Swartzwelder’s incompetent detective extraordinaire Frank Burley returns but this time his inevitable foe are the Martians. It’s not a spoiler, the title and the descriptions of particular people Burley picks up at the last bus stop (an empty corn field) make it obvious. Besides, this is a humor book, not a diehard mystery novel.
Much like The Time Machine Did It, the story begins in media res with Burley trying to make ends meet as a bus driver since we all know the private detective thing isn’t very profitable when he’s the worst. It’s a good thing Burley is stupid too, otherwise the Martians’ plans would’ve been more successful if they kidnapped a dedicated Fox News watcher.
The same humor from Time is there, the wordplay, poking fun at the well-known Noir/Sci-Fi tropes and how frustrating Burley can be to his enemies. It’s another quick read one could get through in a day if you put aside say a long afternoon. I still recommend Swartzwelder’s material regardless of the genre you prefer.
In other good news, they finally got his second novel Double Wonderful available in electronic form.