Rating: 
Summary: You called this smalltime cheapshot a gamble?!
Review: The whole McNally series are but jokes compared to what L.S. done before and how great he was once. The Mcnally series is a like light-hearted,try-to-be-sober,umemployed drunken Enlish butler who's trying to cheat you to hear out his going-no-where and no-big-deal adventures. The whole tempo of this series is like a drunken senile old guy with acholic bulbous acne nose in pajama, even with a 19 century sleeping bonnet on his head, trying to tell you some big deal Agatha Christie tales with comedian characters like relics out of the 19th century to play a tasteless drama for you but only made you fall asleep until the curtain fell and then you awoke with nothing, absolutely nothing in your memory. This series is as tasteless as the overkilled smart talk Spencer series donated by R.b.Parker, so hollow, so pointless, so trivial; the only difference between this two writers now is that you smell a very strong achole in McNally's BLABBLABBLABS, but tasted too much overdone smart talks MSG in the Spencer's BLABBLABBLABS, either made you numb and felt idiotically empty after reading it, if you could finish it. They are not serious thrillers but comic books with funny, imbecile characters
Rating:
Summary: This is not Lawrence Sanders!
Review: This book is horrible! I have serious doubts that Lawrence Sanders wrote this latest Archy McNally installment. Sanders died sometime in February of 1997 after a long illness. This book was published sometime in April of the same year. After reading the first two pages of McNally's Gamble it was clear to me that Sanders was not the primary author. Having read all the McNally books, this one was missing Sanders recognizable writing style and humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Another book in the Archie McNally Series
Review: This is another book about Archie McNally, a modern day Bertie Wooster. I personally did not think this book was as good as some of the previous books, but possibly I have just grown tired of some of the characters. The lead-in is somewhat tedious as the plot develops slowly. This story reminds me of talking to someone who has trouble getting to the point, i.e., the person you try to avoid at a party. Sanders reuses a ploy used in a previous book, a shady investment advisor, although in this case it has a new twist. The book is written in first person and he seems to fill in a lot of space with minute details about the narrator. The second half of the book develops at a faster pace, with less of the excruciating detail of what type of jam Archie uses on his toast, and it becomes a more readable book, but only after one has plowed through the first half.
Rating: 
Summary: Probably the best Archy McNally story yet.
Review: This is my favorite in the long line of Archy McNally books. While Sanders has given us more profound writing, the McNally series is fun and fast reading. Who doesn't envy Archy's cushy lifestyle, and relish in sharing it through Sanders's witty narrative. Sanders's use regular characters in the McNally series, for me, makes for a familiar and comfortable return to a juicy new mystery in West Palm Beach. I find comfort in and always depend on Archy's weak-kneed response to women, and his lack of willpower where hedonism in any form is concerned. I was impressed with how Sanders was able to ignite some real feelings throughout the story, such as the guilt Archy felt with Sydney Smythe's death. For me, this lends some authenticity to the storyline. McNally's and Rogoff's collaboration was better developed in this effort, and the interesting twist concering the contents of Mrs. Westmore's Faberge Egg helped endear this story to me. Though sometimes predictable, I would recommend McNally's Gamble to any Sanders fan, and highly recommend it as a first read for someone who has not read a McNally mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: I try not to read two McNally books in any six month period
Review: Using that strategy, the books stay fresh and entertaining. Archy McNally is kind of what you'd get if you crossed Lord Peter Wimsey with Cary Grant's character from the Awful Truth. He's urbane, irresponsible, retro and witty-- an unavoidably appealing combination. The plots themselves are more vehicles for Archy's charm, but are adequately written as such-- this one contains enough interesting background information about faberge eggs and con men to carry me through without getting horribly bored.
Rating:
Summary: McNally eggstracts con artist
Review: Was this book a fun read? Eggxactly. Archy is employed to discover if a rich woman's proposed Faberge egg investment is on the up and up. Is it? Of course not, and we all know who the good guys and bad guys are all along, but the book is fun nevertheless. The rich woman's kids have motives of their own, which add to the interest. And the crooks are very entertaining, and Archy spends a lot of time dancing with them as he tries to con them as well. I particularly enjoy McNally books that have less Binky, like this one.
Rating:
Summary: McNally eggstracts con artist
Review: Was this book a fun read? Eggxactly. Archy is employed to discover if a rich woman's proposed Faberge egg investment is on the up and up. Is it? Of course not, and we all know who the good guys and bad guys are all along, but the book is fun nevertheless. The rich woman's kids have motives of their own, which add to the interest. And the crooks are very entertaining, and Archy spends a lot of time dancing with them as he tries to con them as well. I particularly enjoy McNally books that have less Binky, like this one.
Rating:
Summary: Sanders "Gamble" pays off!
Review: With the very first "McNally" book I ever read, I was hooked. Now, each February, I race to the bookstore to get the latest one in hardcover. Archy captivates me, he is a riot! I want to read non-stop, but, as I get closer to the conclusion, I force myself to slow down--it's a long wait 'till the next February! This one is no different, Archy is a gamble worth taking! I'm so happy I found Amazon, now I won't even have to leave the house to get the next McNally treasure! Hmm, "McNally's Treasure," perhaps the next best seller?
(RoseAnn Gibbons
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