The Balloon Man

Starred review from November 30, 1998
In this spritely addition (after Odd Job) to a spirited series, MacLeod, who also writes the Peter Shandy novels (Exit the Milkman), has Sarah Kelling attempt to orchestrate an elegant wedding on Boston's North Shore for the nephew of her husband, art detective Max Bittersohn. Anyone planning a wedding should expect problems, but Sarah gets more than her fair share. Max is perplexed when the Kellings' fabulous rubies, last spotted in Amsterdam, suddenly appear among the wedding gifts. As he searches the room to find clues regarding their unorthodox reappearance, he stumbles across a verbose, mendacious burglar who serves him a brutal whack across the legs and then escapes. Shortly thereafter, a hot-air balloon crash lands in the middle of the wedding tent, and the Zickerys, long-lost neighbors of the Kellings, stumble out. The next day, after being incapacitated by a smoke bomb, Max is stunned to learn that a dead body has been found under the remains of the tent. Amid the screwball chaos, Max and Sarah, hampered by their three-year-old son Davy ("the world's most intelligent child"), try to discover who the dead man was, how his body came to be on their property and whether he has anything to do with the rubies, the thief or the smoke bomb. When Davy goes missing and then Max is abducted, level-headed Sarah must stave off her zany Kelling relatives to get her loved ones back. In this delightful mystery, Max and Sarah make a strong claim to being the Nick and Nora Charles of the 1990s, urbane, witty and thoroughly appealing. Mystery Guild main selection.

August 1, 1998
More wedding blues, this time from multiaward-winner MacLeod. Longtime protagonists Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn stage a wedding for Max's nephew that turns deadly when a hot-air balloon crashes into the wedding tent. And who's trying to steal the Rolls?

April 1, 1999
YA-Max Bittersohn and his wife Sarah Kelling are hosting their nephew's nuptial ceremony and elegant reception at their Boston North Shore mansion. Complications begin when Max, a private eye, finds the missing Kelling parure of rubies among the wedding gifts. Then, a hot-air balloon lands on the wedding tent. The next day, the body of one of the workers assigned to remove the rented tent is found under it. From this point on, the plot takes off in remarkably diverse courses aided by myriad eccentrics from the Kelling family and Max's equally unusual staff and relatives. While the convoluted tale spins toward the solving of the murder and the mystery of the returned jewels, a major part of the enjoyment of the story comes from the snappy dialogue. MacLeod's gift for witty comebacks and farcical situations adds much merriment to the foul deeds. The author leads a merry chase all around the perpetrator until all of the ends come together in a secure denouement. Teens will delight in the wacky characters and events.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

September 15, 1998
The tone in this madcap mystery is so arch that even the corpses seem to have their tongues firmly in their lifeless cheeks. The lovely Max Bittersohn and his wife, Sarah Kelling, own a massive house on the Boston North Shore, where the book opens with a charming set piece describing the wedding staged for Max's nephew and his lovely bride. Max, stolen-art tracker extraordinaire and Sarah, related to numerous batty and redoubtable relatives with funny names, get through the wedding just fine. But then there is the unplanned landing of a hot-air balloon with two old, eccentric neighbors in it and, later, the finding of a corpse underneath the balloon, to say nothing of the Kelling ruby parure--necklace, bracelets, tiara, etc., long vanished by foul means and suddenly reappearing among the wedding gifts. Rescues happen by bizarre means, and the odd thefts and murders are solved mostly off-page by using such tools as Aunt Theonia's psychic powers, but if you check your skepticism at the door, a fine time is guaranteed. ((Reviewed September 15, 1998))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1998, American Library Association.)