Review: The Adventures of Ralphy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 7, 2012
Dressed to Kill: The Investigations of Ralphy by author David Andrew McGlone is an assortment of six short stories that are well written, interesting, entertaining and humorous. The stories all are centered on detective Ralphy and his various investigations. I found some of the story titles to be very amusing as well as the writing style which helped to draw my interest and keep me there. Some of the more amusing stories are: Flogging a Dead Horse and Hell Hats are Furry. Also the character names lent to the humor in the stories with names like Mad Mac Macgruder. Aside from the engaging scenarios in each story and I found them a quick and easy read.Ralphy is a character reminiscent of the old school detective characters, he is tough, jaded by life, drinks too much and loves women even more. It is his low resistance to women that often finds him involved in many sexual trysts throughout the book. He loves women but they don't always treat him so well for instance his wife abandoned him by using the old going to the store for cigarettes ploy although neither of them smoked which is a sad but at the same time amusing scenario. He actually waited for her to return not getting the message of her disappearance. Ralphy became so distraught about losing his wife that he spirals into a life fueled by alcohol. He also owns the High Brow Detective Agency (with a partner) and is aided by his tough and beautiful assistant Rachel, who also works for him on a much more intimate level. It was Rachel who snapped him out of his identity crisis by actually beating it out of him. Ralphy is also a rather sad character on another level; as a detective he operates rather poorly as he often enlists the help of others to help him solve his cases. The author has done a great job at crafting the story of Ralphy.I recommend this book as a good entertaining read especially for those adults interested in detective stories.