The Highly Effective Detective Crosses the Line: A Mystery
Teddy Ruzak, Yancey’s mildly OCD—and currently unlicensed—private detective, makes a welcome return in this fourth series installment. Farrell, Teddy’s cop friend, asks Teddy for a favor: keep an eye on his daughter, whom Farrell believes is in danger of being attacked by her ex-con ex-boyfriend. Teddy thinks it would be a good idea to find out where the ex-boyfriend is and whether he really is a threat, which turns out not to be such a good idea, after all. Yancey’s gently comic Highly Effective Detective novels are thoroughly enjoyable mysteries, cleverly plotted and narrated by Teddy himself, one of the genre’s more interesting creations. A nifty subplot involves the line, referred to in the title, that Teddy crosses, and for which there are a couple of candidates, one professional, the other personal, and about which Yancey keeps us guessing for most of the book. Readers of the previous three series entries will note that Yancey continues to develop Teddy’s character and his various neuroses and compulsions; readers new to the Ruzak novels will have a great time and be eager for more. --David Pitt