The Spellman Files series
Reading Map
The Author
Lisa Lutz
Photo: http://i.lisalutz.com/images/lisa-lutz-farm3.jpg
Website: http://lisalutz.com/
Biography: http://lisalutz.com/about/
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a3Q8SGvmMU
Bibliography: http://lisalutz.com/books/
Quote: I think oversharing has run its course. I'd like to start an undersharing movement. So,
today, I did some stuff. (via Twitter 10/22/12)
The Spellmans
Order of Books:
• The Spellman Files
• Curse of the Spellmans
• Revenge of the Spellmans
• The Spellmans Strike Again
• Trail of the Spellmans
Cast of Characters: http://lisalutz.com/books/spellman-files/characters/
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9R9X8e9gPs
Reading Group Guide: http://lisalutz.com/books/spellman-files/guide/
Reviews:
Booklist:
Fans of Janet Evanovichs Stephanie Plum series will enjoy this clever debut (the first in a series)
featuring Izzy Spellman, an irrepressible 28-year-old sleuth who works for her parents San
Francisco PI firm. Members of the dysfunctional and relentlessly nosy Spellman clan include
Izzys 14-year-old sister, Rae, who engages in recreational surveillance (a fancy term for tailing
people just for kicks), and her uncle Ray, a cancer survivor and recovering health-food addict
who regularly disappears on liquor-drenched Lost Weekends. Scenes showcasing the
relationships among the various Spellmans are often laugh-out-loud funny. (The novels
prologue is an amusing example of the boundaries--or lack thereof--between Izzy and her mom
and dad). Alas, bit after comic bit does not a mystery novel make, and only toward the end does
Lutz pick up the narrative pace. Addicted to Get Smart reruns and forever attracted to the
wrong kind of men, Izzy Spellman is definitely an appealing heroine; all this series needs to
become a smashing success is a more generous dose of story and suspense. -- Allison Block
(Reviewed 01-01-2007) (Booklist, vol 103, number 9, p64)
Publisher’s Weekly
Cracking the case can get complicated and outrageously wacky when a family of detectives is
involved, but Lutz has a blast doing it in her delicious debut. Isabel "Izzy" Spellman, a San
Francisco PI who began working for Spellman Investigations at age 12, could easily pass as Buffy
or Veronica Mars's wiser but funnier older sister. Izzy digs TV, too, especially Get Smart (an exboyfriend's ownership of the complete bootlegged DVD set is his major selling point). Now 28,
Izzy thinks she wants out, but elects to take on a cold case while dealing with 14-year-old sister
Rae, a nightmarish Nancy Drew, and parents who have no qualms about bugging their
children's bedrooms. At times the dialogue-heavy text reads like a script and the action flags,
but these are quibbles. When Rae suddenly disappears, Izzy and her family must learn some
serious lessons in order to find her. Can the family that snoops together stay together? Stay
tuned as a dynamic new series unfolds. 150,000 first printing. (Mar.) --Staff (Reviewed January
1, 2007) (Publishers Weekly, vol 254, issue 1, p31)
Library Journal
/* Starred Review */ Isabel "Izzy" Spellman is a private detective whose story has a twist—the
agency she works for is owned by her parents and is located in their home. Izzy's perfect
brother, David, worked in the family business before becoming an attorney. Her uncle does
contract work for them, and even kid sister Rae is a surveillance genius with a particular talent
for picking locks and trailing people. Because of her family's quirkiness, Izzy tries to keep them
apart from the new love of her life, Daniel Castillo, D.D.S. But the Spellmans' cheerful,
idiosyncratic existence is shadowed by Rae's sudden disappearance. It's hard to believe that this
extraordinarily clever book is a debut novel. Lutz showed her comic flair in her screenplay for
the film Plan B , a 2001 "mob comedy" starring Diane Keaton, and it sparkles in this book as
well. This first title in a new series about the eccentric Spellman family will be a welcome
addition to mystery collections of all sizes, and sure to be enjoyed by fans of Janet Evanovich's
Stephanie Plum and Meg Cabot's Heather Wells.—Shelley Mosley, Glendale Community Coll.
Lib. Media Ctr., AZ --Shelley Mosley (Reviewed March 15, 2007) (Library Journal, vol 132, issue
5, p63)
Themes
Private Investigators
“Private detectives and investigators find facts and analyze information about legal, financial,
and personal matters. They offer many services, including verifying people's backgrounds,
tracing missing persons, investigating computer crimes, and protecting celebrities. “
(http://www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/private-detectives-and-investigators.htm
Career Info
Career Guidance Online
Private Investigator (From: Career Opportunities in Law Enforcement,
Security, and Protective Services, Career Opportunities, 2nd ed.)
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE34&SID=5&iPin=
COLE0032&SingleRecord=True.
Private Investigator (From: Career Opportunities in Law and the Legal
Industry, Career Opportunities.)
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE34&SID=5&iPin=
COLLI0045&SingleRecord=True.
Private Investigator (From: Extraordinary Jobs for Adventurers,
Extraordinary Jobs.)
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE34&SID=5&iPin=
EJAD0033&SingleRecord=True.
Databases
Biography in Context
Private Investigators
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/PersonFullListPage/PersonFullListPortletWindo
w?displayGroupName=None&limiter=&failOverType=&displayGroups=&query=P
OC%20private%20investigator&prodId=BIC1&action=e&windowstate=normal&c
ontentModules=&activityType=BasicSearch&displayquery=POC%20private%20investigator&mode=view&userGroupName=pike&jsid
=00811eb94b8c1f5d323677be2b8f2c45
Allan Pinkerton
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/searchResults2/actionWin?failOverType=&quer
y=ACID%2013716672%20OR%2013716671&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal
&contentModules=&displayquery=ACID%20%22Pinkerton%2C%20Allan%22&mode=view&limiter=&totalSea
rchResultCount=12&displayGroups=&action=e&catId=&activityType=SelectedSe
arch&scanId=CSH&userGroupName=pike&jsid=89c2f3dc1742b72849766076a53
ec336
Crime & Punishment in the United States (eBook)
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3027100187&v=2.1&u=pike&it
=r&p=GVRL&sw=w
Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics (eBook)
Monitoring and Surveillance
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3434900435&v=2.1&u=pike&it
=r&p=GVRL&sw=w
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (eBook)
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?ty=as&v=2.1&u=pike&it=search&s=RELEVANCE
&p=GVRL&st=T003&dblist=GVRL&qt=OQE~private+investigator~~TMC~0HQS&s
w=w
Alternate names for a private detective
P.I., beagle, eye, flatfoot, gumshoe, dick, private eye, sleuth, inspector, investigator,
sleuthhound
(thesaurus.com: http://thesaurus.com/browse/private+detective)
Websites
Colorado Society of Private Investigators
http://coloradoprivateinvestigators.org/index.html
How Private Investigators Work (from Howstuffwrks.com)
http://money.howstuffworks.com/private-investigator.htm
Private Detectives and Investigators (from the Occupational Outlook Handbook)
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/private-detectives-and-investigators.htm
Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado
http://ppiac.org/
Books
Fiction
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A is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone series) by Sue Grafton
The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe mysteries) by Raymond Chandler
The Case of the Missing Servant: From the Files of Vish Puri, India's "Most Private
Investigator" series by Tarquin Hall
Godwulf Manuscript (Spenser novels) by Robert B. Parker
The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes series) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith
Private series by James Patterson
Storm Front (Dresden Files series) by Jim Butcher
Nonfiction
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Basic Private Investigation: A Guide to Business Organization, Management, and
Basic Investigative Skills for the Private Investigator by William F. Blake
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating by Steven Kerry Brown
Detectives Don’t Wear Seat Belts: True Adventures of a Female P.I. by Cici McNair
The Everything Private Investigation Book: Master the Techniques of the Pros to
Examine Evidence, Track Down People, and Discover the Truth by Sheila L. Stephens
Private Eyes: What Private Investigators Really Do by Sam Brown
The Private Investigator’s Handbook by Chuck Chambers
Spygirl: True Adventures from My Life as a Private Eye by Amy Gray
*Image from Google Books
http://books.google.com/books/about/Basic_Private_Investigation.html?id=DTE5YgEACAAJ
**Image from Amazon.com
Television and Film
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Agatha Christie’s Poirot
Charlie’s Angels
Magnum P.I.
Maltese Falcon
Murder, She Wrote
The Rockford Files
The Pink Panther
Psych
Veronica Mars
*Image from Amazon.com
*
Family Businesses
Databases
Biography in Context
Adolphus Busch
(photo citation: "Adolphus Busch." Gale Biography in Context.
Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.)
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/searchResults2/actionWin?failOverType=&quer
y=ACID%2013686724%20OR%2013686723&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal
&contentModules=&displayquery=ACID%20%22Busch%2C%20Adolphus%22&mode=view&limiter=&totalSe
archResultCount=15&displayGroups=&action=e&catId=&activityType=SelectedS
earch&scanId=CSH&userGroupName=pike&jsid=e9fb355a0f3803b8626086dca3
ddb337
Henry Ford
(photo citation: "Henry Ford." Gale Biography in Context. Detroit:
Gale, 2010. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.)
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/person2/actionWin?query=&prodId=BIC1&wind
owstate=normal&contentModules=&displayquery=&mode=view&limiter=&showDisambiguation=true&displayGroups=&acti
on=e&catId=GALE%7C00000000MQ0B&scanId=&userGroupName=pike&jsid=58
c90c86e95316d3d938afac3099ebb6
Conrad Hilton
("Conrad Hilton." Gale Biography in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale
Biography In Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.)
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/searchResults2/actionWin?failOverType=&quer
y=ACID%2013002461%20OR%2013002459&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal
&contentModules=&displayquery=ACID%20%22Hilton%2C%20Conrad%22&mode=view&limiter=&totalSearc
hResultCount=25&displayGroups=&action=e&catId=&activityType=SelectedSear
ch&scanId=CSH&userGroupName=pike&jsid=0ad5c2006e3d80b729fdb30580c15
ad6
Donald Trump
(photo citation: "Donald John Trump." Gale Biography in Context.
Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.)
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/person2/actionWin?query=&prodId=BIC1&wind
owstate=normal&contentModules=&displayquery=&mode=view&limiter=&showDisambiguation=true&displayGroups=&acti
on=e&catId=GALE%7CAAA000043452&scanId=&userGroupName=pike&jsid=acd
b7b7d11454c1d2ebb8bd795e5b52c
Sam Walton
(photo citation: "Sam Moore Walton." Gale Biography in Context.
Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.)
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/person2/actionWin?query=&prodId=BIC1&wind
owstate=normal&contentModules=&displayquery=&mode=view&limiter=&showDisambiguation=true&displayGroups=&acti
on=e&catId=GALE%7CAAA000199047&scanId=&userGroupName=pike&jsid=be0
8c4b50f9c41f36fa8fff7458b6a7b
Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion (eBook)
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?ty=as&v=2.1&lm=TX~%22family+business%22
&u=pike&it=search&s=RELEVANCE&p=GVRL&st=T003&dblist=GVRL&qt=OQE~fa
mily+business~~PU~%22Encyclopedia+of+Clothing+and+Fashion%22&sw=w
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (ebook)
The Godfather
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3409000995&v=2.1&u=pike&it
=r&p=GVRL&sw=w
U.S. History in Context
Family Business
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/uhic/searchResults2/actionWin?failOverType=&quer
y=BS%20family%20business&prodId=UHIC&windowstate=normal&contentModu
les=&displayquery=BS%20family%20business&mode=view&limiter=&totalSearchResultCount
=6551&displayGroups=&action=e&catId=&activityType=BasicSearch&scanId=CS
H&userGroupName=pike&jsid=f63613083a1053620a1c9e1258e791ec
Books
Nonfiction
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Citizen Coors: An American Dynasty by Dan Baum
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The Dressmaker of Khair Khana :Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the
Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Dynasties: Fortunes and Misfortunes of the World’s Great Family Businesses by
Davis S. Landes
The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty by Julia
Flynn Siler
Keep Your Business Close – And Your Family Closer: Building on the Inherent
Strengths of Family Business by Larry Hollar
McIlhenny’s Gold: How a Louisiana Family Built the Tabasco Empire by Jeffrey
Rothfeder
The Wal-Mart Decade: How a Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton’s
Legacy into the World’s Number One Company by Robert Slater
We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee
*Images from Amazon.com
Fiction
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The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil
The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose
Family Baggage by Monica McInerney
The Family Business by Carl Weber
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The Ravenscar Dynasty by Barbara Taylor Bradford
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
Television and Film
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Arrested Development
Cake Boss
Giant
It’s a Wonderful Life
Pawn Stars
The Sopranos
You’ve Got Mail
*Images from Amazon.com
San Francisco
Databases
American Decades Primary Sources (eBook)
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?ty=as&v=2.1&u=pike&it=search&s=RELEVANCE
&p=GVRL&st=T003&dblist=GVRL&qt=OQE~%22san+francisco%22~~PU~%22Ame
rican+Decades+Primary+Sources%22&sw=w
America’s Top Rated Cities: A Statistical Handbook (eBook)
San Francisco, California
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX2868500057&v=2.1&u=pike&it
=r&p=GVRL&sw=w
Biography in Context
I Was Born in San Francisco
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/PersonFullListPage/PersonFullListPortletWindo
w?displayGroupName=None&limiter=&failOverType=&displayGroups=&query=P
OB%20san%20francisco&prodId=BIC1&action=e&windowstate=normal&content
Modules=&activityType=BasicSearch&display-
query=POB%20san%20francisco&mode=view&userGroupName=pike&jsid=2f18
76d0a1c95a8d1bbe82843c921efe
I Left My Heart in San Francisco
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/PersonFullListPage/PersonFullListPortletWindo
w?displayGroupName=None&limiter=&failOverType=&displayGroups=&query=P
OD%20San%20Francisco%2C%20California%2C%20United%20States&prodId=BI
C1&action=e&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&activityType=BasicSearc
h&displayquery=POD%20San%20Francisco%2C%20California%2C%20United%20States&m
ode=view&userGroupName=pike&jsid=4939a692137d17ef211c41ecf4cb9feb
Dictionary of American History (eBook)
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?ty=as&v=2.1&u=pike&it=search&s=RELEVANCE
&p=GVRL&st=T003&dblist=GVRL&qt=OQE~%22san+francisco%22~~PU~%22Dicti
onary+of+American+History%22~~EU~3&sw=w
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (eBook)
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?ty=as&v=2.1&u=pike&it=search&s=RELEVANCE
&p=GVRL&st=T003&dblist=GVRL&qt=OQE~%22san+francisco%22~~TMC~0HQS
&sw=w
U.S. History in Context
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/uhic/topic2/actionWin?query=&prodId=UHIC&windo
wstate=normal&contentModules=&displayquery=&mode=view&limiter=&showDisambiguation=&displayGroups=&action=e
&catId=GALE%7CKNLUJN051598737&scanId=&userGroupName=pike&jsid=8cf6
59cc3bc62818e63ce221bfb26d9e
World Book Online
San Francisco
http://www.worldbookonline.com/pl/referencecenter/article?id=ar488080&st=s
an+francisco
Books
Nonfiction
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A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake
of 1906 by Simon Winchester
God’s Hotel: A Doctor, A Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by
Victoria Sweet
Golden Gate: The Life and Times of America’s Greatest Bridge by Kevin Starr
Hidden Alcatraz: The Fortress Revealed by Steve Fritz
The Laughing Gorilla: A True Story of Police Corruption and Murder by Robert
Graysmith
The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America
by Mae Ngai
The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner
War of Words: A True Tale of Newsprint and Murder by Simon Read
Fiction
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1st to Die by James Patterson
The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
If Walls Could Talk (A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery) by Juliet Blackwell
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Sister Noon by Karen Joy Fowler
Television and Film
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Dirty Harry
Howl
Just Like Heaven
Milk
San Francisco
San Francisco’s Great Quake
The Streets of San Francisco (series)
We Were Here: The AIDS Years in San Francisco
*Image from Amazon.com
**Image from Library Journal.com
(http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/09/media/video/video-reviews-october-1-2012/)
Music
Music of San Francisco
http://pikp.ent.sirsi.net/client/search/results/ppld/q$003dsan$002bfrancisco$0026qf$0
03dITYPE$002509Material$002bType$0025091$00253ACDMUSIC$002509CD$002bMus
ic$0026rw$003d0$0026pv$003d1$0026ic$003dfalse$0026lm$003dPPLD$0026dt$003dlist$0026sm$003dfalse$0026
Genres
Humor
Many mysteries have a humorous component but these take the reader into laugh-outloud territory. (Julia Thompson, Novelist)
Mystery
Mysteries are puzzles. The author provides clues to the solution but attempts to obscure
some information so that the puzzle cannot be solved too easily. Along with the
detective, readers are drawn into that puzzle in an attempt to solve it. (Getting Up to
Speed in Mystery by Joyce Saricks – Novelist)
Other Reading Maps
http://ppld.org/reading-maps/all
Created by
Krista Meier, Librarian
Pikes Peak Library District
http://ppld.org/