A Night at the Operation
Jeffrey Cohen
Reviewed by Barb Radmore
A Night in the Operation is the third mystery in Jeffrey Cohen's Double
Feature series. Elliot Freed is the owner of a movie theater that only
runs comedies- two each time, one from the past and one more current
feature. Unfortunately there does not seem to be many people who want
to go see comedies all that often so business is usually slow. But for
Elliot running the theater is an act of sheer love of the genre. His
heart is in it, a heart he also shares with his ex-wife Sharon. When
Sharon, a doctor, is declared missing he will do anything to find her.
Elliot and Sharon may be divorced but they still have a very strong
affection for each other. In fact Elliot has hopes she will see her
mistake and leave the bumbling George and come back to him. But
both the husbands, past and present, work together to locate the woman
they love. There are enough suspects around since some think Sharon may
be responsible for a patient's death. Even when she returns safely both
men want to be sure she will stay that way. Things still do not add up
to anything but trouble.
I enjoyed the ending. Cohen seemed to be channeling the spirit of
the Marx Brothers and other masters of the physical comedy. The
words create a visual movie and Cohen is able to bring the musical
score of words to support his scene. A bit silly, sure, but that
is why this series is fun to read.
Will this series become a movie itself? Time will tell. Meanwhile we
all get the fun of deciding who would play Elliot? The
nominations are now opened but I think my vote is Jeffrey Cohen
himself. Hard to believe there is not a lot of himself in the main
character.
This book returns to the writing strength Cohen displayed in his Aaron
Tucker series. He is hitting the right notes between one liners, inside
jokes and trivia and a real mystery plot. Subtleness has begun to
return. His characters are growing in depth that draws the reader into
the next one in the series. Even Elliot himself is getting flesh added
to his funny bones. It feels like Cohen is now finding the right
rhythm for his series, a beat that is now driving us to the next one.