Lawrence Sanders is not known for deep psychological insights or for mastery in conveying dialogue yet, for instance, the conversation between Archy, Theodosia, and her father sounds completely natural and convincingly contributes to the plot. While all other characters, even including Archy, are closer to caricatures, the young woman seems real from the pages of the novel. For instance: 'I mournfully reflected that if mein papa was correct, I would be horribly disappointed and possibly take up the lute to express my weltschmerz in musical form.' The vividly drawn character of Theodosia provides another surprise. To me the best aspect of the book is the intentionally florid language which somehow manages to avoid sounding grandiloquent and instead comes through as subtly funny.

However, this being a sort of crime novel, we soon have a murder, then another one, and the plot thickens to finally get untangled in an implausible, though not criminally so, denouement. The infatuation even reaches the level of physical consummation. Indeed, Archy quickly finds out that Theodosia is not quite what she claims to be, but then she is so beautiful that the detective immediately falls in love with her. The client suspects that Miss Theodosia Johnson is not refined enough to be worthy of her son. Smythe-Hersforth, a rich Palm Beach matron with pretenses to class, hires Archy McNally to discreetly investigate the bona fides of a young woman whom her son is planning to marry. An unassuming trifle yet such an agreeable waste of time! The readers will not need to exercise their brains to enjoy the plot and the writing. What an unexpectedly pleasant read! The third novel in Lawrence Sanders' Archy McNally series, McNally's Risk (1993) is a light, breezy, entertaining book. Suffice to say that she was well-qualified.' ' It would be indelicate to describe those gifts that qualified her for employment in a topless car wash.

I’m looking forward to the next book in the series. McNally’s Risk is a very entertaining light read. At one point, in describing a delicious dinner, he cautions the reader: “Please don’t drool on this page.” He sometimes even breaks the fourth wall. It’s a very effective device for bringing the reader into Archy’s confidence. (There is very little violence on the page, and Archy’s sexual encounters are described discreetly.) The narrative conceit is that Archy is recounting his exploits from the daily notes he has written down in the course of his investigation. Sometimes the humor is self-deprecating: “It was probably a fool’s errand, I glumly reckoned, and if so I was just the man for the job.” Just as often, he uses humor to skewer the wealthy denizens of Palm Beach, in whose privileged circles he happily moves: “You must understand that you are required to pass a Gossip Aptitude Test before you are allowed to live in the Town of Palm Beach.”Īrchy is a great character, and his adventures, both investigatory and amorous, are fun. This comment is typical of Archy’s first-person narration, which combines erudition and sophisticated vocabulary with humor and a breezy manner. Which I did, and I finally decided there were none.” It was all enough to make one ponder the advantages of celibacy. But then Lucrezia Borgia was hardly a gorgon, and neither was Lizzie Borden. I simply refused to believe that the beautiful could possibly be involved in that heinous crime. “I was dismayed to see how my initial inquiry into the trustworthiness of Theo Johnson appeared to be interacting with the investigation into the murder of Silas Hawkin.

But he wants to give her the benefit of the doubt, even when Silas Hawkin is found murdered and there appears to be a possible connection to Theo and her potentially shady father. She proves to be very seductive, and true to form, Archy doesn’t resist.ĭespite his amorous entanglements with Theo, Archy gradually begins to realize that something about her doesn’t add up. From the moment Archy meets her at an art gallery that’s displaying a portrait of her painted by local artist Silas Hawkin, he is smitten with her. There is no question about Theo’s beauty, though. Chauncey’s mother is concerned, however, that the young woman’s breeding may not be up to snuff-after all, her last name is not even hyphenated. Theo is the intended bride of Chauncey Wilson Smythe-Johnson, the son of a valued client of the firm. He is also a fashionable young man-about-town and a connoisseur of wine, women, and song-although “not too heavy on the song, and I could live without wine.”Īt the outset of the book, Archy is assigned to make a discreet inquiry into the background and character of a young woman named Theodosia Johnson. Archy is the chief (and only) investigator in the Department of Discreet Inquiries at his father’s firm, McNally & Son, Attorney-at-Law, in Palm Beach, Florida. This is the third book in Sanders’s series featuring Archy McNally.

Pi archy mcnally book series