Taking a Potshot.

Sometimes I buy books based on recommendations.

Sometimes I buy books because I like the cover.

And, sometimes, I buy books because the author's name seems vaguely familiar.

That was the case of Robert Parker when I picked up Potshot at the awesome Wheaton Library. (Side note, if you live in the area, GO to the Wheaton Library for used books. They have thousands, and the books usually don't go over a buck.)

Anyway, I had bought Potshot a couple months ago and never got around to it until last Saturday. I was heading out the door and I needed a book as I had recently finished Skinny Dip. I picked up Potshot, read the first page to see if it would grab me, and ended up reading the first chapter standing in my bedroom.

I didn't even realize that Parker was the cat that wrote the "Spenser" series. As in "Spenser For Hire". And I was reading a "Spenser" book.

I'm kind of surprised that I've never read a "Spenser" book until now, considering how much I enjoy reading detective novels.

In Potshot, Spenser is hired by a woman to find out who killed her husband. When he arrives at the town she lives in, Spenser finds out the town is being harassed by a group called the Dell and, as luck would have it, he gets hired by someone else to take care of them.

So Spenser recruits some of his friends, including Hawk, to take care of business.

Potshot is pretty predictable, but it's a fun read regardless.

One good thing about discovering an author you like is you have a plethora of books to look out for, as is the case with Campbell.

Nothing like a good Skinny Dip.

A couple weeks ago, my father gave me a couple of books he had read, one of which was Carl Hiaasen's Skinny Dip.

I've read Hiaasen in the past, but it's been awhile since I've picked up one of his books, and, damn, I forgot how humorous this guy is.

In Dip, Chaz attempts to kill his wife by throwing her overboard while they are on a cruise. Their anniversary cruise, no less.

But Joey, Chaz's wife, doesn't die as planned. And not only does she let Chaz think she's dead, she comes up with a plan to make his life a living hell.

Funny. As. Hell.