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James Boice
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Who Killed the Fonz? Kindle Edition

by James Boice (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 out of 5 stars 78
See all formats and editions
The legendary 1950s-era TV show Happy Days gets reinvented as a gritty, “shamelessly entertaining” (Kirkus Reviews) 1980s noir.

Late October, 1984. Prince and Bruce are dominating FM radio. Ron and Nancy are headed back to the White House. And Richard Cunningham? Well, Richard Cunningham is having a really bad Sunday.

First, there’s the meeting with his agent. A decade ago, the forty-something Cunningham was one of Hollywood’s hottest screenwriters. But now Tinseltown is no longer interested in his artsy, introspective scripts. They want Terminator cyborgs and exploding Stay Puft Marshmallow men. Then later that same day Richard gets a phone call with even worse news: His best friend from childhood back in Milwaukee is dead. Arthur Fonzarelli. The Fonz. He lost control of his motorcycle while crossing a bridge and plummeted into the water below. Two days of searching and still no body, no trace of his trademark leather jacket, and Richard suspects murder. With the help of his old pals Ralph Malph and Potsie Weber, he sets out to catch the killer.

“Readers yearning for simpler times will enjoy this trip down memory lane, which is as comforting as an episode of Happy Days” (Publishers Weekly). Who Killed the Fonz? imagines what happened to the characters of the legendary TV show Happy Days twenty years after the series left off. And while much has changed in the interim—goodbye drive-in movie theaters, hello VCRs—the story centers around the same timeless themes as the show: The meaning of family. The significance of friendship. The importance of community.

“Wildly inventive and entertaining” (Booklist), Who Killed the Fonz? is an “irresistible” (New York Newsday) twist on a beloved classic that proves sometimes you can go home again.

TM & © 2018 CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved
Previous page
  1. Print length
    209 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster
  5. Publication date
    February 19, 2019
  6. File size
    3412 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Who Killed the Fonz? stands tall in a field of television property revivals. James Boice deftly mixes the broad comedy of the TV series with classic noir elements, resulting in an unexpectedly emotional rollercoaster ride that's more than a novelty. Happy Days are here again!" —Andrew Shaffer, author of the New York Times bestseller Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery

“I must confess that I never watched a single episode of Happy Days during its ten-year run, but reading Who Killed The Fonz? made me wish I had. Thank you, James Boice, not only for giving us a fast-paced, entertaining novel, but for reminding us in these corrupt Orwellian/Tower of Babel times we live in now, that not so many years ago "friending" someone meant much more than just clicking on a mouse, and that doing the right thing, no matter the risk, was looked upon as honorable and something to be proud of rather than as a sucker’s game.” —Donald Ray Pollock, author of The Devil All the Time and The Heavenly Table



“James Boice has achieved a magic kind of alchemy, exhuming beloved characters from our collective consciousness and gifting them with a fate, a future, and poignant inner lives. Who Killed the Fonz? is the best kind of pop-culture hypothetical — one that imagines, with heart, wit, and smarts, what happens when the Happy Days fade and real life begins.” — Adam Sternbergh, Edgar-nominated author of The Blinds



"A wildly inventive and entertaining novel." —Booklist

"Shamelessly entertaining..." —Kirkus Reviews

"Readers yearning for simpler times will enjoy this trip down memory lane, which is as comforting as an episode of Happy Days." —Publishers Weekly

About the Author

James Boice was born in California in 1982, raised in northern Virginia, and currently lives near Boston. He is the author of MVP and Who Killed The Fonz?



Michael Crouch is an actor based in New York City. His audiobook narration has won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, numerous Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine, and Best of the Year accolades from Booklist, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. He can also be heard on national commercials, cartoons, video games, and the anime series Pokemon XY and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07GNVG717
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (February 19, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 19, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3412 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 209 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 78

About the author

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James Boice

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
78 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Erik
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book that brings back some great feelings of watching Happy Days on Tuesday nights!
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2023
Verified Purchase
When I found this book, I was speechless. I love Happy Days! I couldn't put the book down. It was an excellent book! My biggest complaint was that the author needed to do a follow-up book. James did a great job bringing the characters back to life and capturing their dialogue. The story felt like a reunion movie for television which is exactly what I was hoping for. The author did a great job of throwing in references to the episodes. This is worth the read! Please write a sequel!
One person found this helpful
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Baltimore Reader 88
4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderully Unique
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2019
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This is one of the most fun, most ingenious, most inventive, and inspiring novels you will read this year. It's fun - but just when I thought I was having nothing but fun the author threw in something so profound and so thought provoking and so I found myself being inspired while I was having fun. Which is not easy to do. In the back of my mind, of course, was the question of what kind of mind can create something so meta - so steeped in both a fictional world and a real one. I loved this.
3 people found this helpful
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Tammy
3.0 out of 5 stars Reminence
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2020
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Quick easy read. Bringing back memories of a favorite television show. reminence of a time when we escaped the reality of our world to follow the Cunninghams!
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CoreyDamerell
5.0 out of 5 stars Those happy Days are yours and mine....
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2019
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When I first saw the title, I wasn't sure what to think. I loved the show. Would I love the book? The answer is a resounding "Yes!" Great plot. Familiar characters in unfamiliar situations. It was like going home and visiting old friends that you hadn't seen in a while. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loved "The Fonz," and anyone who didn't. If you like a good story well told, you'll love "Who Killed The Fonz."
4 people found this helpful
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Todd
5.0 out of 5 stars Happy Days are here again!
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2019
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Absolutely loved this book. A beautifully written story that brings a little bit more closure to the characters from the beloved sitcom. The conclusion kept me smiling the whole time I was reading it and while I know that a sequel really isn’t logical I’d love to see something similar from this author in the future. Excuse me while I turn back the clock and head on down to Arnold’s for a cheeseburger and milkshake.
4 people found this helpful
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Laura Johnson
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2020
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This was a fun read. Brought back lots of memories of watching Happy Days and all the characters.
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Christoph
2.0 out of 5 stars Pretty mixed - not a good feel for the characters
Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2019
Verified Purchase
I pretty much grew up with Happy Days and am a huge fan of mysteries, so this sounded like a fun, fascinating foray. The story pick in the 1980s in L.A., where Richard (not Richie) Cunningham is an Oscar-nominated writer whose career has hit some bumps. He receives word that his best friend from Milkwaukee - Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli - has died in a tragic motorcycle accident plummeting from a bridge into a raging river and returns for the funeral. After arriving, it becomes clear Fonzi's death may not have been accidental at all and Richie - with the help of estranged friends Potsie and Ralph Malph - decide to take a closer look.

Truthfully, the book is a mixed bag. It is not dark enough to qualify for noir and too serious to qualify as a cozy. It would seem a fun concept - the plot is fairly solid, if incredibly predictable. The "shocking" conclusion will not really shock anyone, particularly since there is such a limited array of suspects that could possibly be behind the murder and cover-up. Most will probably pinpoint the culprit shortly after their introduction in the story. Too much time is spent establishing Richie as a Hollywood bigwig on the skids and having him pouting and depressed about the state of his life and losing track of his friends.

Also, the author seems to know some of the highlights of Happy Days, but does not have much of a grasp of the characters. While I can accept that people change, I do not believe that all of the characters from the series would ostensibly fall out of touch immediately following Joanie and Chachi's wedding (the series finale), even the ones still living in the same city. Plus the author makes several blunders. The jumping the shark moment happened on a trip to Hollywood and not in Lake Michigan, the original Arnold's burned down, etc., but there are enough of them to wonder why an editor at least did not catch them.

Character-wise, the author does not do much better. Richie lives in Hollywood with Lori Beth, with his mother Marion living in a detached house out back. We are told in Chapter 1 that Howard Cunningham died in his sleep during a visit at Richie's, which kind of puts a damper on the book from the start since his outlook would have been welcome. We are told that not only did Fonzi not come to Howard's funeral, but that he did not even call to express condolences to the Cunninghams. This is not believable, nor is it credible that Lori Beth and Marion (who was basically Fonzi's mother figure) decide to forego attending Fonzi's funeral because they are busy. Huh?

He also just does not include or writes characters out without much sense. While Lori Beth and Marion are basically sidelined, Joanie and Chachi have moved into the family home, but are conveniently away in Tahiti and apparently do not feel Fonzi's death cause to return. Some of the later characters such as cousin Roger and the ubiquitous Jenny Piccolo are not mentioned at all. Al makes a brief appearance at the funeral to lament the loss of the good old days and his customers to the Bennigans across the street. The wake seems to be made up solely of Richie, Al, Potsie and Ralph, along with a gaggle of nameless ex-girlfriends. And getting over the friction between Potsie/Ralph and Richie seems to take too long.

I am uncertain the wisdom of making the book Richie-centric. The show itself lasted quite a while after Richie's departure and became more of an ensemble piece, so I think Boise could have spread the wealth out among the other characters and had them actually help more in solving the mystery. Plus, Richie spouts things that are inconceivable. It would be unlikely that Richie would vaguely remember Laverne DeFazio (who was more Fonzi's girl) and forget Shirley Feeney (who he was paired with several times, including a near forced marriage on a farm). And Richie would have never confused Shirley with Pinky Tuscadero. For all of the girlfriends showing up, it seems odd that neither Laverne or Shirley make an appearance. If Fonzi had true loves on the series at all, it would have been Pinky or Ashley Pfisterer, neither of whom show up and the latter gets nary a mention.

Not sure whether this is the start of a series or a one-off. I assume the latter since the conclusion does not really scream sequel or leave much open and Richie seems content to return to Hollywood to realize his dream project (which sounds like a bore to be frank). If Boise does have a second novel in mind, then he needs to round up the majority of the characters and have them be active players rather than cameos, brief mentions or bystanders. As it is, the book seems a tad flat to me.
12 people found this helpful
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Rick Kessell
5.0 out of 5 stars Go Fonz
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2019
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What a great and fun Read. I really enjoyed revisiting the
Characters I grew to love on Happy Days. The story kept me
Riveted,and the ending was very satisfying. I highly recommend this novel.
2 people found this helpful
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