Grumpiness and the nature of US healthcare

I'm probably not the target demographic for this story - I'm just not enough of a grumpy old man. At least, not yet.

The characters and humour are entertaining. I enjoyed the scene where our hero Walt bursts in to foil the evil assassin, armed only with a coffee percolator; this being of little use against a man with a gun, Walt does what any of us would do in this situation - he picks up a cat and throws it into the villain's face. This tactic turns out to be particularly effective as Walt has just stepped on the cat's tail, and the moggy is now extremely cross. Deliciously amusing!

George Kuch's narration is good; well-characterised with distinct voices, and with a lovely tone. Overall, a little bit languorous for my liking, but that's purely personal preference.

As for the plot, the lower rating is because I'm afraid I couldn't suspend my disbelief over the main idea: decades' worth of research on statins isn't going to be overturned by one small-scale study.

The book is entertaining, although it will probably resonate more with listeners in the US (we have different problems with our healthcare system in the UK). I suspect that this story will be particularly enjoyed by people who can empathise with Walt (i.e. are nearer to him in age and temperament than I am...). Overall, 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

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"Now I know what happened to my hearing aid."

Would you consider the audio edition of Lady Justice and the Sting to be better than the print version?

I cannot imagine any better way of 'reading' this superbly written book than that of listening to Walt's personal reminiscences of his adventures both in and out of the police job, recounted through the voice of narrator, George Kuch. He brings Walt, with his grumbles, aches, pains and hilarious stories fully to life. It's like having a friend telling tales over a good meal or relaxing in the sunshine. And throughout it all, Kuch's steady, warm voice is Walt.himself. In conversations, each character is clearly distinguishable but that hardly seems to matter: it is being Walt with all of his ideosyncracies that is important. And Kuch is Walt.

What did you like best about this story?

At 68 years of age, Walter Williams has been a rookie cop in Kansas City for three years and has been through quite a range of cases in his pursuit of Lady Justice. Recently married and supported by his friendly tenants, at home and his partner,, Ox, at work, Walt is a contented man. One thing he's not too sure about, though, is why his wife keeps adding an ever increasing pile of pills beside his breakfast plate each day, but they are a small price to pay if he can continue to eat his prefered high fat and sugar diet. But he is about to start looking at pills and the food he eats in a very different way after a doctor and his receptionist are murdered. This, the fifth in the series, is again packed with verbal and visual jokes (told in low key, grumpy-old-man way), but also hits a serious note when Walt discovers that justice can, indeed, be blind when enough money is passed around.

Any additional comments?

Lady Justice and the Sting , can be heard completely as a stand alone.. If you haven't started the series yet, don't wait: get this book and look forward to an exciting, fun and thoughtful book peopled with characters you won't forget. Anyone who has already met Walt will know this book will be unmissable

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1 person found this helpful

This book has a sting in the tail

I enjoyed this book. I like the characters but thought this book was more serious than the previous books, not sure if that was just the subject matter or if the crazy gang was a bit more quieter (Jerry the joker still found the time for a few jokes) I missed Vince and Willy who both only played a small roll in the book. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy the book and I did laugh I just missed the gangs involvement. Although as I am trying to think what to write I keep thinking of funny situations that happened in the book that had nothing to do with the case but still made me laugh, so maybe they played a bigger part than I first thought.
When a doctor and nurse are murdered everybody thinks it is drug related expect 67 year old rookie cop Walter Williams. When his doctor calls him with information on the murder Walter finds himself living out a fantasy of his, of directing his very own sting operation any move star would jump at chance to star in and at the same time taking down a corrupt system . That's one more thing ticked off his bucket list if only the corrupt company hadn't hired a hit man.
I like the narrator as he sounds just right for the part.

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