“Turner and Prissey”... Good Suspense...Needs Work

Non-family-friendly “Turner and Prissey” Has Good Suspense, Canine Descriptions, and Character Interactions But Needs Work:

Review by Ron Baxley, Jr. of Aforementioned Book Written by: Lee T. Lunsford

*** (3) out of 5 stars

What aspects I most enjoyed about Lee T. Lunsford’s mystery book were the accurate descriptions of the nippy Chihuahua Prissy and how Mark Turner, the main character, had to contend with its nipping and eccentric behavior. The dog can be moved around with ease but is very aggressive in contrast to the dog it parodies from the film “Turner and Hooch”. That dog is large and drools out a lot and can be like a stubborn mule to move; in contrast, Prissy is tiny and can be easily moved – perhaps a bit too roughly by Turner at times.

I also enjoyed the relationship between Mark Turner and his mother and between them and the Chihuahua, Prissy, which Mark eventually inherits upon his mother’s death. The mother’s death and the incidents that follow could have been worked on a little better chronologically however. In my opinion, chronology in the book needs work. Nevertheless, this is a suspenseful mystery that surrounds the death of Mark’s mother and some major drug conspiracies and conspirators that are at large in the private investigator’s, Mark Turner’s, town. There are plenty of red herrings with the characters which are quite good.

The relationships between Mark Turner and various love interests are explored well. One of these is a friend of his late mother’s, and another is introduced later in the book. Surprisingly, it is not these relationships that make the book non-family-friendly as I mentioned in my review title (though its cover touts it as such). One gratuitous scene that involves one of those pornographic phone services and one of the antagonists and several other scenes with innuendo and language make this book somewhere between a PG-13 and an R. The label of family friendly needs to be changed. Also, what needs the most work in “Turner and Prissey” are the fragments, inconsistencies with names, spelling errors with homophones, and general aspects of grammar within the book.

I somewhat recommend this short read for a dog lover who likes realistic depictions of dogs and those who want to explore the mother-son relationship as well as having a suspenseful mystery, but this slight recommendation would have to be for one not bothered with chronological errors and many major grammar errors. For these reasons, the book needs editing work.