Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #709585 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-11
• Released on: 2002-01-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Suggesting a morally bankrupt, sun-tanned Bertie Wooster, Archy McNally sleuths among Florida's well-heeled Palm Beach set in this lightweight crime series from the author of the Deadly Sins and Commandments thrillers. Archy, an occasional investigator for his stuffy lawyer father, here agrees to look into the sudden "uptick" in business that is worrying a pretty exec at the exclusive Whitcomb Funeral Homes. Too many people are dying, observes the woman, and being shipped up north in coffins. In between boozing, lying to his girlfriend and delivering sub-Wodehouse patter that lacks both wit and an anchoring value system, Archy and his gormless pal Binky Watrous investigate the likable old couple who own the funeral homes and their son and his wife, whose swinging lifestyle makes Archy's look tame. The trick of insinuating character eludes Sanders, who, if a woman dissembles or a doctor is stoned to the gills, hits us over the head with the facts. While an occasional few of Archy's quips are funny, Sanders's dialogue is mostly as stiff as the story's corpses. Literary Guild selection.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Affluent private investigator Archie McNally cracks yet another case in this newest addition to the author's best-selling series.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Here is the fifth outing for Archibald "Archy" McNally, the playboy son of and private investigator for prestigious Palm Beach attorney Prescott McNally. This time, Archy is befuddled by what is really being shipped north in caskets by a prominent mortuary. Almost any mystery reader will have figured out the answer by the middle of chapter five, but the fun here isn't in the plot; it's in Archy's descriptions of life among the monied classes. Whether he is describing the sumptuous meals served at least twice a day in the McNally manse or the joys of tooling around southern Florida in a fire-engine-red Miata, Archy demonstrates such an eye for the telling detail and such obvious joie de vivre that the reader can only be amused by his upper-crust ostentation. The novel also boasts a delightful assembly of supporting characters, especially Archy's pal, the totally dissolute, utterly inept would-be detective Binky Watrous. A pleasant diversion from the best-selling author of the Ten Commandments mystery series. George Needham

Customer Reviews

Throw the Binky away
Perhaps it's because I haven't been in a good mood lately, but this book wasn't up to the McNally series standard. New sidekick Binky Wautrous is annoying and incompetant. Please get rid of him Mr Sanders. The story never engaged me completely either. Who cares about some smuggling shenanigans involving funeral homes?

A laid-back detective
When you think of a fictional detective, you normally picture a hard-boiled man or woman, who carries a gun, lurks under windows with a pair of binoculars, and has three or four fistfights each week. In McNally's Trial, Lawrence Sanders gives us a different picture.

The hero of this series is Archibald McNally, the son of a successful Palm Beach attorney. Archy (as his friends call him) is less than successful himself. He made it through law school, all right, but he was kicked out for streaking naked across the stage during a performance of the New York Philharmonic. His father gave him a office known as "Archy's Locker" due to its rather small size and now uses him as an unofficial investigator whenever the firm has need of such services.

He carries no gun, for he abhors violence. He doesn't spend time outside windows, for he would rather be eating a good meal. But he does have one of the characteristics of detective fiction: He is constantly in the arms of a beautiful woman. Unfortunately, his own true love, Constance Garcia, has an excellent spy network herself, and he always regrets these rather
painful affairs!

His involvement in this case begins when beautiful Sunny Fogarty, the financial manager of the Whitcomb Funeral Home, comes by to ask Archy's father to find out why her employer is suddenly making so much money, in particular why they are shipping so many caskets to New York, Boston, and Chicago.

To complicate matters, Archy's favorite air headed bum, Binky Watrous wants to help. He knows nothing about detecting, other than it sounds like fun, and he's totally incompetent; but Archy doesn't want to hurt his feelings.

As the two investigate, they run into a number of nasty characters, men who just don't fit the upperclass social image of the Whitcombs. How are they involved? Then they discover that Whitcomb's son and daughter-in-law seem to be involved with the gangster types. Luckily Mitzi seems to be infatuated with Binky (though Archy can think of no reason why any woman would find him attractive) and may be a source of information-or is it disinformation?

After a few murders Archy has the solution. But will he live long enough to reveal what he has found to his father? And will another innocent person have to die as well?

This isn't great literature, but it's a great beach book.

It's a Hardy Boys For Gownups!
I have read three of the "McNally Series" and enjoyed them tremendously. Take them for what they are - a good fun read. Don't expect to be enlightened (although your vocabulary might improve) shocked or deeply engrossed in a serious puzzel. Unashamedly, the plots are as thin as a Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mystery but with a healthy dose of Bertie Wooster style. That is half their fun.

So do yourself a favour this summer. Find yourself a beautiful sun drenched beach (with lots of pretty girls in bikinies - Archy would approve) bring a few imported beers (or if your in the right mood - a fine bottle of chilled crisp white wine or maybe a thermos of exotic cocktails) sit back and enjoy. Oh also bring some food - after reading about the wonderful meals you will be hungry.

I look forward to finding my next "McNally" in my far from home bookstore.