Books

McNally's Gamble (Archy McNally Novels (Paperback))
A Cry for Self-Help
Delilah Doolittle and the Motley Mutts (Pet Detective Mystery)
North of Havana
Dead Stick (New Alaskan Murder Mystery)
Dead Air
Death in Dixie
A Touch of the Grape
Death at Bishop's Keep
The Dream Stalker
As Crime Goes by
The Story Teller
Chile Death: A China Bayles Mystery
Person or Persons Unknown
The Prince and the Prosecutor (The Mark Twain Series , No 3)
Delilah Doolittle and the Careless Coyote (Pet Detective Mystery Series , No 3)
The Raphael Affair (Prime Crime Mysteries)
Leading an Elegant Death
Cure for a Charlatan
Witch of the Palo Duro
No Place for Memories
The General
Death Hits the Fan
The Moche Warrior: An Archaeological Mystery
Corruption of Justice

Average customer rating:

Silver Ghost Rolls In Faberge Egg. Roll The Dice
Amusing fluff
McNally eggstracts con artist
A B-List Jeeves
A bit pedestrian but still ok.

McNally's Gamble (Archy McNally Novels)
Lawrence Sanders
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425162591
Release Date: 2000-06-12

Amazon.com

Archy McNally, the hero of Lawrence Sander's latest whodunit McNally's Gamble is a throwback to an earlier, more gracious age. He lives well, dresses well, and keeps hours that Dashiell Hammet's "Thin Man," Nick Charles, would approve of. When not wining, dining, or driving his fire-engine red Miata around Palm Beach, Archy keeps discreet tabs on the wealthy clients of his father's law firm. Then one day, Edythe Westmore, a well-to-do widow, considers buying a Fabergé Imperial Egg and all hell breaks loose. Her children are displeased, her lawyer (Archy's father) is concerned, and Archy is up to his neck in intrigue.

Sanders writes a serviceable mystery, but the real pleasure in McNally's Gamble is Archy. Imagine Bertie Wooster as a detective, or Lord Peter Wimsey a Floridian, and you'll have some idea of Archy. Though he describes himself as "a frivolous scatterbrain," he has enough discipline to solve the case and, by the end, land the girl, as well.

Book Description

Put your money on Lawrence Sanders' most popular detective... in his latest New York Times bestselling crime caper!

Customer Reviews:

Silver Ghost Rolls In Faberge Egg. Roll The Dice .......2006-03-07

This one opened with a fast-moving, jazzy rescue of a kidnaped child, capturing me with Archy's warmth to the victim's father, and the hint of a crime to come which was billed to be more heinous than a child kidnaping.

Following quickly on the heals of the rescue, I settled into the main plot, riding along with Archy's loving machinations in prep for his father's birthday dinner, after which the family cocktail hour sported the pater's introduction to Archy of his new assignment. The mater was invited into the act by a request from her husband to describe how her friend and contemporary, Edythe Westmore, a client of the McNally law firm, seemed to have been taken in by a flimflam financial advisor with egg on his agenda, which would eventually be on his face, if justice prevailed and Archy's Discrete Investigations got a clue.

No unsettling, Gothic castle with Adams family cast offs in this one. Whereas McNally's CAPER (see my previous review on that devious delight) captured like a dark, luxuriously rich ale, GAMBLE captured with quality champagne easing the pain of a soured budget diminishing in a cash flop (executed by the financial wizard fop).

Archy fizzed nicely through this plot with just the right amount of bubble and bounce, keeping the light hearted intrigue moving until the enigma-of-the-egg enhanced entertainment to arrive at an all time high in this series.

Sanders easily cajoled me into feeling quite a bit of empathy for Walter, who stood the most to lose if his mother, Edythe-of-the-egg-contemplations, continued translating her T-Bills into the devious dead ends devised by, was it Felix Katz or Frederick Clemens who was actually running the condo-based show of the cash con. Walter was established as a thwarted genius in uncovering bipedal beginnings of hominoid critters, through dirt-churning in Africa. He had lost his bases of funding for the necessary continuation of African adventures, and had turned to Mommie Dearest for replenishment and extension of his research there. But Edythe was more impressed with her slick investment-aid-and-abettor's egg, than her son's upturning more dirt around the origins of knuckles lifting up into "sandwiches" instead of dredging, hit-and-miss among rotted leaves on the ground floors of primitive jungles.

Based on the syntax and word choice of my previous sentence, I've sentenced myself by the crime of having indulged in too long of a tour of Archy's series. Be warned: The way Archy talks rubs off. In any case, isn't Palm Beach just another version of Africa, same ole with The Pelican Club and clusters of mansions steaming up the causes of civilization? Of course when comparing Palm Beach to Africa, we all rise a few levels from nests of vipers to first-class cons and prettier palms. Or was that rise a Dante descent in disguise? (Don't get me wrong, here; Sanders has cured me into a Palm Beach fan.)

One of Archy's enduring and endearing characters, the old, moldy, Antique shop owner, Sydney Smythe warmed his way into my heart in this one, worming in through a few choice words from Sanders describing Mr. Smythe's actions and reactions to Archy's interjections. It's amazing how much empathy for a character Sanders develops with light, limited touches of syntax, especially in contrast to the heavyweight, plethora of mouth-fulls he pours through Archy's mug.

Given the entertaining way Archie dances his way through this plot labyrinth and its resolution, if GAMBLE becomes a movie, it may have to be billed as a complexly delightful musical, no con intended.

I particularly enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek interjection of the klutz criminals from Boston (Larry, Moe, and Curly, reduced, cloned and given aliases). Was this an all-in-fun, missing-cross-link reference to Boston based Spenser's gang?

Spenser and Archy couldn't have more divergent styles, yet I enjoy both (see my reviews on Parker's Spenser, too). As their fans know, what these characters' authors have in common is an uncommon skill with syntax; they make words fly and dance with the rhythm of sun. Unadulterated or shrouded in clouds, the sun keeps pace with the effervescence of life, captured by authors at one with their craft.

In the Spirit-of-Fun, may we forever linger in Archy's finesse and enigmas,

Linda G. Shelnutt

Amusing fluff.......2005-08-11

Archie Mcnally, consumate dandy and endearing modern day Berie Wooster, is up to his usual tricks in this tale of murder, con-tricks and extortion. Set in Palm Beach, Florida, Archie is employed by his fathers' law firm to investigate the troubles suffered by the firms' clients in a completely discreet fashion, and to find a way around those troubles without scandal or the need to call in the police. Mrs. Edythe Westmore is a wealthy but rather stupid client of the McNally law firm who is being gulled into the purchase of a Faberge Imperial egg, at the cost of half a million dollars, by a couple of smooth crooks. Her son and daughter are furious at what they consider to be the wasting of their inheritances and beg Archie to help them to expose the financial advisors who are urging their mother to invest with them. For all his foppish ways, Archie isn't quite as wet as everyone believes, and does a creditable job in foiling con men and thugs alike. To me, he seems like a cross between the Scarlet Pimpernel and Dashiell Hammetts' "Thin Man". It's light, amusing fluff with mouth watering descriptions of food, expensive cars and Archies' eclectic taste in dashing clothes...a good, light, fun read.

McNally eggstracts con artist.......2004-05-03

Was this book a fun read? Eggxactly. Archy is employed to discover if a rich woman's proposed Faberge egg investment is on the up and up. Is it? Of course not, and we all know who the good guys and bad guys are all along, but the book is fun nevertheless. The rich woman's kids have motives of their own, which add to the interest. And the crooks are very entertaining, and Archy spends a lot of time dancing with them as he tries to con them as well.

I particularly enjoy McNally books that have less Binky, like this one.

A B-List Jeeves.......2004-02-12

The late Mr. Sanders owes a great deal to P.G. Wodehouse whose Jeeves stories are the style source for Archie McNally, Palm Beach playboy and scion in a stuffy law office. Sanders enjoys the same deft wordplay and skewed insights that make Jeeves and Bertie such a pleasure to follow. This novel has a colorful set of characters ranging from louche to larcenous and a nimble plot. It even has a Pelicans (read: Drones) Club where, as expected, the staff is brighter than the membership. A fast read and diverting.

A bit pedestrian but still ok........2003-12-11

The trick here is not to emulate Travis McGee who is far too free-wheeling with his sex drives. There is still hope for McNally. Except for his petty weaknesses McNally did ok in this novel. The trick is taking him with a grain of salt. If you can't do that read some other sleuth.

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