From Amazon.com
Of all the good action writers stumbling around South Florida in the shadow of Elmore Leonard, Les Standiford shows the most signs of growth and longevity. His John Deal is a contractor by trade, which gives him solid roots in the community, and the crimes he investigates are always connected to him by more than the accident of somebody walking into his office. This time the link is Arch Dolan, Deal's friend and favorite bookseller, killed just as a monster mega-store is set to open across the street. Standiford's last outing, Deal to Die For, is available in paperback--as are
Done Deal, Raw Deal and Spill.
From Publishers Weekly
Miami contractor John Deal hopes to reconcile with his wife, Janice, after her nervous breakdown. But it's slow going. In this fourth and best installment in a first-rate thriller series (Deal to Die For, etc.), Standiford litters the road back to serenity with dead bodies. Janice's boss, Arch Dolan, owner of a successful independent bookstore in Coral Gables, Fla., is killed in an apparent after-hours robbery. Then, in quick succession, the CEO of a huge bookstore chain and a local lawyer-fixer (and his doxy) meet spectacularly violent deaths. Deal starts finding links, including Dolan's sister Sara; the Nebraska-based Worldwide Church of Light, led by televangelist-mogul James Ray Willis?and the Kittles, cuddly 60-somethings who seem to have walked right off a Norman Rockwell magazine cover but who are stone-hearted killers. Deal and poor, rattled Janice are on the move and in constant danger, from south Florida to a blood- and snow-covered climax in Nebraska. The main villain's attempt to control worldwide communications is a bit goofy, but readers won't care because Standiford serves up crackerjack action and memorable characters like the killer Kittles, she in her Minnie Pearl hats, he in polyester, fitting in everywhere?lethally. $30,000 ad/promo; author tour; U.K., translation, first serial, dramatic rights: Sobel Weber.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
