title: Manslaughter
author:  Parnell Hall 
description: In Hall's 15th outing to feature offbeat New York PI Stanley Hastings (after 2001's Cozy), a new client, Joe Balfour, admits he once served time for manslaughter after killing a man in a barroom brawl. Now, 25 years later, blackmailer Philip T. Grackle is threatening to make this embarrassing fact public. When Grackle is found with a carving knife in his heart, Balfour is arrested for murder. The plethora of suspects includes Balfour's daughter, who works in a topless bar, but the truth proves elusive, leading to a number of wacky complications and a vague ending. Though far from compelling, the story moves at a good clip, buoyed by snappy dialogue and its amusing, eccentric narrator. Hastings sizes up Balfour as "a simpleminded but amiable lout, who obviously killed only at the behest of undesirable companions who led him into evil against his will." He adds, "Of course I was making all that up. All I really knew about Balfour was that he was a impediment I had to circumvent before setting out on my actual job, chasing ambulances for a negligence lawyer." Whodunit fans with a taste for the unconventional will find this just what the doctor ordered.<BR>Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  ## Praise for Parnell Hall’s mystery Manslaughter
  
  
  “Whodunit fans with a taste for the unconventional will find this just what
  the doctor ordered.”
  
  
  —Publishers Weekly
  
  
  “As usual, Hall has crafted a mystery that's both funny and genuinely
  mysterious, a real treat for his many fans.”
  
  
  —Booklist
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Manslaughter
  
  
  Parnell Hall
  
  
  Copyright © 2003, 2011 by Parnell Hall
  
  
  Published by [Parnell Hall](http://parnellhall.com/), eBook edition, 2011.
  
  
  Published by Carroll & Graf, 2003.
  
  
  ISBN:978-0-7867-1127-7
  
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in
  part without written permission from the author, except by reviewers who may
  quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper, magazine, or
  electronic publication; nor may any part of this book be reproduced or
  transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without
  permission in writing from the