Stuff I Read: This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero

What if Holmes and Watson, or Spade and Archer, or Bonnie and Clyde had lifestyles were completely opposite one another? What if the utterly loathed each other? And what if they lived in the same body? In the vein of classic dynamic duos and odd couples, Edgar Cantero introduces us to A. and Z. Kimrean: twin detectives who share a single body in his 2018 novel, This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us.

Adrian and Zooey Kimrean are twins who can’t get away from one another. Literally. They are two minds who inhabit one, intersex, heterochromatic, chimeral body and make a living as a brother/sister private investigator, confusing clients and police alike. Adrian is the brains of the operation—studious, detail-oriented, driven, and terrible with people—while Zooey is the hard-drinking, fast-living, charismatic heart of the pairing. After a hilarious opening involving a gunfight and a femme fatale, all relayed to a San Francisco detective, the SCPD enlist the aid of A.Z. Kimrean to unravel the mystery surrounding the deaths of a crime lord’s adult children while protecting the undercover cop assigned to the case and trying to prevent a war between rival crime families. Along the way, Zooey befriends Ursula, the tween daughter of said crime lord. Ursula is infatuated with Zooey, who develops a motherly/sisterly attachment to her, while Adrian (who hates children) is rude and standoffish with her.

The last thing I read from Edgar Cantero was Meddling Kids, a spoof/homage to Scooby-Doo, revisiting the character types as adults. It was clever and laugh-out-loud funny. This Body’s Not Big Enough For Both of Us spoofs hard-boiled noir (with a reference to Elmore Leonard on the first page) hilariously. There is a clear respect for the genre while ripping it to shreds. With the Kimrean twins, Cantero puts together an effective buddy cop dynamic as these two vastly different personas struggle to coexist in one small space. Think Lethal Weapon’s Riggs and Murtagh if they were handcuffed together and forced to live in a micro-studio. At the core of this are a solid mystery and gripping detective fare. The setup is brilliant and only enhanced by the frequent winks and nods to genre tropes and cliches. However, those nods come frequently, and I can see how they could take you out of the story. That’s a minor gripe for me, though.

I dug This Body’s Not Big Enough For Both of Us from the first page. It was an inventive, quick, and fun read with fascinating characters and fun set pieces. It was a highly entertaining read. But be prepared to answer questions about what you’re reading, as the cover and title are sure conversation starters.

Pros: Fun story with great leads. A solid noir comedy.

Cons: Snarky asides acknowledging genre tropes can be distracting.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.