Sandra Nichols Found Dead

By: George Higgins

Narrated by: George Guidall

A winding tale of suspicion and intrigue, George V. Higgins skillfully recounts the story of elusive Short Joey Mossi.

When detective sergeant Harry Dell’Appa went into enforced exile in the Berkshires to put an end to an ill-fated office romance, he didn’t expect to be called back to Boston so soon. But desperate times … so the saying goes, and head detective Brian Dennison is keen for Short Joey Mossi, a suspected mob exterminator, to be arrested once and for all. Dell’Appa is called in to assist detective Bob Brennan, an old rival of his, who despite knowing all there is to know about Mossi, has never apprehended him. The plot thickens and Dell’Appa learns time and time again of the primacy of Bomber’s Law: they always “do it for the money.”

In Bomber’s Law, Higgins operates on a captivating policy of “partial disclosure,” leaving the Listener to piece together the plot, morsel by morsel.

©1993 George V. Higgins (P)1997 Recorded Books

A Pride of Digressions

Higgins wries for the ear. And to it. Characters tell us their stories which eventually add up to what a Higgins novel's about. And these people ramble around like morning hair... Y'know, the way the strands go after a night-long pillow buffeting? But anyway, I digress. Which is my point, and OUCH! ... Just stubbed my imagination on a cliché that I had to comb out... Okay, where was I...

And that's the way people talk, y'know what I'm sayin'? How they filter out a sort of stew of thoughts that eventually result in revealing a rich story arc tha's thick with what? Character? Yea, so that's what Higgins does... He tosses digressions into a plot set just beneath the simmering setting so that everything cooks together into a foamy, chewy experience.

And here in 'Sandra Nichols Found Dead' Higgins comtinues writing plays for George Guidall to prattle, or declare, or even sometimes insinuate into life... And I love it. Careful though, Higgins is an acquired taste so you'd best start with the first Kennedy book and enjoy your way here to Sandra Higgins's dead body in a bag.

Could not finish the story

George Higgins put in too many details. I could not follow the story. I finally turned it off after two tries. I never did figure out why he spent the first chapter discussing cameras. What did the camera club have to do with the story. Who cares if the club has a potluck and who brought what. Maybe this was the story and I missed the point. Worse book I even downloaded!