Violent Ward - Softcover

Deighton, Len

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0008162255 ISBN 13: 9780008162252

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2016

Synopsis

If America is a lunatic asylum, then California is the Violent Ward.

Mickey Murphy is a criminal lawyer with an office in LA’s downtown low-rent district, an ex-wife who bleeds him for money, clients who would plead the Fifth Amendment if they could count that high, and an unrequited passion for his wealthiest client’s wife. To make matters worse, Mickey finds himself embroiled against his wishes in an elaborate and clever scam that’s going askew, and being interrogated by the LAPD about a brutal murder.

With an observant eye and ear for the California ‘scene’, Deighton once again uses his brilliant storytelling skills to propel an exciting and suspenseful narrative at breakneck speed to a dramatic climax in a riot-torn city.

This new reissue includes a foreword from the cover designer, Oscar-winning filmmaker Arnold Schwartzman, and a brand new introduction by Len Deighton, which offers a fascinating insight into the writing of the story.

About this title

Review:

‘Deighton’s ear for dialogue and eye for lunatic-California are perfect’
Sunday Express

‘A blistering read... The guessing game continues to the final page’
Time Out

‘Crime at its most entertaining, filled with lively dialogue’
Sunday Telegraph

‘Superbly edgy. Entertaining, full of good one-liners’
Sunday Times

From the Back Cover:

In 'Violent Ward', Len Deighton, the author of bestselling international thrillers, has created a lively and entertaining new character, Mickey Murphy, a criminal lawyer working in Los Angeles.

A subversive and abrasive individual not happy to part with his cash, Mickey has a classic Cadillac of which he is enormously proud, an office in a seedy downtown neighbourhood, a Hollywood-bound ex-wife who always needs money, a son at USC ('the University of Spoiled Children') and clients who would plead the Fifth Amendment if they could only count that high.

One thing Mickey does not need is to be pulled in as a suspect for a brutal murder, but that is just what happens when he starts asking questions on behalf of Ingrid Petrovich, his childhood sweetheart. Ingrid has come back into Mickey's life because her husband, self-made millionaire and street-smart entrepreneur Zack Petrovitch, has bought into Mickey's firm, probably with the idea of buying Mickey too...

What is the shady business that Ingrid has got him involved in? And how does it connect with the odd English couple Victor Crichton and Sir Jeremy Westbridge, not to mention the Reverend Edgar Stojil, otherwise known as Rainbow?

'Violent Ward' is a fast-paced, suspenseful picture of the unique people and lifestyle of Southern California, building to a breathtaking climax on the riot-torn streets of South Central Los Angeles. And it is vintage Deighton.

With a mother named Fitzgerald the Irish dimension comes naturally to Len Deighton, who lived in Ireland for more than a decade. He is the author of more than thirty books of fiction and non-fiction, including such novels as 'City of Gold, Mamista,' the 'Spy Hook, Spy Line,' and 'Spy Sinker' trilogy as well as 'Funeral in Berlin, The Ipcress File' and 'Winter'. His highly researched histories and novels of World War II such as 'Fighter, Bomber' and 'Goodbye Mickey Mouse' have all appeared to international acclaim.

Born in London, he served in the RAF before graduating from the Royal College of Art (which recently elected him a Senior Fellow). While in New York city working as a magazine illustrator he began writing his first novel, 'The Ipcress File', which was published in 1961. At present living in Europe, he has over the years lived with his family in ten different countries from Austria to Portugal.

Here me out, buddy: They say: If America is a lunatic asylum then California is the Violent Ward. This is the place where Rodney King gets prime time. My name is Murphy and I'm a Mick lawyer with an ex-wife who sends her astrologer around demanding money so she can pay off her orthodontist. My kid has hocked his 9mm Browning using false ID. I'm in love with the wife of my wealthiest client and the cops are trying to pin a nasty homicide on me.

But there's no recession in the crime industry and my business is fine, or it might be if my German secretary could write and speak English, and my clients didn't get wasted before they paid my bills. The kind of crooks I defend never plead the Fifth because they can't count that far.

Okay, okay: So nobody loves a lawyer.

See ya in court.
M. MURPHY
ATTORNEY AT LAW

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0008162255
• ISBN 13: 9780008162252
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304