"The wisecracking LAPD detectives Lomax and Biggs are back in another uproarious mystery."

By: Marshall Karp

Genres: Thriller Crime | Mystery Police Procedural

Posted: March 16, 2009

Playing and joking around at their regular game of poker, the five LAPD detectives do not realize it will be their last game together. The next morning, Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs receive the call that their fellow officer's wife is dead. It looks like a professional hit, but they can't find any motive for the murder. The logical suspect is the husband, but neither Mike nor Terry can visualize their co-worker as the killer. When they delve into Reggie and Jo Drabyak's life, they discover her business of remodeling houses and then flipping them for a profit. Jo was a partner with other cops' wives and a mystery writer, who uses the flipped homes in her books.

Their leads stall; then another murder occurs. They now have a serial killer who is targeting LAPD wives. Lomax and Biggs receive pressure from the hierarchy to solve the case quickly. Their humorous and quick-witted banter eases the tension, but they just can't put their finger on the elusive thread that connects the cases.

I have not had this much fun reading a murder mystery in quite awhile. The back-and-forth bantering of the wisecracking Lomax and Biggs vastly entertains, while Mr. Karp delivers a first-rate plot with enough twist and turns at a record fast pace that guarantees to surprise readers. I enjoyed this book so much that I am going right out to buy the two previous Lomax and Biggs mysteries.

Book Summary

Nora Bannister is a bestselling mystery novelist who buys run-down houses in LA. While her business partners turn the house into a showpiece, Nora makes it the scene of a grisly murder in her House To Die For series. As soon as the new book goes on sale, so does the house — and the bidding frenzy begins.  It seems a lot of people are willing to pay a lot of money to live in a real house where a fictional character has died a violent death.

Just before Nora’s latest book hits the market, one of her house-flipping partners is murdered.  LAPD Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs are assigned the case, but this one is a hot potato – the dead woman is also the wife of one of their fellow cops. As Mike and Terry dig into the victim’s private life, more bodies turn up . . . 

Is someone stalking the house flippers or is the murderer after cops’ wives?  Either way, Mike and Terry have to track down the killer before he murders his next logical target — Marilyn Biggs, Terry’s wife.

Flipping Out by Marshall Karp

Flipping Out

by: Marshall Karp

Lomax & Biggs #3

Minotaur Books
March 1, 2009
On Sale: March 31, 2009
Featuring: Terry Biggs; Mike Lomax
320 pages
ISBN: 0312378211
EAN: 9780312378219
Hardcover

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