'Go To Helena Handbasket' by Donna Moore

PointBlank, 2006

ISBN: 9780809557356

Genre: Crime Fiction, Spoof, Humour

 

On her latest case, wisecracking Private Investigator, Helena Handbasket, is faced with a lot of tough questions. Did Robin Banks have a hand in the theft of Evan Stubezzi's jewels? And if so, was the hand one of those packed in ice in the freezer box that was delivered to his brother, Owen? Is there a serial killer on the loose? Or are all those handless corpses with scarlet fish sewn into their chest cavities purely coincidental? What shoes should you wear for a meeting with a killer? Why does her next-door neighbour smell of cheese? Which of her true loves is her real true love? And, more importantly, is there anything in the fridge for dinner? Can our man-loving, cocktail-loving, food-loving, not-so-very-intrepid heroine answer these questions-any of them-without leaving a cliché unturned?

​

Winner of: Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery Novel, 2007

 

"Even in the farcical universe imagined in Moore's witty sendup of detective novels and cop shows, overweight, man-hungry British PI Helena Handbasket is playing out of her league: ""I was sure I'd solved the case through good detecting skills, cunning, and the sheer good luck of being kidnapped by the suspect."" Threading her indelicate, befuddled path through such characters as Robin Banks, Luke Warmwater, Augusta Wind, and Jerry and Sally Mander, Helena searches for a wealth of missing jewels as well as an apparent serial killer-one who chops off hands, sticks Ten Commandment notes into mouths and tops the corpses off by sewing little scarlet fish into hollowed-out chest cavities. Boldly ignoring every clue thrust into her face, Helena will amuse many readers and drive others batty." - Publishers Weekly.

​

"GO TO HELENA HANDBASKET is one hundred and fifty pages of pure fun. Donna Moore has written a crackingly paced, witty send-up of every hard-boiled crime-fiction genre going. Each paragraph, even almost every sentence, is rich with puns, knowingly sly digs at many cliches, wisecracks and sheer good humour." - Maxine Clark, Euro Crime.    

 

"Donna Moore has written a book that has more clichés in it than I have ever seen assembled in one place before. Intentionally, I hasten to add, since it’s the clichés that make the story what it is, plus the use of the ‘PI formula’, if there is such a term. Helena Handbasket is every PI book you’ve ever read, rolled into one. Donna is very funny, whereas Helena is more stupid than anything. And lucky. Most of the time."   - Ann Giles, The BookWitch.