Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz

A Comic Private Investigator Mystery of Neighborhood Surveillance and Family Chaos

Izzy Spellman, a licensed twenty-eight-year-old private investigator in San Francisco, is trying hard to act like a functional adult. Her resolve immediately crumbles with the arrival of her new neighbor, Henry Stone. He is polite, neat, and completely devoid of any obvious flaws—a combination that triggers intense paranoia in the surveillance-obsessed Spellman family. Driven by pure suspicion, Izzy launches an unauthorized, full-scale investigation into Henry's past. Between court-ordered anger management classes, endless family bickering, and a sudden series of mysterious burglaries in the neighborhood, Izzy's obsession threatens to derail her career and land her in serious legal trouble.

Why You’ll Love This Book

Lisa Lutz delivers a laugh-out-loud, character-driven PI mystery that subverts classic hardboiled tropes with sharp, snappy dialogue and family dysfunction. Featuring an unreliable narrator, footnoted case files, and absurd surveillance antics, this fast-paced cozy-adjacent thriller is a perfect match for fans of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series and Carl Hiaasen.