The Spellman Files, Lisa Lutz
The Spellman Files, Lisa Lutz
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Spellman Files

Author: Lisa Lutz

Narrator: Ari Graynor

Abridged: 5 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/13/2007


Synopsis

From the award-winning author of The Accomplice and The Passenger comes the first novel in the hilarious Spellman Files mystery series featuring Isabel “Izzy” Spellman (part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry) and her highly functioning yet supremely dysfunctional family of private investigators.

Meet Isabel “Izzy” Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors—but the upshot is she’s good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family’s firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people’s privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman.

Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who’s become addicted to “recreational surveillance”); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed “Lost Weekends”). But when Izzy’s parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy’s new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there’s a hitch: she must take one last job before they’ll let her go—a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.

About Lisa Lutz

Lisa Lutz is the New York Times bestselling, Alex Award–winning author of the Spellman Files series, as well as the novels The Accomplice, Heads You Lose (with David Hayward), How to Start a Fire, The Passenger, and The Swallows. She has also written for film and TV, including HBO’s The Deuce. She lives in upstate New York.

About Ari Graynor

Ari Graynor starred in Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here, as well as the films The Front Runner and The Disaster Artist. Other film credits include For a Good Time CallNick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and The Sitter, among others. Extensive theater work includes Brooklyn BoyThe Little Dog Laughed, and Yen, for which she received a Lucille Lortel nomination.


Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Jennifer on 2010-03-09 14:20:00

This way a really good book, the humor in it was very wry. Isabelle Spellman has always worked for her parents Private Investigation office and after years of being spied upon she wants to leave. Her parents agree if she can solve a 10 year old missing persons case. The most enjoyable people in this book and the ones who made me laugh the most were Isabelle and her sister Rae.

Goodreads review by Karen on January 23, 2025

One of my favorite book newsletters is Off The Shelf. They sent me their newsletter with the heading: 12 super sleuth books for grown-up fans of Nancy Drew. Well, that headline definitely caught my attention! When I went through the list, I was pleased to see that I had already read quite a few of t......more

Goodreads review by Tea on June 29, 2014

Zauvek ću pamtiti kako me je ova knjiga "kupila" kao urednika :) Dobila sam od njenog agenta rukopis knjige mesecima pre nego što je objavljena... odštampala sam je i ponela papire sa sobom na Sajam knjiga u London, da čitam usput... Te godine sajam je bio izmešten na Doklends i gotovo sat vremena p......more

Goodreads review by Katie on August 07, 2020

Oh, that wacky Spellman family! I first read this book almost 5 years ago and I just finished it for the second time. I rarely reread books so that's a testament to how much I love this author and her crazy cast of characters. Twenty-eight year old Izzy Spellman is a private investigator working for......more

Goodreads review by Jadranka on February 08, 2017

Ovo je jedna od onih knjiga do koje ne bih došla da nema Goodreads-a, što bi bio veliki propust. Zabavna, uzbudljiva, opuštajuća, duhovita knjiga koja mami osmeh na lice od prve strane. Pratimo svakodnevnicu porodice Spelman, oni vode porodični biznis - oni su privatni detektivi, njuškala, zovite ih k......more

Goodreads review by Anne on October 17, 2011

As a mystery novel? No. As a cute and funny chick-lit novel? Yes. I asked my librarian to help me find a book that was good, but not sad, violent, or about animals (What? I don't like sappy books about animals.) I wanted something mind-numbing to pass the time. Something kind of funny maybe? She gave......more


Quotes

"Hilarious. My enjoyment of The Spellman Files was only slightly undercut by my irritation that I hadn't written it myself. The funniest book I've read in years!"

-- Lauren Weisberger, author of The Devil Wears Prada and Everyone Worth Knowing

"The Spellman Files is hilarious, outrageous, and hip. Izzy Spellman, P.I., is a total original, with a voice so fresh and real, you want more, more, more. At long last, we know what Nancy Drew would have been like had she come from a family of lovable crackpots. Lisa Lutz has created a delicious comedy with skill and truth. I loved it."

-- Adriana Trigiani, author of Lucia, Lucia and Big Stone Gap

"A spirited, funny debut...a rush of humor and chaos...casual, swift, and hip...A fresh story that works real issues through an offbeat premise."

-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)