Highly charming, you get the sense that this could be a sitcom/mystery TV show in the best way. To that extent, the things that don't work are the most novelistic - the mystery itself isn't much of one, and ultimately you can't be so precious in a private eye novel that the mystery doesn't work. Still, the Spellmans are worth getting to know and you'll cackle at them just as much as any other goofball detective.