Very Bad Deaths
by Spider Robinson
Buy the book: $18.86

Russell Walker, who has escaped grief by becoming a hermit in the woods of Canada, finds himself in the precarious role of intermediary between a telepath called Smelly and a skeptical police officer who needs Smelly's help to track down a serial killer.

Any author whose character was able to guess that his mysterious new roommate was bound to be the 'sixth Negro' is worth reading. I love the way this writer tells his story...and his voice isn't bad, either!

I've been enjoying this one, too, especially hearing Robinson reading his own work. He gives it just the right twist. I began reading him years ago, when he was writing his Callahan's bar stories--quirky, humorous science fiction short pieces. He also co-authored a novel called Stardance with his wife, Jeanne.

I was bewildered by the "sixth Negro" comment earlier this week, until it turned up in the fourth installment. Growing up in British Columbia, I was more familiar with Spider Robinson in his capacity as a musician. It wasn't until I started seeing his newspaper column that I became aware that he was a writer. His column, by the way, seems mainly geared to ticking people off; you get a taste of this in his throw-away comment in the book about the dangers of second-hand smoke being fake. His style reminds me strongly of George Carlin, with slightly less swearing (well, he is Canadian, after all).

Thank you both, ladies, for more information about this author. How well I relish those Callahan's Bar stories, read so long ago: I'd forgotten about them!