The Prop: A Novel [Paperback]

Hautman's Godless (2005) won a National Book Award for Young People's Fiction, but his impressive, sharply written new crime thriller is definitely for adults—especially those who would rather play poker than do anything else. Peeky Kane, an attractive woman in her 40s, is a prop—hired to keep shorthanded poker games going at a casino owned by a Native American tribe near Tucson, Ariz. She gets paid $110 per eight-hour-shift plus health insurance, keeps any money she wins at the tables (and must make up any losses out of her own pocket). Because she's shrewd and talented, Peeky has managed to put together a small nest egg, some of which goes to her troubled 21-year-old daughter, Jaymie. Peeky's lover, Buddy Balcomb, is also a poker addict, whose own winning streak may be over. Peeky's life takes a few sharp turns after some crooked dealers find a new way to steal money and make her an unwilling accomplice. As this short but action-packed novel shows, Hautman is the kind of cool, expert player who keeps the cards coming. (Apr.)
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*Starred Review* Hautman won a National Book Award for the YA novel Godless (2004), and he plays a lot of poker, so it's no surprise he's an assured storyteller who knows his way around the felt. His latest poker-themed crime novel, with its crisp pacing, slick plot, and canny characters, will have readers already caught up in the Texas Hold 'Em craze nodding along with knowing pleasure while it lights a fire under everyone else to buy a rack of chips. Patty "Peeky" Kane works as a "prop" at an Arizona Indian casino, which means she fills out shorthanded poker games on behalf of management but plays--and wins--with her own stake. A cop's widow who was briefly on the force herself, Peeky is cruising into middle age when she notices a couple of dealers scamming jackpots. She keeps quiet, but then an insane posse of clowns steals a million bucks from the cage and kills several people in the process. Signs point to an inside job, and Peeky finds herself both under suspicion and roped into investigating the crime--even as she must track down her troubled daughter with a potentially violent son-in-law. There's a lot of muss and a little fuss, but Peeky maintains her wry, letting-it-all-hang-out vibe come hell or bad boyfriends. As an addition to the mystery game, she's as welcome as pocket aces. Frank Sennett
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"With The Prop, Pete Hautman has fashioned a kick-ass, corkscrew crime thriller that's as addictive as the dizzying, go-for-broke gambling milieu it portrays. The heroine, Peeky Kane, is tough, engaging, and wonderfully flawed, and I hope to see a lot more of her in the years to come." -- Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River

National Book Award winner Pete Hautman delivers a fast-paced mystery set in the torrid, unforgiving Southwestern desert, where the stakes are sky high and all bets are off.

Peeky Kane is a prop player at an Arizona casino owned by the Santa Cruz tribe. Her job is to play poker. She makes a handsome living off the suckers who populate the card room. Life is sweet.

But something's not right at Casino Santa Cruz. When Peeky inadvertently finds herself in a fixed game and comes away a couple thousand dollars richer, she finds herself drawn unwittingly toward the dark side of professional poker. Peeky has always thought of herself as a straight shooter, but now things aren't so clear. And they're about to get a lot murkier.

When a band of clown-masked robbers makes off with millions of the casino's dollars and leaves behind four corpses, Peeky recognizes one of the robbers as a casino employee, and fears that one of her closest loved ones might also be involved. That same day, Peeky's son-in-law turns up to tell her that Jaymie, her beloved daughter, has been stealing money from Peeky for years to feed a crack habit.

Numb from these revelations, Peeky is compelled to action by an unlikely source when the most powerful member of the Santa Cruz tribe calls upon her to help him save his troubled casino. Peeky must draw on her years of reading poker faces and playing the odds to save the casino, her daughter, and herself.

Pete Hautman is the author of Godless, which won the National Book Award, and many other critically acclaimed books for teens and adults, including Blank Confession, All-In, Rash, No Limit, Invisible, and Mr. Was, which was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America. Pete lives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Visit him at PeteHautman.com.