Subj: Review and Rave about _Coffin's Got the Dead Guy on the Inside_
Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 6:24:51 PM
From: diane@kovacs.com
To: DOROTHYL@LISTSERV.KENT.EDU

Dear DLers,

Someone told me they only read notes from me when something's wrong on DL...but no...I'm finally getting caught up with last summer's reading ;). Remember I asked DL authors to recommend their own favorites of their books? Well I bought probably three dozen books which I had time to read two last summer and just picked up another last night. (This self-employed thing can be very time consuming).

I almost didn't read it because one of the reviews in front compares it to "..Seinfeld on Speed.." and I find Seinfeld frustrating and dumb. This book is anything but. Keith Snyder's _Coffin's Got the Dead Guy on the Inside_ was just what I needed to relax and get my mind off business...unfortunately it was so funny and the mystery was compelling enough that I stayed up until I finished it...making today a lot harder to get work done ;). The characters and the extraneous (to the mystery) bantering philosophical, silly dialog are wonderful. I will buy more from this author so I can spend more time with these characters...and the mystery was pretty good too.. I was tempted at one point to e-mail to ask the author if there really are people who will kill over graphic compression algorithms! but don't worry that's not all there is to it. ;)

I enjoyed it especially since I feel I "know" these characters. Silly but it adds to my enjoyment to have the nostalgia trip.... My husband sort of lived in a group house/mansion converted to apartments in Champaign-Illinois when I first met him..back in 1981/82..called Translucent House and later the same group of people got a bigger house which they called the Light House. These were some of the most interesting and brightest people I've ever met up to then or since. I hated finishing graduate school and getting a real job and losing those folks. I've since found a couple of them through e-mail and most are now married with real jobs and kids who win Violin competitions and so on..but they seem really cool to me still. (Me I was never cool..I was just Di of the Mike and Di bonded pair..and filled the role of person to talk to when comfortable talk/food/dog to pet was needed.) Keith Snyder's characters are kind of like those really cool bright people only his characters get to play for real and they don't seem to be in danger of getting real jobs soon.. I was reading it aloud to my husband until he fell asleep and we were both laughing and reminiscing..especially about the jam sessions and the 'racial' stereotypes ;) and so on. Just imho. I'll be getting the book previous to this one and the next one in the series as soon as my book budget allows.

Yours,

Di
aka
Harriet Vane DOROTHYL Founder