Book Review: The Hobo Chronicles

Reviewed By: Pat Reid - RAM

The Hobo Chronicles    
S. E. Schenkel
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Wings ePress, Inc. 2005, 274 pps.
ISBN No. 1-59088-589-9

Acey Tapp is unemployed, lives over a barbershop and has a mother critically ill. He is really down on his luck but it doesn’t keep him from aggravating a woman in the crowd watching the police recover a body from a bin by a resale shop. His remarks to the woman bring him to the attention of Sheriff Whitcomb who seems to know a lot about Acey from his remarks.

Acey spends a lot of his time at Tony’s Tavern with his friend Patch who runs the place. He hangs out with Old Burt a regular at the tavern and his sometimes girlfriend Sharon who frequents the tavern. Acey is behind in his rent and hesitant to go home for fear his landlord will confront him about the back due rent again.

In an attempt to get a job Acey goes to the neighboring town of Washburn to apply for a job with McMunn and Sons Investigations. Before the interview even gets started McMunn has an attack and Acey calls 911. No sooner has the ambulance left the premises than Karen Grout, an elderly woman, drops into the office. Ms. Grout hires Acey thinking he is Mr. McMunn and gives him a retainer to find her daughter who left home in 1956.

After conferring with McMunn in the hospital Acey gets himself hired as an assistant and they begin the investigation to find the woman who left town years ago. The reader will enjoy the many ups and downs along the way before the investigation is concluded. Acey winds up in trouble more than once but somehow manages to squeeze out of it in one piece.

I’m looking forward to future adventures of Acey and his multitude of unusual and interesting friends.

Pat Reid - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Pat Reid - RAM