From Publishers Weekly
Edgar winner Mcdonald (Fletch, etc.) resurrects minor series character Francis Xavier Flynn, after almost two decades, in a lightweight comic quasi-mystery. "Inspector" Flynn is just the cover identify for a mysterious spy believed dead by most players in the espionage game. Comfortably ensconced in Boston with his poet wife and their five children, Flynn makes almost no effort to sustain his pretense, so that even his slow-witted partner can pick up the anomalies of a man who takes off from work five times to attend his mother's funeral and twice for appendix removal. Flynn pursues three puzzles simultaneously: the nailing to a tree of the ear of his daughter's wrestler boyfriend, a bizarre pattern of harassment directed at an aging but once well-respected Harvard humanities professor, and the odd arrest record of a rising police star who somehow manages to place the bracelets only on minorities and people of color. None of these cases requires Flynn to display any particular brilliance, insight or skills derived from his true career in intelligence work. The insular Flynn moves at his own speed in a way that's hard to take seriously in a post-September 11 world, where the notion of a trained and valuable asset being pampered rather than utilized is jarring. While his commitment to his family makes him sympathetic, Flynn is not well served here by a plot that flirts with serious intellectual issues without developing them.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Boston police inspector Francis Xavier Flynn is in the hot seat over his extended absences from work, his three appendectomies, and the five funerals he's attended for his dear departed mother. What the bureaucrats in the Boston Police Department don't know is that Flynn isn't really a cop; he's a spy using the BPD as a cover, and sometimes spies need extended leaves from their day jobs. While he fights office politics, Flynn also investigates the blackmail of a senior Harvard professor with a background in Middle Eastern studies. And then there's that little matter of his daughter's boyfriend and why he turned up in a cemetery with his ear nailed to a tree. Flynn, ever the student of life's whimsical, often painful turns, solves both cases through equal applications of wit, deduction, and empathy. Flynn has aged well in the 20 years since his last appearance in print. Two-time Edgar winner Mcdonald's humor, pacing, and erudite dialogue are as fresh as ever. Welcome back, Flynn. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"Flynn's World is cause for celebration. Not only does it revive Boston police inspector Francis Xavier Flynn, it gives new work by Gregory Mcdonald, whose deft plotting, breezy style, pointed social commentary, and keen wit make him one of our most satisfying writers." --The Boston Globe
“Mcdonald fans will . . . welcome it. . . . Graceful and diverting. . . . Mcdonald does what he does exceedingly well.” --The Washington Post Book World
"Gregory Mcdonald is one of the greats. . . . Flynn fans will adore this long-awaited book, and thoughtful mystery readers will appreciate Mcdonald's quirky take on the mystery genre." --Rocky Mountain News
“Amusing. . . . Vital and timely. . . . Highly satisfying.” --San Jose Mercury News
“Flynn’s repartee is state of the art: rangily allusive, deceptively gentle. And Mcdonald’s blend of parody, farce, and sentiment…is rich, yet spare, edgily appealing.” --Kirkus
“Two-time Edgar winner Mcdonald, best known for his Fletch capers, has created another complicated, crusty, engaging character. Fascinating.” —Booklist
"Shameless establishment bashing...appealingly fresh and impudent." --Time
“Gregory Mcdonald's a suspenseful writer who knows how to set a scene, develop a character, and draw out a mysterious situation.” —West Coast Review of Books
“Splendid entertainment . . . Mcdonald is one of the cleverest writers around.” —United Press International
"One of the smartest, gentlest, most sarcastic cops you will ever meet." —The New York Times
Review
"Those who are new to Flynn can start right here with this playful and humorous book ? a wonderful treat lies in store. I am now hooked.? --Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
?What a terrific book. Flynn?s World was bliss. It?d be a guilty pleasure if it wasn?t so well-crafted that there?s nothing guilty about it at all.? --Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods
From the Hardcover edition.
Flynn's World FROM THE PUBLISHER
In Flynn's World twice Edgar Allan Poe Award winner, past president of Mystery Writers of America, Gregory Mcdonald is at the top of his form!
From the previous three internationally acclaimed Flynn novels the whole world has fallen in love with 13 year old Jennifer Flynn, her witty, wrangling relationships with her caring brothers; more, the quiet mutual love and respect she shares with her Dad. Jenny's first boyfriend, Billy Capriano, is in a kind of trouble only her father, the gentle Inspector "Reluctant" Flynn can unravel and resolve.
At the same time, Flynn must solve the case of why a once beloved Harvard professor is being trashed over the internet, his office and files wrecked, his life threatened.
Here are Flynn's wife, the wise Israeli poet, Elsbeth, his office-bound researcher, Cocky, and a side of Flynn's intellectually challenged assistant, "Grover", even Flynn never suspected.
Only Gregory Mcdonald can put such timeless people and timely issues (cultural, racial, technological) together on a page with such a deft, warm and witty touch.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Edgar winner Mcdonald (Fletch, etc.) resurrects minor series character Francis Xavier Flynn, after almost two decades, in a lightweight comic quasi-mystery. "Inspector" Flynn is just the cover identify for a mysterious spy believed dead by most players in the espionage game. Comfortably ensconced in Boston with his poet wife and their five children, Flynn makes almost no effort to sustain his pretense, so that even his slow-witted partner can pick up the anomalies of a man who takes off from work five times to attend his mother's funeral and twice for appendix removal. Flynn pursues three puzzles simultaneously: the nailing to a tree of the ear of his daughter's wrestler boyfriend, a bizarre pattern of harassment directed at an aging but once well-respected Harvard humanities professor, and the odd arrest record of a rising police star who somehow manages to place the bracelets only on minorities and people of color. None of these cases requires Flynn to display any particular brilliance, insight or skills derived from his true career in intelligence work. The insular Flynn moves at his own speed in a way that's hard to take seriously in a post-September 11 world, where the notion of a trained and valuable asset being pampered rather than utilized is jarring. While his commitment to his family makes him sympathetic, Flynn is not well served here by a plot that flirts with serious intellectual issues without developing them. (June 24) FYI: Mcdonald has more than 100 million copies of his books in print. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Since a dead spy and a live cop are basically indistinguishable, Francis Xavier Flynn (Flynn's In, 1984, etc.) is back on the Boston police force after a year in hiding at Loch Nafooie, Ireland, where his boss, John Roy Priddy (a.k.a. No Name Zero), sent him to persuade the international espionage community he'd died while on assignment in Burundi. And as far as his putative supervisor Captain Timothy Walsh is concerned, Flynn might as well be dead, considering all the time he's taken off to have appendectomies (twice) and attend his mother's funeral (five times). But once Police Commissioner Edward D'Esopo makes it clear that, as the only member of the Boston force to hold the rank of Inspector, Flynn is going to be allowed to do exactly whatever he pleases-and will have Walsh's nephew, Sgt. Richard T. Whelan, as his personal chauffeur and aide-de-camp-he's free to do the work that God intended: to save civilization from ruin by protecting Harvard Professor Louis Loveson from the cyberattacks of his politically correct colleagues and from a mysterious stalker who sends more traditional death threats via snail mail. Not that Flynn is racist. When he isn't crossing swords with benighted academics like Dean Wincomb and Donald Carver, he and his chess partner, Lieutenant Walter ("Cocky") Concannon are conspiring to bust Det. Lt. John Kurt, whose impressive arrest record includes blacks, gays, and Jews, but not a single straight white gentile. Flynn's painfully arch return intersperses shreds of detection with gleams of Mcdonald's trademark badinage (Skylar in Yankeeland, 1997, etc.) and uncomfortable polemic.
Art & Photography
Book Info
