Mr Paradise
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- 3,99 €
Publisher Description
'Sharp as an ice pick . . . You will love this excellent book' New York Times
'Mr. Paradise is a perfect crime caper from a master . . . what more do you want?' Detroit Free Press
Tony Paradiso - aka Mr Paradise - gets his kicks from watching old football games on TV accompanied by live entertainment: sexy cheerleaders shaking their pom-poms and doing rah-rah routines for his viewing pleasure. But for Chloe Robinette, playing dress-up doesn't end so well when she's caught in the crossfire of a contract hit.
There are witnesses to the murders - Paradiso's right-hand man, Montez Taylor, and Chloe's roommate Kelly - but neither is giving too much away. Because Montez and Kelly have a score in mind, a big payoff from Mr Paradise's estate - if only Kelly can convince the cops she's someone else...
'Glittering black comedy, a razor-sharp cast of crooks and con men. Very funny, exceedingly tough . . . told in a dialogue sharp enough to draw blood' Literary Review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fifteen years after his last Detroit novel, Killshot, Leonard (whose most recent effort was Tishomingo Blues) returns to Motor City for another exemplary crime thriller. Chloe Robinette, an escort, is on a $5,000 monthly retainer from wealthy, retired octogenarian lawyer Anthony Paradiso; her duties include dancing topless in a cheerleader's outfit for him as he watches videos of old University of Michigan football games. On a night she persuades her roommate, Kelly Barr, a Victoria's Secret model, to join her in the dancing, Chloe and Paradiso, aka Mr. Paradise, are shot dead in Paradiso's mansion by two middle-aged white thugs. The hit has been set up by Paradiso's right-hand man, Montez Taylor, who's angry at Paradiso for cutting him out of his will; Montez then asks the shocked Kelly to impersonate Chloe in order to scam valuables from Paradiso's safe deposit box, to which Chloe had a key. Enter Frank Delsa, a Detroit homicide cop, who smells a rat and falls for Kelly while sorting matters out. She falls for him, too, but will the hit men and/or Montez take her out, since she can identify them as conspirators? Like the best crime thrillers which means like most of Leonard's work this novel is character-driven, and in its wonderfully rich, authentically human cast the story finds its surprises. The prose, as expected from Leonard, is perfect in 304 pages, there's not a word that doesn't belong exactly where he's placed it. Brilliantly constructed, wise and tough, this book, like so many recent Leonards, offers a master class in how to write a novel.
