Deal to Die For » (Reprint)

Les Standiford is best known for his series of hard-boiled detective capers starring tough guy John Deal -- a hero the legendary James Ellroy once called "the unassailable new kingpin of the South Florida crime novel." Perhaps one of the only popular crime writers today with a Ph.D. in creative writing, Standiford leads the writing program at Florida International University in between books.

John and Janice Deal seem to have put the horrors of Raw Deal behind them when Janice suddenly slips into a profound depression. As Deal battles to keep her balanced, he must contend with the apparent suicide of his best friend, Barbara Cooper, who was seemingly distraught over the death of her mother. Meanwhile, middling Hollywood agent Stuart Mahler has a bright idea - making porn movies for the burgeoning Chinese market. ("Imagine," he enthuses, "a billion people all getting in touch with their sexuality at the same time!") His idea is too bright, perhaps, because it's attracted the attention of a ruthless Chinese triad that is muscling in on Mahler's venture. What ties all this together, and brings John Deal on the scene, is Paige Nobleman, a struggling Hollywood actress, who is Mahler's client and Barbara Cooper's sister. She hires Deal and his partner, ex-cop Vernon Driscoll, to find out whether her sister really killed herself. The answer to that question only leads to more disturbing questions. Questions that the triad will do anything to stop Deal from asking - "anything" meaning Gabriel Tan, a splendidly chilling behemoth who blends Eastern philosophy and a hard-won knowledge of how to end a life with one hand. Standiford sets himself apart from the crowd by tackling malevolence in its timeliest incarnation and depicting decent, ordinary people wrestling with extraordinary evil.

Publishers Weekly

This suspenseful third John Deal crime thriller from Standiford finds the Miami building contractor tangling with Chinese gangsters who are trying to move in on a scheme hatched by two Hollywood porno magnates to create X-rated films for the huge mainland Chinese market. Deal already has troubles enough-his wife, Janice, has sunk into a deep depression over the serious burns she suffered in last year's Raw Deal, and a close friend has apparently committed suicide, shortly after she has told her film-star sister, Paige Nobleman, that Paige was adopted. Deal and his tenant/pal, ex-cop Vernon Driscoll, begin investigating Paige's birth and, eventually, the friend's death, following leads that take them directly into the porno scheme and the path of some deadly Chinese gang members. Standiford, an unusually fine thriller writer who has won the Frank O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and who directs the creative writing program at Florida International University, is at the top of his game here, displaying excellent pacing and a particular affinity for action scenes. The ongoing saga of John Deal remains especially intriguing above all, however, because its author drenches each volume in the ambiguities-sometimes rewarding, sometimes nightmarish-of real life. $25,000 ad/promo; author tour; U.K. and translation rights: Sobel Weber; first serial and dramatic rights: Nat Sobel. (Oct.)