Showing results by author "Les Standiford" in All Categories

While John Deal is busy with his thriving construction business, he is shocked to learn that his closest friend, Barbara, is dead. Although the police tag it as suicide, Deal is suspicious. And when Barbara’s sister, a beautiful film star, disappears, he is driven to find the relationship between the two cases. The link is one that will put Deal in the midst of Chinese gangsters and piles of tainted cash.

“Les Standiford takes us under the big top and behind the curtain in this richly researched and thoroughly engaging narrative that captures all of the entrepreneurial intrigue and spirit of the American circus.” —Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove Millions...

From the introduction by Les Standiford: "The truth is that Miami, though naturally lovely, is a frontier town, perched on the border between the known and the rarely before experienced. The poet Richard Hugo once said that the natural place for the writer was on the edge, and 'edge' might well be the definitive word when it comes to this city... We are not only on the edge of the continent, we are to this country what New York was in Ellis Island's heyday, what the West Coast was in the middle of the 20th century.

Contractor-sleuth John Deal is the last of his kind—a builder who appreciates his craft. His friend Arch Dolan was the last of his kind, too, a Miami bookseller who sold books because he loved them. Now someone has killed him for it. And he's only the first body to fall. In quick succession the CEO of a huge bookstore chain and a local lawyer meet violent ends … and Deal begins finding connections.

Les Standiford is the best-selling author of the famous John Deal suspense series, including Presidential Deal. The quickly paced plot, intriguing characters, and electric dialogue found in Deal With the Dead will please longtime fans and enthrall newcomers. John Deal is attempting to resurrect his late father’s failed building firm when he makes an awesome discovery. Now he faces the strong-arm tactics of the same secret organization that ruined his father.

When Presidential Deal hit the bestseller lists, fans of Les Standiford’s other books, including Done Deal and Raw Deal, rejoiced. They already knew what new listeners would find: taut suspense, tough characters, and a superb sense of mood. Now in Black Mountain, Standiford combines high-country adventure with a tale of ruthless revenge.

Johnny Deal is about to receive a presidential award for heroically rescuing 20 people from Miami waters. At the ceremony, however, as the president’s wife stands in for her husband, terrorists attack the stage. Now Johnny and the First Lady are hostages, and Johnny’s chances to remain a hero are rapidly slipping away. As each scene unfolds, it is sure to satisfy your thirst for brawny, fast-paced suspense. Standiford crafts a fascinating vision of one man determined to keep his equilibrium amidst the twisted residents of the Florida underworld.

Done Deal is filled with gripping characters, unforgettable encounters and unexpected twists. As the Miami sun shines down on a brutal world of corruption and violence, Johnny Deal is salvaging what is left of his family’s contracting business. His four-plex will be completed once he pays off a few more inspectors, and he is rejoicing in his wife’s pregnancy. But he’s about to find himself standing in the way of investors who will do anything, and eliminate anyone, that keeps them from the property they want.

If you like audiobooks laced with dark, gritty suspense, you won’t be disappointed by this addition to the adventures of Johnny Deal. Set in Miami, each novel in Les Standiford’s gripping series glows with the heat of danger and deception. In the wake of a major hurricane, Johnny Deal, a Miami contractor, is busy with renovations and enjoying new prosperity. But the ambitious plans of a Cuban sugar baron are about to remove the sweet taste of success from Johnny’s life. Hired thugs send Deal’s plans up in flames, but it’s not just the contracting business that is at stake.

“Les Standiford’s account of the decades-long attempt to solve the murder of Adam Walsh is chilling, heartbreaking, hopeful, and as relentlessly suspenseful as anything I’ve ever read. A triumph in every way.” —Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River “The most significant missing child...

“Popular history in its most vital and accessible form. Standiford has recovered the mentality of America’s first group of young radicals, the Sons of Liberty, and tells their story with flair and grace.” —Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Founding Brothers Les...

The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the story of the largest public water project ever created—William Mulholland’s Los Angeles aqueduct—a story of Gilded Age ambition, hubris, greed, and one determined man who's vision shaped the future and continues to impact us today. In 1907...