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    Spellman Files
    Spellman Files
    Spellman Files
    Audiobook9 hours

    Spellman Files

    Written by Lisa Lutz

    Narrated by Christina Moore

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    From the award-winning author of The Accomplice and The Passenger comes the first novel in the hilarious Spellman Files mystery series featuring Isabel “Izzy” Spellman (part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry) and her highly functioning yet supremely dysfunctional family of private investigators.

    Meet Isabel “Izzy” Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors—but the upshot is she’s good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family’s firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people’s privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman.

    Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who’s become addicted to “recreational surveillance”); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed “Lost Weekends”). But when Izzy’s parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy’s new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there’s a hitch: she must take one last job before they’ll let her go—a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateMar 8, 2011
    ISBN9781442342835
    Spellman Files
    Author

    Lisa Lutz

    Lisa Lutz is the New York Times bestselling, Alex Award–winning author of the Spellman Files series, as well as the novels The Accomplice, Heads You Lose (with David Hayward), How to Start a Fire, The Passenger, and The Swallows. She has also written for film and TV, including HBO’s The Deuce. She lives in upstate New York.

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    Reviews for Spellman Files

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    • 4/5
      Growing up, did you want to be a spy? How many spy glasses and gadgets did you have over the years? What if your family was a group of private investigators? And that meant you got to spy on people ALL THE TIME??? I would have loved it!!!So I would have loved to be main character Izzy in The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz. Izzy, a.k.a. Isabel Spellman, is 28 and the middle child of her family. She has always been the more 'difficult' child - getting into all sorts of trouble throughout her life. Her parents own a private investigation company that has employed all members of their family. Izzy's older brother David grew up as the perfect son, always doing the right thing and never in trouble. He's now a lawyer that employs the family for different cases. Rae is Izzy's teenage sister who practices recreational surveillance (spying on folks just for fun). Also in the family is Izzy's Uncle Ray - a reformed health food and exercise addict who is usually found now drinking and gambling. The story chronicles Izzy as she is trying to find her independence from the family and the family business. It's hilarious! Izzy is quite the character and is very believable, if a bit of a ding-bat! LOL I loved her interactions with the rest of the family who love her yet have their own oddities. Check out more information and detailed summaries of the books at Lisa Lutz's website. Oh, and I STILL want to be a spy!
    • 2/5
      This one underwhelmed me. Our heroine, Isabel Spellman, is a Stephanie Plum type private eye, with lunatic parents who own a PI agency, a really stuck up big bro who is an attorney (since this is a family site I won't use the word I'd like to use to describe him), a teetering on the edge of sobriety/unsanity uncle, and a baby sister whose character is so bratty, precocious, obnoxious, and stupid that she literally cannot be believed. This group of dingbats goes careening thru solving their 'cases' by spying on each other for practice, spying on Isabel's potential beaus, and racing toward a less than believable ending. The plot dragsssss on , the characters don't develop --they only get more out of sight---and you just keep praying for it to be over! If you like Janet Evanovitch's books, you'll probably like this one. I didn't hate it, but I'd only give it 2 stars.
    • 4/5
      The Spellman Files has been likened to a grown-up Harriet the Spy and I can see where people could make a bit of a connection seeing as how Harriet is my most favorite book ever. Izzy Spellman is part of the Spellman Detective Agency which is owned and operated by her parents. From a young age, Izzy and her siblings are trained in the business as undercover operatives. Watching the dynamics of this very unconventional family is a hoot and there were more than a few lines that made be laugh. The plot and storyline were creative, although at times, details that really didn't need the added attention were drawn out to the point of, "I get it, let's move on."Despite those moments, Lisa Lutz did a good job and it is worth my time to continue the series.
    • 3/5
      Protagonist: PI (since the age of 12) Izzy SpellmanSetting: present-day San FranciscoSeries: #1First Line: I duck into the parking garage, hoping to escape.Izzy Spellman is an irrepressible 28-year-old sleuth who works for her parents' San Francisco PI firm. Members of the dysfunctional and relentlessly nosy Spellman clan include Izzy's 14-year-old sister, Rae, who engages in recreational surveillance (a fancy term for tailing people just for kicks), and her uncle Ray, a cancer survivor and recovering health-foodaddict who regularly disappears on liquor-drenched "Lost Weekends." The Spellman parents think nothing of bugging their children's rooms. Many scenes produced grins and even laughs, even though I cringed at the thought of being a member of this family. The major weakness in The Spellman Files was the emphasis on comedy and the lack of plot and suspense. If Lutz pulls it all together in the next book in the series, she could have a real winner. This was a book that I wanted to rate higher and just couldn't.
    • 4/5
      I'm undecided about how this book was put together as far as the chapters and the timeline, but I did really enjoy the story and the writing and I actually laughed out loud several times while reading this one which is a rarity for me.

      I liked Izzy and her whole family although they would drive me nuts too. I was cheering for Izzy and Daniel. I suspected part of the resolution of the case she was working, but the author still managed to surprise me and I didn't see the bit with Rae at the end coming at all.

      Very satisfying first book in a series. Now I just might have to read on.
    • 3/5
      The Spellmans are a family of dysfunctional investigators who seem to spend most of their time investigating and sabotaging one another. Isabel drinks too much, keeps lists of ex-boyfriends (and it's pretty easy to understand why they are EX-boyfriends) as well as other relevant documents, and tries to keep her little sister out of trouble when she is not helping her get into trouble. She tells us her story in the first person. This is a mystery of sorts, but not a grisly one. There is a child who disappears, and one dark section towards the end of the book. Overall though, it is light, fluffy reading about deeply flawed but likable if not entirely believable characters.I enjoyed it. However, occasionally it got a bit too contrived, and the lists got a bit old. It sometimes felt like the author was just trying to hard. This is the first book in a series, and despite the minor flaws, I'll probably give the next one a try.
    • 4/5
      Isabel "Izzy" Spellman works for her parents in the family business. She is also at war with her family as the whole family spies, manipulates and does some very mean things to each other throughout the course of the book. There are reasons to not like this book, but the humor and the style not only make the book readable but in the end this odd girl and her equally odd family make for a good read. Several years ago I stopped watching most Bruce Willis and Will Smith movies because the smirking, smart ass characeters grew tiresome to me. To read this book you have to have a pretty high tolerance for wise ass characters and Izzy in particular is one wise ass girl. In the beginning of the book it is a little too much and is wearisome to a degree. But this is also Lisa Lutz's first book and to some degree that seemed to be a part of the problem early on in the book. The style is not fluid; it feels like the author is trying to hard. But then the book begins to flow better and the style works better. Izzy is still a smart ass, even to her own detriment. She knows she is doing it but doesn't really know any way to stop and be something else. In fact, she is in some ways compelled to continue doing things she knows are self defeating.The humor is the best part of the book though the mystery, which doesn't really start until the book is almost half over is pretty good as well. The book is really the history of the Spellman clan and how Izzy feels first her brother, then her parents and finally even her younger sister, impose themselves on her and make it difficult for her to have any a sembalance of personal identity that is separate from them. She has already used alcohol, drugs and men to try and escpae from the overwhelmingness of her family. Now at 28 years of age she is willing to do to her next "future ex-boyfriend" what has been done to her all her life. She spies on him, disregards his privacy and manipulates him with outrageous lies. She is willing to do whatever it takes to be with him. She knows it is wrong but doesn't know how to be normal, so she does what she knows how to do, try and get him by using everything her family taught her to do. She is a tragic figure, she is her own worst enemy. Her family once was but now it is Izzy that hurts herself more than even they can. By the end of the book, as a result of the mystery she is given to solve, she doggedly sticks to the unsolvable case until she knows what happens. As a result, she begins to become Izzy, a person separate from her family. Not a perfect book, but I liked Izzy and will probably read the next one in the series.
    • 3/5
      The inaugural novel in The Spellman Files mystery series introduces us to the series' protagonist, the 28-year-old Isabel "Izzy" Spellman, a licensed PI in her family's detective agency. Although there are suspenseful moments when Izzy's precocious little sister, Rae, disappears or when Izzy bulldogs a 12-year-old cold missing-person's case, the primary charm and humor of the novel lies within the interactions of the eccentric family members. For example, Rae practices her surveillance skills by following and photographing various family members, including Izzy's dates and alcoholic uncle, and then blackmailing them.
    • 3/5
      Fun read about a 28 year old private eye chick and her zany, dysfunctional but loving family members who all work for the family detective agency. They take detecting to a whole new level, spying on and tailing each other. The mystery's really incidental, it's really not a proper mystery novel. Good beach read.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this. It felt very fresh to me, with an unusual organization to the story and a humorous narration from the mouth of Izzy herself. The endings of both the case and the story were unexpected. The Spellmans are a unique bunch, and I look forward to a continuation of this series!
    • 4/5
      Izzy Spellman and the Spellman family are hilarious, you have never met a family quite like them. They spy on and negotiate with each other in the name of love. I really enjoyed each of the characters a great deal. It was a bit slow to get to the point due to the background information the author had to tell us, but the 2nd half of the book was really good! I think now that I have met the family the next book should be great. This book was a perfect light summer read for me.
    • 4/5
      Like another reviewer, I am at the beach, where I was laughing aloud. Smart and clever, somehow not as implausible as Stephanie Plum, but still completely over the top, despite a pretty serious, but in no way bothersome, lack of action to extend the comparison to Plum. A more intelligent cast of characters. Recommended for a light and amusing read.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. I already have the other three on hold at the library. It will be awhile because they are all checked out.Although they are nothing alike, Izzy reminds me of Stephanie Plum. I am sure I am not the first person to say that. As a matter of fact, that is why my friend recommended it to me . . . because she knows how much I enjoy the SP books.Izzy's entire family are private investigators. They are totally dysfunctional, but love each other anyway. The younger daughter Rae is a scene stealer. I think she is my favorite character.The book actually has two story lines. There are the cases the family are investigating and there is the relationships amongst the family members. I didn't see the ending coming for either one. To me, that is the sign of a good mystery.
    • 3/5
      Izzy Spellman's parents are private investigators. While her perfect older brother David had the sense to pursue a different profession, Izzy and her younger sister Rae have joined the family business. This volume, which I borrowed from the library because I picked up the sequel in the library's bag sale, serves to introduce the family through a series of reports provided by Izzy. There is no real mystery here, just a bunch of family squabbles, some of which are somewhat entertaining, but the main word that comes to mind for the whole thing is "silly."
    • 5/5
      I didn't expect to like this book so much, but I have to say I fell in love with the Spellman family when I read it. They're all a bunch of Private Detectives and spend as much time spying on each other as they do on their people of interest. Lizzy Spellman (the oldest daughter) soon decides she wants out of the family business but her parents are reluctant to let her go...at least until she's finished one last assignment. The characters are funny, the story is paced well, and Lizzy Spellman makes for an interesting heroine in what is sure to be a fun series.
    • 4/5
      The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz was recommended by an acquaintance on Live Journal, if I am not mistaken. It is touted as something fans of Janet Evanovich would like. I am definitely a fan of Stephanie Plum, so I thought I'd give this series a try. I did enjoy the book. But while it made me laugh out loud at times, this book also had a very tender and tragic side. If I say that it's about an eccentric family of private detectives, that's one aspect of it. If I say that it's about a young woman trying to attain her independence from her nosy parents (they ARE PI's, don't forget), that's another aspect. It's also about a cold case of a young man's disappearance and needing to know the truth of what happened to him. It's about an alcoholic gambler uncle. It's about dating failures. It's about a 14 year old sister who is more skilled at manipulation and tactical family warfare than 85% of adults of the current population. It's about a perfect lawyer brother who is exasperated and annoyed by his family while trying to give them work and advice. And it's about doing what you have to to hold the family together. Definitely recommended.
    • 3/5
      QUITE fun...incredibly snappy dialogue, entertaining albeit jaded heroine. very interesting family dynamic, and i particularly liked izzy's younger sister, rae. i enjoyed it even tho i felt it went on a bit too long. i found the writing style to be a bit annoying as well.
    • 5/5
      Fans of Stephanie Plum will love Izzy Spellman, the wise cracking female heroine in this tale, who both lives and works out of her parents' home and private investigation service. Izzy's life is complicated by the fact that neither she nor her family knows where to draw the line between investigating for work purposes and investigating for personal purposes.
    • 3/5
      Have you ever read a book in which you just didn't connect with all the characters, but still found the book entertaining? I enjoyed reading this book, it was a light mystery, very funny, which I was in the mood for. But I just couldn't feel like I was reading about a real person. Perhaps there are people like the main characters, but her voice felt so different from my experience that it didn't seem realistic to me.The main character, the first person narrative voice, is a 28-yr old woman who lives with her parents and has worked for them in their PI business since she was 12. Because she doesn't feel she can get away from her parents she does all sorts of destructive things instead. As a teenager she was every kind of trouble and as an adult she doesn't pass out on the lawn anymore, but she still acts like she is 13 in a lot of ways.It is funny, as long as I just read the book, and didn't think about her much, it was an enjoyable read. But now as I sit here and think about the family and how they worked together it is sad. Rather than get out and work out whether she wants to be a part of the family business, the main character sneaks out of windows and lies. There are more books in this series and I don't think I could stand to read them unless she starts to grow up a bit.
    • 3/5
      I listened to the Spellman Files on audiobook and it was definitely interesting. My boss reccommended it to me when she found out that I love Get Smart. If you've read the book you know that Izzy is a huge Get Smart fan and there are frequent references to episodes through out the book (all of which I recognized.) Izzy is the middle daughter of the Spellman family, which owns a private investigation firm in San Francisco. The whole Spellman family is a suspicious lot and the interspying and warring gets a little bit rediculous at times. I also felt like Izzy was frequently overly violent with Rae and other people under the age of eighteen, but I suspect that hearing something read rather then reading it yourself may make those parts I am referring to have a greater impact.

      I was able to solve a lot of the different mysteries before Izzy did but often there were such twists to get there that I didn't feel cheated (particularly with the Snow case.) I thought it would be harder to keep track of all of the different story threads but it was actually much easier then I thought it would be. I definitely think I would to follow the rest of this series.
    • 5/5
      How I wish there were more books published like this one.

      I cannot put into words how much I loved this book. I've never laughed so hard from a book before or since. All of the the Characters were endearingly ridiculous. The fake drug deal and the final tennis match made my cheeks ache from laughing.
    • 4/5
      Isabel Spellman loves doing her work. You see she is a private investigator, and she works with her family nonetheless. So when Isabel meets Daniel, her world is turned upside down. The Spellmans are a quirky family who spy on each other, tell secrets, and conduct full-scale surveillance on each other. So when her family starts spying on her private life, Isabell has had enough, or does she?
    • 4/5
      I loved this book! The wit and humor was refreshing. The plot was good, but the ending and the double twist? was okay, but seemed a bit hurried without much suspense. But...Lisa Lutz has found a new fan! I eagerly await her next book!
    • 5/5
      This book was absolutely HILARIOUS; the writing was witty and I definitely felt like I knew the characters well - Lutz really brought them to life, as did the narrator, Christina Moore.
    • 4/5
      Very enjoyable, fun, easy read book. The Spellman Files is about a lovable and very dysfunctional family of PI's. The story is told by Izzy Spellman and she holds nothing back in just how unconventional her family is. She tells us all about her unlucky love life, rocky relationship with her brother and of course her very funny little sister Rae. Along the way we get a glimpse into stake outs, arrests, bribes and thats just the tip of the iceberg.I read this book on a dare from Fiction Fair reading group. To read a genre that you normally dont read so I gave it a go. I thought it was going to be the run of the mill chick lit book but I was pleasantly surprised. I've already downloaded book two onto my phone and look forward to reading it.
    • 3/5
      This is the first in a series of 'comic mysteries' featuring a wildly dysfunctional family of Private Investigators. The author would be enjoyed by fans of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum.
    • 3/5
      Audio book performed by Ari Graynor

      Isabel Spellman is 28 years old and has always worked for her family business ? Spellman Investigations. Having been trained by her parents and uncle since she was in middle school, she?s reasonably good at ferreting out the ?dirt? on just about anyone, but she?s feeling rather rebellious these days. She?s met a guy she really likes and when her parents start following her and paying her little sister, Rae, to help with the surveillance, Izzy figures it?s time to leave the family business. Except, they won?t let her go ? or at least not until she solves a 12-year-old missing person case that has never been resolved.

      This is a pretty entertaining read. The characters are fun and interesting, though I felt the parents could have been a bit better developed. It was somewhat reminiscent of the Stephanie Plum series, but not nearly so zany, and Isabel is competent at her job (and doesn?t blow up any cars). I like Izzy quite a lot as a main character, and I?d like to read more of the series to see what happens with her.

      I started out listening to the audio book and really liked Ari Graynor as a narrator. But I noticed a couple of disconnects and decided to check the text version to ensure I had my facts straight. Which is how I discovered that the audio was abridged (the library?s tag obscured that little fact on the cover). I read the last third of the book in text so that I didn?t miss anything important.
    • 5/5
      Lisa Lutz is brilliant. The Spellmans are a dysfunctional, outrageous family that you can't help but want to know. They're all private investigators (except for the lawyer brother David) and insane in their own ways. The heart of the series is Izzy Spellman, middle child and amazing sleuth. Think Veronica Mars if Veronica Mars was in her late 20's and part of a slightly imbalanced family!No matter how dysfunctional, the Spellmans are a tight knit group and even though they get far too involved in each others lives, it's done out of love. A fantastic, witty, compelling series and a great book overall
    • 3/5
      Izzy Spellman is funny and likable. The plot was fairly predictable though and I solved Izzy's big case about 100 pages before she did. The characters were definitely more entertaining than the plot.
    • 4/5
      I haven't laughed out loud while reading a book in awhile. While the story dragged on in a few places the laughs were well worth it.