OK, OK, I admit it, I love the Chevy Chase movie about the Fletch character and until today I had never read any of the books that inspired it. So what prompted me to jump in at book 5 rather than start at the award winning beginning? For some reason a colleague marked it as a $1 book and I couldn't resist it. Simples. I think it's probably wise to go about it this way rather than being sitting here complaining that the book isn't as good as the movie or having my love of the movie diminished by how good the source material was.The first third of the book flew past in a wave of Harold Faltermeyer's Theme From Fletch, Stephanie Mills singing Bit By Bit and my inability to imagine the dialogue delivered in a style and voice any different to that of Chevy Chase. There were a good few belly laughs and an occasional moment where I needed to put the book down to compose myself after an attack of the giggles.And then, I just wanted to finish it without stopping. Technically there's a bit of a locked room mystery about the 'case' that Fletch is investigating; seemingly an impossible crime committed in front of TV cameras but Fletch doesn't really seem to investigate it. Maybe it's his trademark style that runs throughout the series but I'm not sure of the point in an investigator who doesn't actually investigate anything, so hopefully it's not.McDonald's conversational style of storytelling works well within the universe he creates and in my mind at least lends itself very well to being read by Chevy Chase. The characters were interesting enough and the plot was really quite non-existent for a crime novel. I could probably draw comparisons to societal farces rather than crime novels if I put my mind to it but the names on the tip of my fingers keep slipping away and I don't care to think any longer in the subject. That and the inimitable Charlie Mortdecai in the series of books by Kyril Bonfiglioli.I don't know if I will bother to read more, but if any come my way for another $1 I'll probably put it in a pile of future reads.
