Up In Honey's Room

by: Elmore Leonard

Published by: William Morrow/Harper Collins

Reviewed by Cerri Ellis

When you look at some of the books that make up the body of Elmore Leonard’s work (Rum Punch, Pronto, Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Be Cool, The Hot Kid), it’s easy to see why many consider him an American literary icon. In this, his forty-first book, Leonard paints a vision of WWII-era Detroit, using vivid strokes of genius.

Carl Webster, the handsome cowboy U.S. Marshall from The Hot Kid, is back. He’s in Detroit to track down two escaped Nazis that broke out of an Oklahoma POW camp. Honey Deal is as smooth as Southern Comfort and smarter than most men, certainly smarter than her ex-husband. Carl suspects Honey’s ex is hiding the men on his farm outside of Detroit and recruits her aid in sweet-talking Walter out of information about their location.

German-born Walter Schoen is a butcher by trade, loyal to the Fatherland. He’s also a wannabe Nazi spy. He fancies himself Heinrich Himmler’s secret twin and aspires to greatness. Honey left him before he could bore her to death with his lackluster passion or worse, stumble onto her secret stash of blond hair dye.

Honey likes the idea of being a spy herself, but this sugar pie from Kentucky knows which side she wants to be on, and it’s not Walter’s. She does get to meet some interesting people, such as the countess, Vera Mezwa, a Ukrainian version of Mata Hari, and Bodhan, Vera’s skirt and sweater-wearing manservant. And then there is Jurgen, the handsome golden boy of the panzer division, one of the men Carl is after. Will Carl get his man and keep his Hot Kid status? Or will Honey get Carl?

Welcome to Elmore Leonard’s world. Oddball characters, gritty, yet funny, and full of surprises.

Armchair Interviews says: Up In Honey’s Room is a stroke of genius by the master of crime fiction.

Author’s Web site: http://www.ElmoreLeonard.com