Crashed

A Junior Bender Mystery, Book 1

By: Timothy Hallinan

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Introducing Junior Bender, the favorite burglar turned private investigator of Hollywood crooks.

Junior Bender is a Los Angeles burglar with a magic touch. Since he first started breaking into houses at age fourteen, he's never once been caught. But now, after twenty-two years building an exemplary career, Junior has been blackmailed by Trey Annunziato, one of the most powerful crime bosses in LA, into acting as a private investigator on the set of Trey's porn venture, which someone keeps sabotaging. The star Trey has lined up to do all that's unwholesome on camera is Thistle Downing, America's beloved child star, who now lives alone in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. Her starring role will be the scandalous fall-from-grace gossip of rubberneckers across the country. No wonder Trey needs help keeping the production on track.

Junior knows what he should do - but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of LA's scariest mob boss. With the help of his precocious twelve-year-old daughter, Rina, and his criminal sidekick, ex-getaway driver Louie the Lost, Junior will have to pull off a miracle to get out of this mess.

Timothy Hallinan is the Edgar - and Macavity Award - nominated author of over a dozen widely praised books, including the Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers and the Junior Bender series. In 2010 he conceived and edited an e-book of original short stories by twenty mystery writers, Shaken: Stories for Japan, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to Japanese disaster relief.

©2012 Timothy Hallinan (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc

Critic reviews

"Tim Hallinan has done it again. He's created a must-read series that you will find hard to put down! Junior Bender is all you could ever want in a hero-thief: smart and funny, with a penchant for finding himself in situations he'd much rather avoid. Do not miss any of these books. A must-read in my house." (Brett Battles, author of the award-winning Jonathan Quinn series)

" Crashed is funny, thrilling, and even sad - a great beginning for a great new series. Timothy Hallinan is one of my favorite writers, and this is Hallinan at the top of his game. It's laugh-out-loud funny without ever losing any of its mystery. It's a whole new style and I love it. Junior Bender - a crook with a heart of gold - is one of Hallinan's most appealing heroes, rich with invention and brimming with classic wit. I can't recommend it highly enough." (Shadoe Stevens, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson)

"Hallinan is one of the master storytellers of our generation. Crashed is pure rapture." (CJ West, author of The End of Marking Time)

interesting but predictable

I like the characters, but the story is a bit predictable. It also lacks in the area of believability, there are things that just don't make sense, in a "huh" kind of way. As the story comes to an end it loses the excitement, the sense of new. You might enjoy it but you'll want to get to the end, not because it is exciting but because your over the story

Learn how to pronounce names

It was an ok book, and I would have liked the narrator better if he knew how to pronounce the artist, Paul Klee’s name. You need to check lots of things before recording.

Truly entertaining

If you like crime stories infused with humor and where the author actually delivers all the way through, try this one. For me, this author was a nice discovery.

Great start to this fun series!

After finishing four books in this series, I’m coming back to review the the first one. The Junior Bender series are fun to listen to.

Crashed is a great start where you meet some colorful characters that will show up in subsequent books. Junior is a thief that ends up investigating a case involving a former child star who is a young adult now and trying to restart her career. He is a sarcastic narrator and the story is a sort of light noir somewhat similar to Raymond Chandler with Los Angeles serving as the backdrop.

Just an AWESOME book!

Heard a book review of Crashed by Nancy Pearl from the Seattle Public Library (check out her website) She really loved this book, so I checked it out and I'm so glad I did. Junior Bender's is my burglar hero! The other characters are well written as well and the story is fantastic. Peter Berkrot did a great job bringing Hallinan story to life. I can't wait for the next book in the series

Surprisingly Entertaining

On a recommendation, I thoroughly enjoyed the clever writing skills of Mr. Hallahan. i can't wait to delve into his next escapade of Junior Bender.

Crash Crushed It

Funny physical comedy; exposing child actor exploitation; complex characters. What's not to like? Great story!

Started Off Great Then Runs Out Of Steam

There's a lot to like about this book and Peter Berkrot does a great job bringing the story alive, but the last half of the book seemed rushed and a bit lacklustre. I did finish the book, and I would recommend it, I just wish that the last half of the story was as exciting and interesting as the first half. There's some interesting character's and a lot of funny dialogue which I did enjoy.

Excellent. Wanted new aft Westlake's Dortmunder

I enjoyed this audiobook, my first Junior Bender, very much. I couldn't find another audiobook of Donald Westlake's Dortmunder series, only Kindle copies with no Audlble Add-on WhisperSync aft his "Good Behavior" & "Get Real" & I thank the reviewer who suggested Bender series as an option aft Westlake. Bender slowed for me thru Jr's readiing of Thistle's journal pages & a little thru the 2nd mother's telling of graveyard backstory, but the latter is necessary for future events I suppose & perhaps the former has a couple of details necessary for future understanding. Even though I fast-fwded thru journal section, I followed story. The story took off after the burial-ground scene & was action enough prior to either of my felt lags.

Sympathetic thief. Fun read. Exemplary narration.

I enjoyed this light read because of its humor and its convoluted plot. Yes, it strains credibility, but this is not great literature, just recreational reading that is much enhanced by the quality of the narration. I enjoy mysteries in which the hero is himself a criminal. This reminded me of the classic series by Richard Stark featuring Parker, although Junior is not nearly so ruthless. After all, he has a daughter he loves and and an ex-wife he hopes to win back. He's a little bit disarming in his forthrightness. I can imagine his going to a parent-teacher conference and, responding to his daughter's query about what he does for a living, that he is a professional thief. I look forward to the next in the series.