I have been a huge fan of David Handler since I read the first "Hoagy" novel. This latest installment is excellent! Witty, sharp, and leaves you guessing till the end.

As one who has read all the Stewart Hoag mysteries by David Handler I feel qualified in saying each one is better than the last! Not only are the books getting thicker, they are getting more rewarding and entertaining. The characters, plots, dialog, humour and Handler's voice improve with age. In this outing, an old Ivy League classmate of Hoag's is accused of murdering women. The suspect clearly fits the bill given his violent and abusive past . . . and present! Though 'King Tut' Tuttle is suspected even by his good friend Hoag of committng these murders, 'Hoagy' owes it to himself, Tuttle and their faded friendship to investigate as only he can. The story is filled with great characters, moments of suspense and enough likely suspects and red herrings to keep the reader entertained and guessing throughout. Readers familiar with this series will be happy to know Lulu, Merilee Nash and even Hoag's beloved vintage Jaguar continue their usual prominent roles.

David Handler continues to amaze me with his wonderfully witty works of the adventures of "Hoagy". His books are always thrilling, exciting, and leave you guessing until the end. "The Man Who Loved Women to Death" is no exception.

I have never been shooshed so much while reading a book - I was chuckling at Handler's wit every other page! Hoagy is a great character and the plot is a pretty twisty one as well. A great read! I've said it many a time to emphasize how good a book was, but this is the first time I actually FINISHED A BOOK IN ONE SITTING! I couldn't read it fast enough. GOOD STUFF!

Handler is a scream. His stories are orginal and his characters are very lively. No trends are spared from Handler's savage pen. I hope Handler enjoys writing the Hoagy series as much as I enjoy reading it

Handler does it again! I bought the book and I can't sleep! Why? Because my wife is up all night reading it and laughing out loud

An intriguing twist on standard whodunits with a rich stew of Holywood-in-Manhattan characters. The whole thing is a little gaudier than reality, but intelligent and well-written enough to enjoy it. The main character, Uncle Chubby, is from the first page intriguing; the first-person author, a literate foil to the television excesses. The characters are thoroughly interesting, and the writing is sharp and full of the right kind of detail. And the whole thing moves along. Great entertainment, while occasionally provoking a thought.

I love reading D. Handler's books, but it's extremely difficult to find them. This title is indicative of the author's great sense of humor, ability to inhabit his story with well-written characters (granted, rather obnoxious and odious people - but, hey, he has to, he's writing about the television industry), and oodles of motive. Although sometimes I find Hoagy a tad snooty and snobbish, he means well, and he always gets the bad guy/girl at the end. When is Handler's next book coming out? An inquiring mind wants to know.

I love all of David Handler's books. . . the Hoagy series, especially. This book is as enjoyable as all of the others in the series. It's a little less suspenseful - you can pretty much figure out the murderer early on - but the twists and turns keep you on an interestingly winding trail to the conclusion. I recommend this and every other David Handler book out there. I wish he'd write MORE MORE MORE!

This guy is fabulous. So funny. I've never laughed out loud while reading a book before; until now, that is. Please, Mr. Handler, write, write, write!!!!!

Handler never ceases to dissappoint. This is another installment featuring the sauve yet sarcastic/observant articulate Stuart Hoag. It includes the usual pop culture iconoclasticism (and I can't get enough of that) and the cast of characters that remind me of the Thin Man movies updated to the 1990's.

Did David Handler tire of Stewart Hoag, wry bon vivant and tireless investigator? Or is he just trying to expand the number of franchises? Whatever the reason for abandoning Hoag and picking up a new detective duo -- film critic Mitch Berger and trooper Des Mitry -- this introduction leaves us all a little sorry not to have Stewart swaggering around New York and its smart spots. Setting is important to mysteries and while the Connecticut coast serves, it doesn't sizzle the way Handler's earlier books do; no matter how tepid the plot the characters were always wonderfully eccentric. "Blue Blood" makes me curious about the second Berger mystery, but also hopeful that Hoag is only on hiatus, not abandoned.

I usually don't read mysteries, but this one I liked. It wasn't too serious, but fun. I love the fact that it's an interracial romance and even though the mystery part is good, the romance developing bt. Des and Mitch is what draws you in. Mitch is open with himself and others while Des is afraid to do so. Mitch teaches Des about love and life. They help each other. I also loved the other characters in the book who were crazy in both good and bad ways. I can't wait to read other books in the series and hopes this series last a long time.

I loved this book. It has everything I like in a mystery: good story, great setting (Connecticut's gold coast), 2 very witty, personable and unique main characters with lots of imperfections, and easy-flowing writing. I look forward to more in the series!

This is a very thoroughly researched book about snake-handling Pentecostals. I highly recommend it for an unbiased account of the practice. The author focused on one family, and did an incredible job of detailing the history of snake handling through them. The book covers everything from why these believers handle snakes, the very beginnings of the practice, the other "signs" (taking poison, handling fire), the basic doctrine of their church, the legal battles, the migration of the church & the snakes, the miracles, and the deaths. It also offers a wonderful history of the Saylor family, including their religious beliefs. I married into this family not even knowing that snake handling existed outside of old-time circuses and music videos, and after reading this book have a MUCH better grasp of the whole concept. Though all 53 of the photos are black & white, they add quite a bit. Even if you have no interest in purposefully picking up a rattlesnake or drinking strychnine, or don't even know who the Saylors are, this book gives the reader a front row pew on a part of American culture few people will ever experience.

Being a snake handling buff and unable to read David L. Kimbrough's, Taking Up Serpents for years, I finally had the pleasure. Kimbrough's work far surpasses anything else that has been written on the subject. Kimbrough being an Appalachian and Ph.D. sets the standard for doing oral research along with combing the archieves.
Kimbrough's work focuses on the Saylor family in eastern Kentucky and shows how the movement evolved. Kimbrough illustrates how the snake handling movement gained momentum when industrial capitalism surfaced in Kentucky.
The work is simply the best source for scholars and people with a general interest in snake handliing. No other book comes close to this masterpiece.

Fans of Stewart Hoag, as am I, worried when Handler moved on to cases involving new crime-solvers, but Mitch Berger and Des Mitry shine in this second Sister Island mystery. Pink Farmhouse is rich with exotic characters and intriguing plot twists. Plus Handler is creating a very compelling universe in Dorset, CT, a new England village with a Norman Rockwell appearance but Peyton Place kinks. We needn't have worried about being left Hoagless, in fact, I am already eager for the next Berger mystery.

A very satisfying 2nd installment to this series - which I hope will have a long, successful run. The characters are so engaging, and the depiction of them in this small town, with all of the idiosyncrasies of small town people, is wonderful. Mr. Handler's insight into each of them is nothing short of masterful. I absolutely loved visiting this place with these people, and look forward to reading more about them.

I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I couldn't so much as remove 1 star even though I cringed every time Desiree (Des) broke out into 'black speak.' It wouldn't have been so disturbing I suppose, if her background hadn't been mainstream/middle class. It just felt inconsistent that she spoke 3rd generation ghetto. When people, even black people, are born and raised in an environment where proper English is spoken, they typically talk like their peers - trust me, I know. Unless they're having an identity crisis and incorrectly assume they must talk like an uneducated thug in order to feel black. However, this character was portrayed as strong and self-assured, sans identity issues. Normally, I steer clear of books where the black characters are portrayed so stereotypically, but Mr. Handler managed to make this one so interestingly multidimensional that I forgive him.

I'm also glad I ignored the review that referred to the romance in the story as 'gratingly cute.' I thought it was one of the most emotionally honest depictions of two wounded people falling in love that I've read - and I read a lot. It adds an additional endearing element to this mystery that is absorbing and well written.

Dorset, Connecticut is a quaint New England town, which is home to world renown sculptor Hangtown Frye. He has two daughters living with him, Moose the apple of his eye and Takai an evil slut. Moose is coming home after a night of sex with her married lover when someone using a sniper's rifle shoots out the engine causing it to explode.

When the police determine somebody murdered Moose, Resident Trooper Desiree Mitry finds herself in the middle of homicide investigation that confuses her because the victim was driving her sister's car and Takai had more enemies than anyone else in town. Before they can flush out the perpetrator they have to find out who was the intended victim. Mitch Berger, Desiree's lover and Frye's movie critic pal finds himself in the unique position of being able to give Des all the answers to her questions if he doesn't get himself killed first.

Mitry and Berger are a great team both personally and professionally but the star of the book is the town of Dorset, which looks perfect on the surface but has all the problems and eccentric characters of the inner city. There are a surplus of suspects who could have killed Moose but the actual perpetrator will come as a total shock to readers, who will enjoy this regional mystery.

Harriet Klausner

The prologue of this mystery about a series of murders in a small community started off fabulous. Unfortunately, the rest of the book never quite lived up to that excitement. It simply slowly unfolded. Mitch is a despondent film critic who has lost his wife and can't bring himself out of the ensuing depression. His boss sends him off to do a travel article in hopes that a change of scenery will do him good. He finds himself renting a carriage house there on the small Connecticut Island of Big Sister. A dead body turns up and Desiree, a Lieutenant in the Major Crimes Squad, is summoned to investigate. There were several interesting facets to the main characters. Since Mitch is a film critic, the frequent comparisons he makes between old films and real life were right on target. Desiree's constant search for homes for her rescued stray cats was amusing and also showed her need to produce the happy outcomes that she couldn't in her job. However, I felt the attraction between Mitch and Desiree was forced and didn't feel real. It could have easily been left out entirely. Mitch has an idea on how to resolve the murders that works well with his character but I thought there could have been more of a twist at the end.

I really wanted The Cold Blue Blood to be the start of a great new series, because I was a big fan of the Stewart Hoag books. But while film critic Mitch Berger is a well-conceived character, unfortunately Desiree Mitry is simply not believable. The fault lies primarily in Handler's attempts to have Desiree sound like a black woman. It doesn't work and, sadly, she comes across sounding like an aging valley girl, repeating the word "way" w-a-y too often, calling other women "girl" regardless of their ages, and talking about her "bootay" (read that as butt.) As well, her reactions to Mitch seem more teenage than adult. And this is a shame, because the plot is not without merit and the other characters in the book are well-drawn and believable. Handler is a seasoned writer who knows how to retain control of his material, and how to move the narrative along at a good pace. As well, his descriptions of Connecticut are accurate and appealing; he captures very successfully the flavor of the state and its great social contradictions. But for this projected series to work, he's going to have to make Des more real, more human, and less of a caricature. I'll go for the next book in the series, in the hope that he can pull it off.

Though only thirty-two years old, New York City film critic and author Mitch Berger feels his life ended the day his beloved wife died from ovarian cancer. His editor Lacy Mickerson worries that Mitch rarely leaves his Greenwich Village home, passing time watching classic films. He even rejected a trip to Cannes for the festival. Because she cares, Lacy sends Mitch to Dorset on the Connecticut Gold Coast, allegedly to write an article, but more to get him out of his apartment.

Surprisingly, Mitch finds the town charming and even rents a home from Dolly Seymour on exclusive Big Sister as he sees this as an opportunity to start over again. However, his need for a new type of tranquillity is disturbed when he finds a corpse in his garden. Police Lieutenant Desiree Mitry of the State Major Crimes Squad leads the official investigation even as Mitch makes his own brand of inquiries. As they run into one another, Mitch and Desiree form an attraction, but he feels guilty and she hurts from the abandonment of her first spouse, making it obvious that once the case is solved the relationship is over or is it?

Renowned for his Hoag novels, David Handler begins a new series starring two attractive and complex individuals. A die hard New Yorker, Mitch remains in mourning until he arrives at Big Sister while Dolly is a beautiful Amazonian African-American who mistrusts males except if they are cats. Thrown together in an interesting police-procedural-amateur sleuth who-done-it, they form the basis for a wonderful opening novel.

Harriet Klausner

This story, the second in the growing line of Stewart Hoag mysteries, finds our favorite ghost writer / mystery solver in England where he's been commissioned to pen the memoirs of aged rock star Tristam Scarr. As usual there are those who don't want Scarr's story to see the light of day. And as usual Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag is faced with weeding through the many suspects. Hoag is accompanied to England by his perennial sidekick Lulu, a basset hound of remarkable eating habits. Also in England by coincidence is Hoag's ex-wife, award-winning actress Merilee Nash, to add to the fireworks. Though written early in the series, Hoag already shows signs of his humour, wit and insufferable coolness which following readers have come to love. As these stories follow a continuing line of characters and Hoag's life-events, readers are well rewarded for going back to fill in earlier history they may have missed on this full-time ghost writer and part-time detective.