McNally's Folly (The Archy McNally Series Book 9)

As expected

I love the whole McNally series... I have all of them now... If anyone is low this is the series to read to give you a giggle

Perfect Palm Beach south Florida fiction with a touch if class. Read the whole series and enjoy. The best possible!

The best word I can come up with for this novel is not cozy but comfortable, like the softest easy chair conjure-able. The story, setting, and characters enveloped the reader, soothing away toil and trauma. Maybe that "easing" was caused by Archy's return; I don't know what happened to the Archy-2, beard-shadow-guy described in my recent review of DILEMMA.One of the contrasts I noticed in DILEMMA between Archy-by-Sanders-Vs.-Archy-by-Lardo was that Lardo's Archy-2 (not in character with Archy-1's finesse) seemed to direct and control the plot and everyone in it. Ironically, in FOLLY, Archy was "playing" Director of a stage play of "Arsenic and Old Lace" (of course), by Palm Beach's Community Players, but he had returned to his natural way of "flowing with" rather than controlling. (That is an overall observation; the scent of Archy-2 did attempt to whiff out in a few places, but Lardo reigned it in quickly.)McNally's FOLLY was # 9 in this series conceived by Lawrence Sanders, the second one in Vincent Lardo's continuation (McNally's DILEMMA was Lardo's opening salvo on Archy). It was interesting to me that this # 9 focused on seances, and determining the validity of a psychic, Serge Ouspenskaya, communicating with spirits of the deceased.As noted, a fascination I felt reading FOLLY was that this version of Archy was different from the character Lardo presented in DILEMMA. In my review of DILEMMA I discussed the maleness factor of that Archy as opposed to Sanders' more sensitive, artistic, leisurely guy. The Archy in FOLLY was precisely the same laid-back character as the Archy in the Sanders offerings (1-7). Did Lardo somehow establish a clearer "channel" to Sanders? Did Vincent find a real-life seance psychic (who may or may not have been authentic)?Even with this return of the old Archy, I noticed a very, very tiny "something" missing in FOLLY, but it wasn't anything I could identify. He had the right colors, the daily routines, the manner of speaking (with a collection of dictionary-pick-up words beginning with the letter "A"), the style, the attitudes, dialogue, and relationships. He had lost the late-morning beard-shadow of the Archy in DILEMMA, and regained the lithe ballerina inside. The FOLLY Archy had lost the DILEMMA Archy's macho reek which seethed a palpable attraction to women, an attraction which, for Sanders' Archy, seemed slightly staged, though delightfully so.As noted, a collection of "A" words were used well in this plot, words you may be compelled to look up in the dictionary, as I did. While reading DILEMMA, I rarely gave thought to Webser. I don't know if that was because Lardo hadn't picked up yet on the precise way Sanders toyed with the English language, or if Lardo's Archy and plot were developed with such intense intrigue and macho charisma that I wouldn't have been able to pause the reading pace long enough to notice words pointing to Webster.Not in spite of, but DUE TO all the above, I enjoyed not only the interesting second plot and characterization by Lardo in FOLLY; I enjoyed wondering how Vincent was able to get so close this time to the original Archy mystique. It was clear from continued (though not overdone) references to the original 7 novels that Lardo had extended his study of those, which speaks well for Lardo's character and dedication to Sanders and his fan base.It's evident to me that Vincent Lardo did not take over this series with plans to go his own way with it as soon as possible, merely doing surface justice to it at the outset of his first plot. The obvious amount of attentiveness Lardo has put into this task was beyond impressive; it was touching. It wasn't easy to set down the book and the comfort which came with it, especially after reading the last page."Always a bridesmaid, never a bride?"I can't recall if Vince gave that line (it was used early in the plot) to Connie in DILEMMA or in FOLLY, but it struck me as how Lardo might have felt at times, regarding the takeover of this series. I feel I owe both Sanders and Lardo an amount of thanks which may not be possible to give, but this pair of authors has as much of my respect and appreciation as I'm able to hand over. (Type over? Comb over?)Bless both you guys! May your $$$ roll over well. The McNally's are alive and well in Palm Beach. I'll be heading soon to my Listmania, to click on the next in series, # 10(3).Linda G. Shelnutt

A nice light beach read. Archy McNally gets involved into locating a porn film of an aging Hollywood film star. In taking the case , he gets involved with fake psychics and murder.

arrived in good condition