"Cohen's First Novel is a Winner"

Mystery series are very common these days. However, what isn't so common is having a mystery series that stars a 5'5" stay-at-home dad who does some freelance writing and amateur sleuthing. It may seem like an odd hero for a book, but Jeffrey Cohen makes it work with his hero Aaron Tucker in FOR WHOM THE MINIVAN ROLLS.

Aaron Tucker is a happy freelance writer with a fabulous lawyer wife and two great kids. He busies himself by submitting articles to various newspapers and magazines and dreams of writing a screenplay that will make him famous. Things begin changing in his world when he finds out that Gary Beckwirth, a wealthy man whose wife has recently gone missing, wants him to investigate the disappearance. Aaron has never done any detective work in his life, the closest being his stint as an investigative reporter years earlier. He can't understand why Gary would want him to find his wife, but when the local paper offers him a bundle of money to do a story on the event, he can't pass it up. The investigation throws Aaron and his family into a world they never thought existed in sleepy suburban New Jersey, and tests Aaron's fledgling abilities to solve a crime.

For Whom the Minivan Rolls is an excellent first novel by Jeffrey Cohen. His Aaron Tucker is amusing, brave, sarcastic and, above all, real. Nothing is perfect is Aaron's world (including his kids), yet the story is told warmly and with affection and will strike a cord with parents and non-parents alike. Cohen expertly combines domestic family life and a gripping mystery to create an altogether original, enthralling read. His characters breathe life and welcome you into their world with open arms.

FOR WHOM THE MINIVAN ROLLS is the first in what Cohen plans to be a series starring Aaron Tucker. If he continues writing gripping and entertaining novels such as this one, Cohen will find himself at the top of many mystery readers' lists.

Reviewed by Angela McQuay
Posted February 20, 2003