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Fair Play’s a Jewel (Harry Reese Mysteries Book 5) Kindle Edition

3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 39 ratings

On a hot July morning in the summer of 1903, insurance investigator Harry Reese learns his secretive wife Emmie is planning a trip to Portland, Maine. Could she be heading for an assignation with the mysterious stranger who recently called for her at the apartment? Or is she leading Harry into yet another befuddling murder mystery, peopled by a perfect plethora of peculiar characters, and with herself acting as befuddler-in-chief?

Before this case is solved, our heroes will have acquired a knowledge of 17th-century cant, cockney rhyming slang, and the mating habits of the American eel; confronted a snooping Pinkerton of fictional origin; come to terms with a publishing pirate; and waded through a veritable ocean of false identities.

For more information on the series, please visit:
HarryReeseMysteries.com

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"It's a rare author who knows his catadromous from his anadromous and his dimber mab's teazlefrom her zarndrer." -- The Cape Elizabeth Sentinel

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B011D904DY
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Street Car Mysteries (August 31, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 31, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4374 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 292 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 39 ratings

About the author

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Robert Bruce Stewart
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Finding himself misplaced in the 21st century, Robert Bruce Stewart has opted to retire to what he hopes will be a more congenial era for a person of his sensibilities by means of fiction writing.

Meanwhile, his temporal self lives with his wife and cat in a small-town hermitage in western Massachusetts where he spends his idle hours tending to the needs of tadpoles and keeping his ill-mannered bamboo grove in check.

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
39 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers enjoy the book's humor and clever storytelling. They appreciate the author's love of words and find the characters amusing. The book is described as funny, interesting, and cleverly woven.

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3 customers mention "Reader interest"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's humor. They find the stories interesting and cleverly woven. Readers love Harry and Emmy, and mention there is plenty of licentious horseplay off-scene.

"...with a keen eye for visual humor, which brought the story alive in this reader's mind. My advice is to not rush the reading...." Read more

"I love love love these stories. They are funny, interesting, cleverly woven...." Read more

"I love Harry and Emmy! I have read every story this series and have not been disappointed." Read more

3 customers mention "Vocabulary"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's vocabulary and appreciate the author's love of words.

"...As a lover of words, I appreciate the author's clear love of words...." Read more

"A fun read with wonderful vocabulary. Characters were amusing...." Read more

"...I doggedly plowed through two-thirds of it, because it was well-written, but the whole thing was so strange that it was nearly incomprehensible...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2016
    This is the first of the Harry Reese Series I've read, and I have already returned to buy the first book in the series. As a lover of words, I appreciate the author's clear love of words. I also enjoy the humorous writing of the era depicted in the series (like the Shorty McCabe stories), so this work of love and laughter by the author, the Harry Reese Series, is perfect for me.

    Harry Reese, smart-alack insurance investigator, married to imaginative and morally flexible Emmie, narrates the story with lots of wry humor. He relates a case he investigated, along with the complications that Emmie introduced along the way with her bendable truths.

    There is plenty of licentious horseplay off scene. Because the series is by a modern author and only set in the past, the sexual innuendo is stronger than what was allowed in print back then. And the author goes to town with that, in every combination possible!

    All the sexual innuendo is clouded in old slang, giving the whole thing the feeling it was written partly in code. Thankfully, the author provides the key to the code in the form of a glossary that has all the slang included with the book. If you read that before the book, which I did, and which is a good idea, you'll see that the most of the slang used is sexual!

    Think 30s screwball comedy movie paired with the P. G. Wodehouse stories then everything spiced up with a burlesque show. Nick and Nora Charles, the fictional bantering investigators that were adapted to screen, are a pretty good comparison to Harry and Emmie, including the east coast U.S. setting. Harry and Emmie exist at the turn of the century however, a bit earlier than Nick and Nora.

    The author's study of the era comes through strongly, not only through the language. Liquor laws, prostitution laws, customs and mores, and how business and politics were conducted all come into the story, but never overcome the story.

    The humor is situational and verbal, with a keen eye for visual humor, which brought the story alive in this reader's mind. My advice is to not rush the reading. I took breaks to allow the verbal parrying to stay fresh. Previous cases are mentioned in this books, so it would be best to read the books in order to avoid spoilers.

    My favorite line: "The truth is, I never worry much about Emmie. In the same way the other Borgias never worried much about Lucrezia."
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2015
    A fun read with wonderful vocabulary. Characters were amusing.I look forward to more books about Garry and Emmie and the way they play with each other.
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2016
    When I started the book I thought that it would be a fun caper. It took off to a great start, but it soon got mired in its own cuteness. The author apparently researched every single euphemism for sex in the early part of the 20th century, and decided to build a novel around them. The story line is muddled by its attempts to be funny. The characters actions don't make any sense, and for some reason we are supposed to find this amusing. This book is a burlesque show more than a mystery novel.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2015
    Notas good as the prevous books I must say but still a good read if your a fan.
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2016
    I love love love these stories. They are funny, interesting, cleverly woven. The time period is the perfect backdrop for these loveable romantic totally identifiable characters. I am so glad to know them and miss them and their adventures every single time a book ends.
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2015
    I love Harry and Emmy! I have read every story this series and have not been disappointed.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2016
    I sometimes enjoy a "madcap" mystery, but this book was well beyond madcap. It was insane. I doggedly plowed through two-thirds of it, because it was well-written, but the whole thing was so strange that it was nearly incomprehensible. None of the characters was likeable, and most of the plot was incomprehensible. Definitely only for those who enjoy the avant-garde.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2017
    I did not finish this book. It just was not my type.

Top reviews from other countries

  • Mr. D. Kelsey
    5.0 out of 5 stars If you like the Marx Brothers or George Burns and Gracie Allen ...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2016
    An enjoyable romp.
    This book gallops merrily along, often reminiscent of S J Perelman with touches of Thorne Smith. If you like the Marx Brothers or George Burns and Gracie Allen you will probably enjoy "Fair Play's a Jewel."
  • Terry Kinnard
    4.0 out of 5 stars Very good 1st book in the series
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2016
    This is the first of a series of books about an insurance investigator. He is sent to investigate a grain store fire and finds much more than he bargained for. He is assisted by the romantic interest and the banter between the two characters is both very funny and drives the story on. The story set in turn of the century New York is very well drawn and as a non expert seems believable and to accord with what little knowledge I do have.
    In short a good story filled with likeable heroes and believable villains I'm looking forward to reading others in the series and more by the same author if he has written other books or series.

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