Harry Lipkin, Private Eye

May 14, 2012
British author Fantoni, once the chief contributor and writer for Private Eye magazine, introduces a most unusual PI, 87-year-old Harry Lipkin, in the first, one hopes, in a light crime series. Norma Weinberger, an affluent widow in her 70s, hires the geriatric gumshoe, who runs his detective agency out of his home in Warmheart, Fla., to look into the theft of a pillbox with sentimental value from her home. Since the most likely culprit is a member of Norma’s staff, Harry interviews the chauffeur, the maid, the butler, the chef, and the gardener in an attempt to uncover financial difficulties that would lead one of them to risk losing his or her cushy job by stealing the item. The headings of the short chapters (“Harry and Mr. Lee Walk to the Kitchen”) reinforce the arch tone. While the ending will surprise few readers, Fantoni doesn’t make the mistake of giving his lead the capacities of a younger man.

September 24, 2012
Not so much hard-boiled as soft-boiled, Harry Lipkin, at age 87, is the oldest PI in if not the world than at least Florida. His latest client is elderly Norma Weinberger, who is convinced that a member of her once-trusted staff is a thief. She hires Lipkin to expose the culprit. Like any PI Lipkin can’t turn down a dame in distress. It isn’t long before the octogenarian is on the case, determinedly, but carefully, walking down mean streets in search of the truth, or a good pastrami. Narrator Arthur Morey skillfully brings Lipkin and his world to life in this audio edition. With a borscht belt delivery, the story becomes noir by way of the Catskills, and Morey hits every punch line with perfect timing, without turning Lipkin into a caricature. Underneath the chuckles, Morey reaches into the material to touch lightly on the serious nature of aging and the aged. Morey understands that Lipkin is a man winding down like an old watch. With this recognition he manages to deliver a little pathos along with the humor. A Doubleday hardcover.