Garrison Keillor Dips Into Mysteries of Human Behavior in The Adventures of Guy Noir

“A dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets. But on the 12th floor of the Acme Building, one man is still trying to find the answers to life’s persistent questions: Guy Noir, Private Eye.” This intro, accompanied by the distinctive piano melody composed by Richard Dworsky, is instantly recognizable to fans of A Prairie Home Companion, the radio show that Garrison Keillor has hosted for more than 35 years. The show has featured hundreds of installments of the adventures of this hard-boiled detective voiced by Keillor; the two-disc album The Adventures of Guy Noir, Radio Private Eye collects 11 of them, with a final track dedicated just to the theme.

Guy Noir is a rather acerbic man, and he often spends time ruminating on his displeasure with Minnesota’s weather or the ignorance of today’s youth or the tendency of clients to underpay him for his services. This collection is particularly pensive. Indeed, we sometimes spend more time in Guy’s head than we do actually doing anything. Some stories don’t involve a mystery at all; others put Guy on the case but spend most of the time sidetracked. I really don’t mind; I’m used to rambling tangents from Garrison Keillor, and I often find that the more random he gets, the more I crack up. Then again, my all-time favorite Guy Noir sketch, in which Poet Laureate Billy Collins had a guest role and imitations of William Carlos Williams poems flowed freely, retained a narrow focus and kept a mystery in the forefront. Those looking for that type of story might be disappointed here.

While Guy Noir, like A Prairie Home Companion, is based in Minnesota, he often travels for business, usually in conjunction with the show being on the road in a particular city. Hence, in this collection, he heads to New York, Los Angeles and a couple of other places, always commenting on the differences between them and his hometown. He’s an equal opportunity spoofer, making fun of the habits of Minnesotans as well as visitors from other states and those he visits elsewhere. There’s also plenty of political talk, again poking fun at both sides but seeming to give Republicans a slightly harder time. He also makes a number of pointed observations about Lutherans, particularly in the two stories about New Yorkers coming to Minnesota in search of love. While I’ve never been to Minnesota, I’d say his comments about Lutherans there apply pretty well to Lutherans in other parts of the country, particularly Erie, PA.

It always amuses me to hear him go on about casseroles and mild-mannered ministers and Norwegian bachelor farmers. I especially chuckled over Guy’s warning in one tale that “When it comes to finding single men in Minnesota, the odds are good but the goods are odd.” I guess Guy would know; most of these stories involve him pining over some gorgeous woman or another. He never seems to be romantically involved with anyone for long; most of them seem to just use him for his surveillance services and then move on.

This collection does include some puzzling cases, but it’s much more comedy than mystery. Sue Scott, Tim Russell and soundman Tom Keith, who also adds zany effects to each episode, provide their voice talents playing multiple characters, and guest stars turn up here as well, though I confess that Renee Fleming and Al Franken are the only ones I’ve heard of. The tales also frequently mention famous figures. For instance, in one story set mostly in New York, we get to hear New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and singers Michael Jackson and Bob Dylan – all imitations, naturally.

My favorite track has Guy Noir stopping in on the taping of a movie based on a Minnesota radio show in what seems likely to be a commentary on the experience of filming his own movie, though this album was released before the movie so I’m not sure how much work was done on the film by that point. In any case, it’s a hilarious peek at the trials of making a movie, and it’s hard to say whether the Minnesota yokels who can’t seem to hit a cue or the breathless Hollywood starlet incapable of pronouncing “young’un” take first prize in the cluelessness department. This is also one of a few sketches that include music, and while it’s funnier if you know what they’re spoofing, the lyrics should be goofy enough to elicit a laugh on their own, and I love the harmonies even if the song’s primary intent is silliness.

I’d never heard any of the tales on this album before. While I was a little surprised at how little actual mystery was involved most of the time, I got a good laugh over the discussion of the tedium of calling a company for repair assistance or an order of clothing, the headaches that holidays like Halloween and Christmas can bring, the degradation of the English language and the blandness of Minnesota Lutherans in general. Meanwhile, I confess a couple of the tracks inspired my sympathy, particularly one in which a high-class New Yorker falls hard for an unassuming Minnesota dairy farmer, only to conclude that there is no way to bring their worlds together.

These are stories to make you think. Mostly, though, they’re tales to tickle your funny bone, something that Garrison Keillor does very well indeed. While I’m not sure these 11 tracks are necessarily the best possible representatives of the series, they are definitely entertaining.

Hannah and Her Sister Are Partners in Crime-Busting in Strawberry Shortcake Murder

Hannah Swensen is a talented baker renowned in the tiny Minnesota town of Lake Eden for her scrumptious cookies. Lately, however, she's getting a reputation for something else: stumbling upon dead bodies. You wouldn't think this would be a frequent occurrence in a quiet place like this, but homicidal urges bubble beneath the surface of several seemingly placid residents.

In Strawberry Shortcake Murder, the second book in Joanne Fluke's series that has grown to include 14 volumes and counting, Hannah's list of discovered victims expands from two to four. While her meddling mother Delores is mortified, Hannah finds in her ensuing investigations a surprisingly fertile opportunity to bond with her sister Andrea, an elegant real estate agent. Andrea's charm and Hannah's cleverness serve them well as they hunt down clues together. On this outing, Andrea and Hannah are definite partners in crime-busting.

This book picks up a thread from the first as it involves Boyd Watson, a coach beloved by the young men he mentors but reviled by Hannah for his abusive treatment of his mousy wife, Danielle. When Boyd winds up dead in his garage, Danielle is the prime suspect, and no one aware of her situation would blame her much for taking a hammer to the head of the guy who was always knocking her around. But she insists she didn't do it. Hannah believes her and worries that with so much circumstantial evidence pointing toward her, the sheriff's department won't try too hard to look elsewhere for a killer. She can't let her friend be falsely charged with murder, even if she gets off lightly because of self-defense.

I like the personal motivation Hannah has for taking on the case this time around, and it's nice to see her becoming closer with her sister, who is the most prominent secondary character in this installment. The book also is a decent showcase for Lisa, Hannah's hard-working assistant at The Cookie Jar, and Norman, the easy-going dentist who is one of Hannah's two love interests. The other, hardened detective Mike, is slightly less involved in the story even though it's his case. That's because, while he seems like a nice enough guy, he's pretty condescending, and he's warned Hannah not to do any amateur sleuthing.

In some ways, this book is quite similar to the first, and Fluke could perhaps have changed things up a bit more. In both, Hannah finds one body early in the book, then another midway through while she's chasing down a lead regarding the first murder. The climax also has striking parallels. Some of the tactics Hannah uses to get information are definitely a little shady, not to mention a bit dangerous. Her instincts are getting better, though; not all of her ideas are very fruitful, but she seems to spend less time chasing false leads on this outing.

This mystery takes place during the week of a bake-off, so in addition to all of Hannah's regular Cookie Jar activities, we get an extra dose of delectable desserts. I also found some of the commentary on the inane banter of evening news personalities to be pretty amusing. While the book is set during December, its central dessert is one I always associate with early summer, and Fluke describes it in great detail, so now I have a major hankering for strawberry shortcake. Of course, since she provides the recipe – along with six others that look nearly as tasty – I might just have to do something about that soon...

Hannah Swensen: Professional Baker, Amateur Detective, Perpetual Mom-Dodger

Last month, I joined my aunt, uncle and cousin on their trip to Orlando, Florida. I came back to Erie to find snow on the ground. Yes, I had definitely landed back in winter, so it seemed like the right time for me to head off to Minnesota in my reading. Might as well pile on the cold. I’ve been intrigued by Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen series since I encountered it at the bookstore where I work. I’ve heard of “just desserts,” but cookies and murder aren’t two things I tend to associate with each other. If I did, visions of poison might prevent me from partaking, and what fun would that be?

But poison isn’t the problem in Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, the first book in this series about a baker in the tiny town of Lake Eden, Minnesota, who is an amateur sleuth on the side. The weapon of choice is a gun, leaving poor Ron, a well-liked deliveryman, dead in his truck, a batch of Hannah’s famous chocolate chip cookies scattered about him. Because Hannah discovers the body, and so close to her own shop, her brother-in-law Bill, a cop, asks her to give him an unofficial hand with his investigation. If he can crack this case, he might just have a shot at getting promoted to detective. Hannah is all too happy to help, but is she biting off more than she can chew?

Hannah is a 30-year-old intellectually-minded woman who returned to her sleepy hometown to help her mother and sisters deal with the aftermath of her father’s death. Having decided to stick around, she now runs a cookie shop and shares a condo with a clever cat named Moishe. While she is content with her life, her meddling mother, Delores, probably the book’s most amusing character, is always nagging her to find a nice man to settle down with, just as her career-minded sister Andrea did.

Her latest matchmaking efforts involve Norman Rhodes, a schlubby dentist who has moved back to Lake Eden to take over his father’s practice. As her investigation proceeds, Hannah has several opportunities to come into contact with Norman and is surprised to find that she enjoys his company. He’s easy-going, considerate and has a great sense of humor. At the same time, she is intrigued by Mike, the new detective in town who, much to her chagrin, makes her go all wobbly in the knees. He seems nice enough too, though he’s very accomplished and doesn’t seem all that impressed with the podonk place in which he’s landed. Hannah is used to being happily independent, but it looks like these two men might begin to complicate her world a bit.

And it’s already complicated enough. Her head is swimming with details throughout the book as she tries to zero in on clues and possible suspects in this appalling crime. Her instincts are good; she picks up on tiny details that could prove relevant and follows through on them, gathering one tiny bit of information at a time. She’s completely new at this, so it’s nice to see her bumbling down rabbit trails that ultimately lead her nowhere. She’s no Columbo who hones in on her prime suspect from day one and hounds him until he finally confesses. By the end of the book, it seems like half the people in town have been under her suspicion at one point, but her persistence in the face of disappointment is admirable. She merely crosses another name off the list and presses on. She is one determined gumshoe.

We’re looking over Hannah’s shoulder throughout the book, so we get to know her very well, and we also see a lot of her over-involved mother, her too-perfect sister Andrea, her helpful assistant Lisa and her uncanny cat, with whom she is remarkably in sync. And we also become well acquainted with her cookies, which make multiple appearances. Happily, if they make your mouth water, Fluke sprinkles recipes for them throughout the book. Thus far, the pecan chews are the only ones I’ve baked, but they turned out very tasty, and I’d like to try some of the others. Then again, I might just see what goodies the second book has in store…