Hearse of a Different Color (Hitchcock Sewell Series #2)

by Tim Cockey

Overview

Hitchcock Sewell, Baltimore's hippest undertaker and civilian sleuth, is back in a second sly, original mystery.

One of the most charming and offbeat amateur detectives to come around in years, Hitchcock Sewell does for the undertaking profession what Marilyn Monroe did for the ukulele—gives it a touch of class. In this rollicking follow-up to Tim Cockey's "witty, punchy, snappy, well-written, and dang funny debut" (Harlan Coben, author of The Final Detail), a surprise blizzard dumps more than snow on the steps of Sewell & Sons funeral home—it leaves behind the corpse of a murdered waitress as well. Hitch's television meteorologist girlfriend sees the crime as an opportunity to move into hard news. Her unctuous mentor wants to beat Hitch to the punch. Hitch's snooping takes him from low-life strip joints to high-tone mansions, proving yet again that undertakers and their clue-happy cohorts can be a pretty lively bunch.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786865710
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	02/21/2001
Series:	Hitchcock Sewell Series , #2
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Tim Cockey is the award-winning author of the Hitchcock Sewell novels, including The Hearse You Came In On, Hearse of a Different Color, The Hearse Case Scenario, Murder in the Hearse Degree, and Backstabber. He has been a story analyst for many major film and television companies, including American Playhouse, ABC, and Hallmark Entertainment. He grew up in Baltimore and now lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

When a brutally murdered waitress is unceremoniously dropped on the doorstep of the Sewell & Sons Family Funeral Home while another bereaved family gathers for a wake, Baltimore mortician-about-town Hitchcock Sewell has just one question: Why my place?

bn.com

. . . easily the equal of its clever predecessor . . . where Cockey shines . . . is with his insights about the human condition.

Book Page

An undertaker-detective you'll really dig.

Pam Lambert

Sewell and Sons . . . no cheap gimmicks, nothing ostentatious, just class all the way.

New York Times

Cockey's contribution . . . has less to do with his hero's career . . . than with his wit, which is ceaseless, remorseless and fun.

Washington Post

HWisecracking undertaker and amateur sleuth Hitchcock Sewell makes a welcome return in this second in Cockey's highly entertaining and well-written series. When the murdered corpse of Helen Waggoner is dumped on the front steps of Baltimore's Sewell & Sons Family Funeral Home, which Hitch runs with his Aunt Billie, it's especially perturbing because a wake is in progress. Hitch's new girlfriend, Bonnie Nash, an inept television weathergirl, convinces Hitch to help her make a career move to investigative reporter by finding out who killed Helen. Naturally, complications arise. Helen's young son, Bo, goes to live with her estranged sister, Vicki, who is being harassed by the boy's jailbird father. The search into Helen's background leads Hitch and Bonnie into the Baltimore netherworld of strip joints, prostitution and pornography. When an up-and-coming lawyer and the owner of a strip joint are murdered in a similar style, the investigation expands. The lawyer represented Dr. Richard Kingman, whose wake Helen's body interrupted, and Hitch discovers a connection between Helen and the Kingman family. As with Cockey's first Hitch Sewell mystery, The Hearse You Came In On (2000), the plot is circuitous, with Hitch and Bonnie making many incorrect assumptions as they work their way through this thoroughly enjoyable novel. (Feb. 7) Forecast: Cockey's colorful Baltimore settings should attract readers who enjoy Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan series, while his breezy, casual tone, hilarious situations, very quirky, sharply drawn characters and neighborhoods will appeal to fans of Janet Evanovich. Cockey has a more serious side too, offering insightful commentary on family relationships and sibling rivalry, All this adds up to a book that's a natural for handselling, with readers' awareness cultivated via a six-city author tour and teaser chapters in the mass market edition of The Hearse You Came In On, due out on Feb. 1. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Trouble comes home to thirtyish Baltimore undertaker Hitchcock Sewell (The Hearse You Came in On) when someone dumps the murdered body of a pretty waitress on the front steps of the family funeral parlor. Hitch helps his girlfriend Bonnie, a television weatherperson who wants to move into hard news, find out what happened to the victim, who leaves a three-year-old son and an estranged sister. Their search soon turns up switched identities, ditched creepy boyfriends, strippers, and dirty movies. Delightful prose, provocative humor, and engaging characters move this right to the top. Most appealing. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

The blizzard that hit Baltimore without warning made the wake at Sewell & Sons Family Funeral Home difficult enough for managers Hitchcock Sewell and his Aunt Billie. The corpse unceremoniously dumped on the outside steps of the funeral home becomes even more arduous to deal with because Hitch allows his girlfriend Bonnie Nash to persuade him to help her investigate. Bonnie insists that she is an investigative reporter hiding inside the guise of a TV weathergirl, which her peers loosely interpret as an amateur meteorologist who would have been better suited at rock singing.Hitch and Bonnie begin to conduct inquiries, which as with their first case (see The Hearse You Came In) proves that in their minds the shortest distance between two clues is an arc. The duo draws wrong conclusions, fumbles clues, and makes error after error that should star them on a version of Bloopers. Other murders follow that expand an already widening circular investigation making it seem most unlikely that this amateur duet will ever solve the case.The second Hitch-Nash amateur sleuth tale, Hearse Of A Different Color, is an amusing novel due to the eccentric lead couple and his even more outlandish family members. The investigators seem to always land in weird, humorous situations that bring to life Baltimore's neighborhoods. Surprisingly, Tim Cockey provides an underlying theme involving dysfunctional relationships that keeps the novel from spinning into Pythonesque territory yet never overwhelms the drollery of a top notch tale.