Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780892965946
ISBN number: 0892965940
Label: Mysterious Press
Manufacturer: Mysterious Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: August 28, 2001
Publishing house: Mysterious Press
Sale Popularity Level: 1187889
Studio: Mysterious Press
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Product Description:
In Los Angeles, a Gypsys dying words finger a Gypsy princess for his murder. In Hong Kong, a unique treasure has been stolen by gimlet-eyed L.A. oil tycoon Victor Hessmaking Willem Van de Post, in Rome, plot across continents with his uncle, the King of the Gypsies, to get it back. The mayhem continues, everyone is conning, scamming, and no one is exactly who they seem.
Amazon.com Review:
Penzler Pick, August 2001: If anyone knows how to keep a carousel of a plot going--with multiple entrances and exits and any number of brass rings looking like the real thing--it's Joe Gores. His 'DKA files' books--DKA standing for Dan Kearny Associates, a motley crew of accomplished San Francisco repo men--provide the kind of plot where the reader must trust the author and settle back for the wild (and wonderful) ride.
In this new novel, the men and women of DKA meet up once again with members of the Muchwaya family of Gypsies. The two groups form a useful, if uneasy, alliance. Dan, in fact, agrees to be hired by Staley, a Muchwaya elder he likes despite considering him 'the twistiest man he had ever known.' What Staley wants is for Dan to bring to earth the elusive and extremely gorgeous Yana, apparently now on the lam after murdering her husband. Yana is as clever as she is beautiful, and her wily disguises keep her--barely--one step ahead of Kearney.
Cons, Scams & Grifts lives up to its title, with the usual Gores gusto keeping the action fast, furious, and funny. I'm not going to tell you about the talking orangutan, or the phony baron, or the lesbian dominatrix, or the mortuary cosmetician known as Becky Thatcher, or what part the Pope plays, or how the Japanese mob got involved. Just trust me--it all makes sense in the end. And you're going to love it. --Otto Penzler
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Rated by buyers -
Joe Gores does a tremendous job in "Cons, Scams & Grifts" of keeping the novel under control, a highly commendable achievement considering that the book has dozens of characters who play significant roles in the plot, as well as probably over a dozen separate storylines, most of which are interrelated in some way. The key storylines in the novel that all the others are spun off from are the repossession of 27 classic cars from a dealership who does everything it can to hide them, a Gypsy woman's apparent murder of her husband in Los Angeles, and the battle between an Italian zoo curator and a California millionaire for a rare orangutan
I understand that this novel is a sequel of sorts to "32 Cadillac's", which I've never read, using many of the same characters. To Gores' credit, he gives you enough backhistory so that those of us who haven't read "32 Cadillac's" are able to read "Cons, Scams & Grifts" without feeling lost. I would say about 90-95% of the time Gores was successful in keeping all of the various characters and storylines clear, and there really was only a handful of times when the various intersecting plots and characters got a bit fuzzy.
One of the strongest aspects of "Cons, Scams & Grifts" is the fact that Gores really was a private detective and repo man. Unlike many detective novels that pretty much require that you leave you brain and any sense of logic or reality at the door in order to enjoy them, the believability quotient seemed to me to be much higher in this novel than in similar books. I also enjoyed the obviously well researched insight into modern gypsy culture, which I really didn't know anything about previously. Half the fun of the book for me was reading a scene that I figured was being played straight, and then realizing later I had been conned myself (particularly the scenes with the overeager jewelery salesman whose free-spending customer and rare gem supplier are not exactly who they seem to be). Also, having grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area it was fun to see many familiar locations appear in the novel.
Rated by buyers -
A roller coaster of a novel, dealing with a passel of repo men and women and a whole tribe of gypsies. A hilarious story of magnificent scams and cons. An in depth study on the repossession of cars for a bank that holds the defaulted loans. Of course, the two intertwine and the results are beautiful.
Unfortunately, the author chose to write in very short chapters with constantly changing scenery. Add to that the ever changing names, and the result can become rather confusing.
Rated by buyers -
This book was a little difficult to read because of all the different stories going on at once, but if you can get past that and I did, it is a fun read. This is the latest in Joe Gores Series with the DKA Repossessors. I had not read the previous books by Mr. Gores but will probably go back and start from the beginning. I was not lost in this book because I didn't read the rest of the series though. Each of the agents from the Agency have a story as well as the main murder plot. It is definitely a good guy, bad guy book. It also portrays the Gypsy way of life pretty well. The characters definitely come to life for you.
Rated by buyers -
The latest in Gores's DKA series combines the Gypsy characters from 32 Cadillacs with the homicide cops Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern from Contract Null and Void, plus a delightful Dutch Rom zoologist and an orangutan named Freddie. Larry Ballard finds himself sweatily involved with the Japanese exchange student he lusted over in the last book and Trin Morales has to find his courage again after having been beaten to a pulp by the brother of one of his conquests. Yana, the beautiful (and nearly shape-changing) Gypsy is wanted for murder and the king of the Muchwaya tribe decides to hire Daniel Kearny to get her out of it; if Daniel Kearny Associates could successfully repo all those cars from Staley Zlachi and his people, he knows they're good! And then there are the seven outstanding classic cars from the dealer raid that opens the book: You know the guys are going to get them all, but how? Some of the plot points, especially those involving the ape, threw me a little -- and Gores obviously has a thing for Gypsy crime syndicates -- but it's still a good yarn. I've said it before -- any of the DKA series would make a terrific film (and I would cast Bob Hoskins as Kearny).
Rated by buyers -
Joe Gores -- one of the few mystery writers to actually have been a private investigator at one time in his life -- has written many acclaimed books over the years. Somehow, though, he has managed to fly under our radar here at Mystery Ink. We suspect it's due more to our inattention to any flaw on Gores' part. Based on the quality of this book, he goes right to the head of the class.
Interweaving three complicated plots, along with at least a dozen significant characters, would be beyond the abilities of many writers. For a seasoned veteran like Joe Gores, though, it's a piece of cake. (At least, he makes it seem like it is. I somehow doubt it was quite that easy.) "Cons, Scams & Grifts" is one of the best mysteries I've read this year.
--David Montgomery, Mystery Ink
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