I think that nearly everyone thinks their families are weird, quirky, or slightly insane. But the Spellmans, a family of private investigators in San Francisco, has to top the list of the most outlandish, most creative, mostly insane family to grace the written page.

In Lisa Lutz's latest installment of "The Spellman Files," THE SPELLMANS STRIKE AGAIN, this wacky family is once again up to their various hi-jinks that eventually lead them all to cooperate with each other whether they want to or not and basically, drive each other nuts. Lutz once again presents several story lines that interact, with the humorous narration by Isabel Spellman. You almost need a score-card to keep up with all the action.

Among her many ventures and adventures, Isabel takes on a surveillance job for the firm's oldest (and richest) client, Mr. Winslow, who fears his staff is robbing him blind. She hires her friend Len, an out-of-work actor, to keep an eye on things and will do a good job, if he can just get over his method-acting ways.

Isabel also takes on a new client, Jeremy Pratt who wants to investigate the garbage of his former writing partner, who he is convinced is stealing his screenplay. And if work wasn't enough, Isabel keeps an eye on her big brother, David, who has been spotted seeing a mysterious blonde woman behind his girlfriend Maggie's back, tries to be supportive to her mentor, Morty Schilling, who desperately wants to leave Florida and move back to "San Fran" and attempts to figure out younger sister Rae's curious "best-friend" relationship with Isabel's one-time love interest, Henry Stone. All while continuing her relentless inquiry into her nemesis Rick Harkey's shady background.

Oh, and her mother is blackmailing her in order to fix her up on a blind date with a lawyer, while Isabel is desperately trying to keep her relationship with future Ex- Boyfriend #12 Connor on the front burner.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (or the Spellman family home), doorknobs and other household fixtures are mysteriously vanishing, Mom and Dad are insisting on having one day a week to themselves, and sister Rae is on a campaign to save a convict named Schmidt when she's not doing community service for locking Isabel in a closet overnight. No one quite knows if they are coming or going.

But as with all big, loving families, the Spellmans manage to juggle all the crisis and drama that surround their lives without killing each other, and still love one another at the end of the day.

THE SPELLMANS STRIKE AGAIN is the fourth book featuring the off-the-wall Spellmans, and author Lutz once again does a masterful job of keeping the action light and humorous (with dozens of footnotes that explain much of the complex story). Part comedy, part drama, all very entertaining, this novel is a rollercoaster of a good time read.

Book Summary

First among her priorities as head of Spellman Investigations is to dig up some dirt on the competition, slippery ex-cop Rick Harkey -- a task she may enjoy a little too much. Next, faced with a baffling missing-persons case at the home of an aging millionaire, Izzy hires an actor friend, Len, to infiltrate the mansion as an undercover butler -- a role he may enjoy a little much.

Meanwhile, Izzy is being blackmailed by her mother (photographic evidence of Prom Night 1994) to commit to regular blind dates with promising professionals -- an arrangement that doesn't thrill Connor, an Irish bartender on the brink of becoming Ex-boyfriend #12.

At Spellman headquarters, it's business as unusual. Doorknobs and light fixtures are disappearing every day, Mom's been spotted crying in the pantry, and a series of increasingly demanding Spellman Rules (Rule #27: No Speaking Today) can't quite hold the family together. Izzy also has to decipher weekly "phone calls from the edge" from her octogenarian lawyer, Morty, as well as Detective Henry Stone's mysterious interest in rekindling their relationsh...well, whatever it was.

Just when it looks like things can't go more haywire, little sister Rae's internship researching pro bono legal cases leads the youngest Spellman to launch a grassroots campaign that could spring an innocent man from jail -- or land Rae in it.

The Spellmans Strike Again is hands down the most hilarious, thrilling, and moving book in this bestselling, award-nominated series. And it proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Isabel Spellman, no matter how much she matures, will never be able to follow Rule #1: Act Normal.