Dirt Nap Rhapsody by Jules Cassard Published by Hopewell Manhattan Press on February 1st 2015
Genres: Death & Dying, Humor
Pages: 302
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A novel about love, marriage, and the murder it takes to make it last... Tag and Lori are the couple on the top of the wedding cake. Everything about their relationship is perfect and they're both deliriously happy - except for one tiny little, earth-shattering problem. Her name is Marcie and despite the fact that Tag likes to think of himself as a pretty decent guy, he just can't shake his desire to do some... well, some not so decent things with her. When his obsession with Marcie gets to the point that he finally breaks down and confesses his struggles to Lori, Tag is touched by her compassionate and understanding response. He breathes a sigh of relief - until the next day when Marcie turns up dead. Could sweet, dainty, couldn't-hurt-a-fly Lori be a... be a... Tag can't even bring himself to think it. But could she? Detective Steiner doesn't think so. The way he sees it, Tag is guilty as hell and it's only a matter of time before the truth comes spilling out of him. Of course Tag knows that's impossible because he doesn't even know the truth himself - and he's not sure if he wants to. Of course the truth may come out anyway if Susan keeps poking around. Susan is Tag and Lori's recently widowed next door neighbor whose hobbies include gardening, drinking and hypochondria. She also has a thing for Tag and a poor understanding of the concept of boundaries, so there's a small chance that Lori might want to murder her too. Assuming of course that Lori is capable of something like... something like... On second thought, Tag and Lori have more than one tiny little problem.
“Why can’t some people leave the cave even when it’s sunny outside?”
That is a fabulous question that I have gleaned from reading this novel. This book would definitely be under the category of murder-comedy. The story is not overly romantic, but Tag and Lori’s relationship does add meat and believability to the story.
Although I have no real idea what the main characters (Tag and Lori) look like, the author does do an amazing job continuing character development throughout the story. So by the end of the story, you feel that you have a very well-rounded idea of what the characters are like, their motivations and feelings, and the way they think, which is one my favorite things about reading (being able to feel that the characters could be actual people).
The story was quite funny. “…I was careful not to appear too excited lest I put a damper on his misery.” Tag and Lori complement each other in a compelling way, both of them being comedic, but with contrasting types of comedy.
Telling the story from each character’s point of view does add a certain spice to the novel that is often absent when reading from 3rd person omniscient, but on the down side, a lot of the end chapter is retelling parts of the story that we’ve already read but from another character’s point of view, so I feel that the story could have been shorter without this retelling. At the same time, it is relevant to have the viewpoint of the other characters, as changing from view points from person to person does not give us the feelings of all the characters at once.
The best part about the changing viewpoints is the stream of consciousness that the reader gets to be a part of. While the body count keeps racking up, the stream of consciousness keeps you snickering despite the physical happenings of the story.
One thing about this novel is that it tries a little too hard to NOT be cliché by mentioning all kinds of clichés and trying to make them not cliché.
All in all, I enjoyed this read. It had enough elements of comedy and little surprises that kept it interesting until the very last page.
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