The Deader the Better Paperback – January 1, 2006

The story line was good but the characters in the book.Recalling all the characters from the book was challenging but the writing was excellent and kept me entertained. Strongly recommend as I begin the next book in this series.

I guess I feel a bit different than the other reviewers. While this was a truly good book, I honestly miss the style of the first three books in the series. I laughed out loud reading the first three, loving the easy-going repartee with the boys, Leo's landlord, Jed, etc. Again, this truly was a good read, good plot, good characters, but I miss the light-heartedness the series used to have.

Love this series. The underplayed sense of humor and the "boys" keep a fun plot going book-to-book. I like having the characters come back and seeing what they are up to now. His use of little details make you pay attention because you know it's going to be used later in the book and you sort of wonder what purpose it's going to serve. Nice little hooks.I'm working on filling in the missing books in series. Which brings up an important point. With this series you aren't lost if you didn't read the last book. Some series you need to keep them order to prevent missing details mentioned going forward. This is nicely crafted.

Over the last month or so, I've read all the Leo Waterman novels. I enjoyed all of them, but "The Deader the Better" is definitely the best-plotted one. In fact, I'm about half-way through the Frank Corso series and I'd say TDTB is better plotted than any of the Corso stories I've read so far.This novel has all the hallmarks of the other Waterman stories: the barfly brigade, the on-again/off-again romance, Waterman's love/hate relationship with law enforcement, the wheelchair-bound uber geek, Leo's self-deprecating humor, and the cheeky dialog. Plus Ford brings in some new characters when Waterman puts together an operation to stir up the conspirators he wants to expose.If you read only one of Ford's novels, this is definitely the one you should pick. If you read more than one, save this one for last 'cause it's the best.My only complaint about the Waterman series is that Ford tells slightly different stories about how Carl Cradduck came to be a wheelchair jockey. Maybe he wants to know if we're paying attention to details?

I purchased this book after reading "Thicker than Water". This book was marginally better than that one and I will definitely read more of this series. It was a quick read but really enjoyable. Good plot, well placed humour, suspenseful, well paced. You wouldn't call it great literature but it was good reading. Highly recommend.

This was my first exposure to the detective Leo Waterman and it was an relatively enjoyable read. The best thing about the author G. M. Ford, in my opinion, is his caustic, sardonic humor, which I happen to like. I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second, as it got a bit confusing near the end and I lost track of some of the characters when there were 20 or so involved at once. Perhaps that was because I read it during a hectic week or week and a half, whereas I usually go from cover to cover in a day or two with mysteries. I have two more of Ford's books in my Kindle, and I will give them a shot soon (no pun intended).

G.M. Ford writes an excellent mystery with a fallible, but very engaging hero and sympathetic support characters. Ford's humor is witty and appropriate, his vocabulary is rich and he doesn't resort to foul language at every turn. To top it off, his books are affordable. And, can be loaned; as much as I love Baldacci, Gresham, Turow and others, their Kindle books can't be loaned. Ford has a better understanding of democracy and ownership. May he long continue to write.

Leo and his boys plus some other questionable characters take us on another suspenseful escapade.His methods while sometimes questionable are almost always effective.Leo is going to need his inheritance, if he ever reaches the ripe old age of 45, just to pay his medical and auto expenses because he sure could't find insurance coverage ANYWHERE.Did he lose the girl or will she show up when he calls in the next exciting adventure.Leo gets you curious, excited and hurrying to get to the next page and to the next book.I am on my 5th book of the Waterman Mystery books and already looking forward to the next one