eShop USA > Books > Last Ditch: A Leo Waterman Mystery (Leo Waterman Mysteries)
Last Ditch: A Leo Waterman Mystery (Leo Waterman Mysteries)
Our Price: $7.99 Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Save $10.00 when you spend $50.00 or more on qualifying items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout.
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780380793693
ISBN: 0380793695
Label: Avon
Manufacturer: Avon
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: February 01, 2000
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: February 08, 2000
Studio: Avon
Related Items: Featured Listmania!
Editorial Review:
G.M. Ford's fifth book about Seattle private detective Leo Waterman begins with a backyard jolt: the Boys (a group of ancient alcoholics who Leo looks after) dig up the 30-year-old remains of a gay-bashing right-wing newspaper columnist named Peerless Price while doing some work on the grounds of the mansion belonging to Leo's late father, politician Wild Bill Waterman.
It looks very much as though Wild Bill did indeed shoot and bury his arch enemy. And precisely because both a starchy relative and the entire Seattle PD warn him against it, Leo proceeds to risk life, limb, and his ancient Fiat convertible to prove his father's innocence. What he finds out--from Wild Bill's old driver, an ex-cop called Bermuda Schwartz, and other assorted ghosts from the past--provides a wild and often touching story that combines recent headlines (about the smuggling of Chinese immigrants) with moments of personal pain. That same combination is present in Ford's other books about Waterman: Slow Burn, Who in Hell Is Wanda Fuca?, The Bum's Rush, and Cast in Stone. --Dick Adler
Seattle p.i. Leo Waterman knows the city like no one else. And he knows how to stretch the limits of the law, when necessary, to accomplish what needs to be done--a very useful talent Leo acquired from his late, larger-than-life father, once one of the region's most powerful and colorful political characters. But just how seriously Waterman senior transgressed during his time on Earth comes into question when one of "the Boys"--Leo's "residentially challenged" barfly allies--digs up a human skeleton in Dad's backyard.
The remains that remain belong to "Wild Bill" Waterman's staunchest foe--an ultra-conservative muckraking journalist who vanished mysteriously thirty years before. Leo has always struggled in his father's shadow--but he's convinced that his old man was much too savvy to have committed murder--let alone to have interred the victim in his own backyard. But in order to clear his father's damaged name, the dutiful son is going to have to start digging up a very dangerous past...and do his damnedest not to get buried beneath it.
Seattle p.i. Leo Waterman knows the city like no one else. And he knows how to stretch the limits of the law, when necessary, to accomplish what needs to be done--a very useful talent Leo acquired from his late, larger-than-life father, once one of the region's most powerful and colorful political characters. But just how seriously Waterman senior transgressed during his time on Earth comes into question when one of "the Boys"--Leo's "residentially challenged" barfly allies--digs up a human skeleton in Dad's backyard.
The remains that remain belong to "Wild Bill" Waterman's staunchest foe--an ultra-conservative muckraking journalist who vanished mysteriously thirty years before. Leo has always struggled in his father's shadow--but he's convinced that his old man was much too savvy to have committed murder--let alone to have interred the victim in his own backyard. But in order to clear his father's damaged name, the dutiful son is going to have to start digging up a very dangerous past...and do his damnedest not to get buried beneath it.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Average P.I. Fiction
This was the first novel in G.M. Ford's Leo Watterman private detective series that I have read. I found Ford to be a decent writer and Waterman to be a moderately interesting character. But neither can hold a candle to such greats as, say, Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder or the master Chandler's Phillip Marlowe. The back cover says that Ford is a former creative writing teacher and that figures because his writing is at time a bit too cute in its effort to be entertaining. The biggest drawback ... Read More
Rating:  - Ford does much better than the Edsel
This is definitely a quality book. It is a very well developed story with interesting characters. The story builds very well and the conclusion is satisfying. I would recommend this book to any avid mystery reader. I am a big fan of Robert Parker, Robert Crais, and Harlan Coben. While Leo Waterman doesn't have the sidekick that the hero in those books does, he has much the same demeanor as Spenser, Elvis Cole, and Myron Bolitar. The wit isn't quite as snappy, but still enjoyable. These are only ... Read More
Rating: - Solid Whodunnit
I've been looking for new authors recently, and decided to give Ford a try. I am happy that I did. His main character Leo Waterman is in the same vein as Robert Crais' Elvis Cole, only perhaps not quite as funny. In Last Ditch, Leo, in the course of doing some renovations to his property, comes across a buried body. The body turns out to be that of his late politician fathers biggest enemy, and has been missing for some 30 years. Obviously Leo's father is the number one suspect, so Leo sets out to ... Read More
Rating:  - A fun pageturning read
Leo Waterman is a very likeable wisecracking P.I. much like the one created by Robert Crais. If you like Crais, you will like this series. Ford writes hardboiled action scenes without them becoming to "dark". The book had an interesting plot and the characters were believable. After reading this book I immediately went out and got three more Ford books. Ford's humor is not politically correct. When he is illustrating the unlikeliness of something happening he muses, "Sure and if ... Read More
Rating: - Leo is a charmer
I discovered this author at the new listings section at the library and found this book so amusing I raced through it and went right back for a second. His characters are richly developed, comical and earthy. Leo and his crew are real people with real life problems (OK, a dead body in the old greenhouse is more literary than real life but it's still good stuff). I always appreciate a sense of humor and Leo and G.M. certainly get theirs across. I believe an author has done his job well when I wish ... Read More
Related Categories:
| |
 |
![Mac OS X v10.4.3 Tiger (DVD) [Old Version]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41FV37KBR6L._SL75_.jpg
)
