Tim Tender, the main protagonist, had studied criminology at college, which is where he learned to unravel mysteries. He enjoys reading detective novels by Raymond Chandler and aspires to be a Private Investigator. The body of prize-winning writer Jake Venom has turned up, and the manuscript he had gone out to post has disappeared! Mrs. Vicki Venom employs Tim to solve the crime. However, not only did Vicki not report her husband missing for two days she also did not seem that upset or surprised at her husband's murder. Who does Vicki fly off to stay with once the funeral plans are in place? Why was there a dictionary with highlighted words placed on Jake's body? Furthermore, what do these words spell out?
I love Raymond Chandler's books, and this is written in a similar vein. It was very clever how the author hinted at writers of detective novels, their books, and films in this genre. For instance, he names his main character Tim Tender after the film Tender Nightmare. Tim likes to dress like Philip Marlowe, and this is remarked on several times in the book. However, because the author puts so many quotes and references in the book, it felt like he was reviewing these books rather than writing his own. Ray E. Spencer needs to concentrate on his own ideas!
More things that I disliked about this book are that Spencer fills it with unnecessary detail. When the characters go to restaurants, we learn very little from their conversations, but we know every minute detail about the food, the waitress, and the decor. Due to this, I kept losing track of the story and had to reread chapters, making the book a slow and tedious read! Also, I didn't particularly appreciate that there were many unnecessary conversations. This book would be much more enjoyable if the author cut down on all the boring conversations and used them to give details that help move the story along. I read the Kindle book, which has yet to be edited or proofread, as I found grammar errors throughout! There are also details in the book which have not been checked for accuracy, such as the ashes from a cremation being collected the same day for scattering; this could not possibly happen!
Due to all the negatives and the fact that I did not enjoy The Stolen Manuscript by Ray E. Spencer, I give a rating of 1 out of 5 stars. Spencer needs to rewrite this book and get a professional to thoroughly edit and proofread the new copy before publishing!
