I’m normally compulsive about reading a series in order but the title and cover caught my attention on the new book shelves at the library and the blurb on the inside jacket got me to check it out. Hitman is the 16th Stanley Hastings mystery and I plan to start the series from the beginning.

Stanley Hastings didn’t make it as a writer or actor and reluctantly became a private investigator. He pretty much works for one client, an ambulance chasing lawyer, who has Stanley looking at the scene of an accident, taking photographs to support the case, and interviewing victims and witnesses. The books are told from a first person point of view (I assume the other 15 are the same), which I like. Hitman is another of those books where the plot is interesting but I really enjoy the characters. Stanley, his wife, the lawyer, his “friend “ on the police force homicide detective Sergeant MacAulif are all nicely written. I would also put the Stanley Hastings in the category of humorous crime, somewhat like Westlake’s Dortmunder books. In fact, I’d say that if you like Donald Westlake’s Dortmunder you will probably like Hall’s Stanley Hastings. I had many laugh, snort, guffaw moments in Hitman. This is largely due to the dialog which reads like rapid fire banter with short punchy sentences. From the first page:

I’m not confessing to a crime.

You just told me you’re a hitman.

That’s not a crime. It’s a profession.

I don’t care if it’s a breakfast cereal. It’s a work I don’t want uttered in my office. At least not following the phrase, ‘I’m a.

Hit man is two words. And `I’m a’ isn’t a phrase, it’s a fragment.

What are you, a linguist?

I’m an English teacher.

I thought you were a hitman.

In Hitman, Stanley has been hired by a contract killer, Martin Kessler, who wants to quit. He hires Stanley to help him not do one last job. Stanley is to follow Kessler around to see if anyone is shadowing him. Kessler ends up dead and Stanley feels that he is obligated to find out who did it and why.

Unlike other books, Stanley doesn’t keep the information to himself. He tells his wife, Alice, his employer, Richard Rosenberg, and MacAulif. MacAulif is the source of much of the funny and profane dialog in the book.

It quickly turns out that nothing is as it seems, who the players are is uncertain, bodies accumulate, a mobster is involved, and MacAulif is frustrated with Stanley’s involvement and not sure if Stanley isn’t guilty of something.

There is a bit of a twist that wasn’t telegraphed but it neatly ties up all the plot lines.

This is an excellent book if you want a light, fun read.