52 Steps To Murder by Steve Demaree

Cy Dekker and his partner Lou are called to a murder scene. Cy and Lou are not in the best shape for this murder scene. From the street where they park their car to the house that the murdered victim is in there are 52 steps for them to climb. Being large, out of shape men you can imagine the difficulty they have hefting themselves up to the house. They don't do it just once either! They have to embark on these steps several times during their investigation. The antics they go through to try and get out of climbing those steps are pretty entertaining!

I have mixed thoughts on this book. The antics of Cy and Lou are pretty entertaining, the mystery was pretty good, but I found the writing a bit juvenile, and at times repetitive. While reading I found myself chuckling at some of Cy's observations or snide comments, especially to his irritating neighbor, but then at other times I found that same humor overdone. At one point Cy comes up with an idea of how to get to their car quicker than walking down the steps that reminded me of the antics of the Keystone Cops. That episode of course is not the only tumble that Cy and Lou take while trying to find out who their murderer is.

The antics of Cy and Lou aside, I did think that the mystery was pretty solid, and I liked how Cy reasoned out "who done it." I plan on reading the second book in the series and see if Cy and Lou's characters can grow on me.