen identity. All in a day’s work for someone who is not a private investigator, but merely a man who finds people.
Regardless of the locale, Kaminsky exhibits a remarkable skill in portraying neighborhoods and communities. To some degree, he almost makes his mysteries travelogues. In addition, his characters are presented as real people, albeit sometimes very quirky real people.
In BRIGHT FUTURES, the characters range from the high school students who first hire Fonesca, to an ex-actor who now has the opportunity to bring the enforcer roles he played in movies and television to real life, to D. Elliot Corkle, the star of countless infomercials, who is easily recognizable by any reader who has been enticed by the myriad of gadgets sold on TV. In addition, many stalwarts from previous Fonesca adventures appear here. They are Fonesca’s friends and play important roles in his private and professional lives. Long after his latest mystery has been solved, readers will wonder what will be the next turn in Fonesca’s life.
Reading a Stuart Kaminsky book is like having your favorite comfort food for dinner. You mix the basic ingredients of character and location into a simple plot and the recipe produces an entertaining and enjoyable reading experience. The Sarasota Tribune gave Kaminsky the moniker “Mr. Mystery.” It is an appropriate title for this multi-talented author who continues to delight mystery fans with his varied characters and long-running series.
--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
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