Bancroft Press (Hardcover), ISBN 1890862185
Freelance writer and stay at home dad Aaron Tucker seems like the last person you would call upon to find a missing loved one. At 5'4", his intimidation repertoire consists of witty retorts and sharp sarcasm, and his five month stint as an investigative reporter did little to train him for detective work.

Knowing all this, Gary Beckwirth, a wealthy stock broker who made it big in the dot com boom, still insists that Aaron be the one to look for his wife, Madlyn, who disappeared from her bed in the middle of the night. Befuddled by Beckwirth's choice of investigators, Aaron nonetheless sets out to find the missing housewife. Pursuing his slapdash investigations, Aaron wanders the streets of Midland Heights, New Jersey, the paragon of happy suburbia, looking for clues. When a blue minivan begins to stalk his every movement he knows the solution must be within his grasp.

Aaron hardly knows what to do with all the clues he stumbles over, but determination to keep from looking like a fool forces him to call on all available resources. Luckily, they all prove to be up to the task. His wife, a successful criminal attorney, manages (just barely) to keep him out of legal trouble, while his friend, who happens to be the Chief of Police, surreptitiously funnels Aaron information about the official investigation into Madlyn's disappearance. Anything those two can't handle falls to Aaron's best friend and virtual Renaissance man, Jeff Mahoney. Jeff can handle a road trip to check out a story and installing a screen door with equal aplomb.

Juggling a freelance career, two young kids and a missing persons investigation, Aaron finds himself in over his head; not a difficult thing to do given his height, as he often notes. Aaron's sarcastic wit and sense of humor drive the book, along with the hilariously twisty and twisted plot full of entertaining characters we can only hope will become recurring. Some of the more hilarious moments occur when Aaron compares himself to other fictional detectives, often imagining what they would do in his peculiar situation -- particularly Stephanie Plum, with whom he shares much in common. Much like Evanovich, Cohen fills his novel with off the wall characters just zany enough to seem real. The first in a series of Aaron Tucker mysteries, For Whom The Minivan Rolls has this reader eagerly anticipating the next installment.

Ceridwen S. Lewin

New Hampshire writer Ceridwen Lewin is working on her first novel and numerous short stories.

Click here to read Jen Foote's review of For Whom the Minivan Rolls.

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