Author: Gwen Freeman
ISBN: 13:978-0-9799960-0-9
ISBN: 10: 0-9799960-0-7
Much like Gwen Freeman's first novel Murder…Suicide…Whatever: A Fifi Cutter Mystery, her newest non-traditional mystery, Crazy Fool Kills Five will titillate readers with its wit, zingers and twisty plot.
The story begins when Freeman's favorite sleuth, Fifi Cutter has been hired by the law firm of Wong, Wu & Cho on the recommendation of her personal friend and member of the firm, VJ, also known as Victoria Jane Smith. Fifi's mission is to find some incriminating evidence pertaining to an ex-employee that will negate his claim for workers' compensation.
The ex-employee, Stephen Randolph Burton claimed that he injured his back as a result of lifting boxes of Christmas toys that were collected by office employees for needy families. At the time of his injury, Burton worked for the firm as a document clerk. Apparently, before the alleged injury, he had been working on a very important file, the Skyblu litigation and as we later discover, Burton possessed some very important information that would have a devastating effect on the outcome of the trial pertaining to the defendants.
The Skyblu case involved a charter plane carrying two Chinese businessmen that crashed three-quarters of an hour after takeoff from Van Nuys. The investigation revealed that the pilot had been shot and at a result his co-pilot was also killed along with the deranged and disgruntled ex-employee of the airline company, Jim Farnswell. The mentally unbalanced ex-employee had managed to sneak on board the aircraft and presumably shot the pilot. Wong represented the families of the dead passengers while Fifi's friend VJ, represented the widow of someone who was killed on the ground while having a beer in his Winnebago.
Wong was jumping with joy to plead the case as he was convinced that if he won it would provide him with a very comfortable retirement due to the fact he had two defendants with extensive insurance coverage. One the one hand there was the private charter company, Skyblu, whom he believed did not properly check out the deranged employee and then there was Grund Aviation Technologies that could be held liable for not putting a locking door from the cabin into the cockpit.
When VJ tells Fifi that the document clerk Burton was never replaced and that much of his work has fallen on her shoulders, Fifi offers her services to take over his job. Reluctantly, VJ agrees to once again recommend her to her boss Reginald Wong. Fifi is forewarned that there is a great deal of work to do as the case is without doubt going to trial.
Fifi discovers that apart from Wong, the line up of attorneys included Daniel Boatwright, whom she had the "hots" representing Skyblu and Jane Porter representing Grund Aviation. Both companies were unyielding in their refusal to settle the case. As VJ tells Fifi, Mr. Czypiesky, president of Skybu and Mr. Grund "would rather prance around West Hollywood naked in G-strings than admit they did anything wrong." Fifi points out to VJ that in reality it is up to the insurance adjustors to decide whether or not to settle. However, VJ replies that Walton Yarborough for Brunswick Insurance, which is Skyblu's insurance carrier and Cissie McMull, Grund's insurance carrier are not any more reasonable.
From all appearances the trial seems to be progressing as expected, however, such is not the case with Fifi's life. She encounters all kinds of unpleasant experiences, which initially she doesn't realize will have quite an important impact on the trial. Burton is mysteriously killed, a Mexican guy snatches her purse, trucks tried to run her over and her house is ransacked. And to complicate matters, her half-brother, Bosco, who lives with her without sharing any of the financial responsibilities, is not exactly helping matters with his strange behavior.
To top it off, after Fifi tracks Jim Farnswell's grandmother in an old age home in order to determine if her grandson had a history of mental illness, the poor woman unexpectedly dies of acid reflux very soon after Fifi and Bosco's visit. What is quite interesting about granny is that attorney Boatwright had interviewed her and decided not to put her on the stand and moreover hid her from the plaintiffs.
The trial really steers off course with an unexpected twist when suddenly the defence, with the exception of the widow of the man killed in his Winnebago, agree to settle. Why settle after it had begun is the sixty million dollar question? There is also some suspicion that Jane Porter was throwing the case and that Burton saw something going on between her and Yarborough which was caught on tape and which tape Reg Wong was able to get his slimy hands on. Could we be in the presence of some blackmail shenanigans? How honest are the adjusters and the attorneys?
With Crazy Fool Kills Five Freeman's has once again proven with her sparkling prose that she is quite adept at concocting an exciting, fast paced thriller. There is no doubt that the blending of humor and mystery is very often quite difficult, however Freeman manages to pull it off with a great deal of gusto as she cleverly structures her plot and colorful characters. What is more, the novel's scenes work very well as they build a great deal of tension with a somewhat convoluted plot. Her characters are memorable and a pleasure to spend time with particularly the biracial Fifi, who makes an interesting protagonist with her uncanny and aggressive ability to smell out some unscrupulous behavior on the part of some of the players of the trial, proving that sometimes crime does pay big time.
Freeman's experience as an insurance attorney certainly comes in handy in her depictions of the work of the various attorneys and insurance executives as she sketches them with a certain amount of precision and humor. I look forward to reading more from Gwen Freeman.
To read Norm's Interview With Gwen Freeman CLICK HERE
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