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Title details for Once a Crooked Man by David McCallum - Available

Once a Crooked Man

A Novel

by David McCallum
David McCallum
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

A deliciously quirky crime novel from David McCallum, the beloved actor know for his portrayal of Illya Kuryakin on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard on NCIS.
Crime pays. And pays well.
Sal, Max and Enzo Bruschetti have proved this over a lifetime of nefarious activity that they have kept hidden from law enforcement. Nowhere in any file, on any computer is there a record of anything illegal from which they have profited. But Max has a problem. His body is getting old and his doctor has told him to take it easy. Max has decided that the time has come for the family to retire.
But when young actor Harry Murphy overhears the Bruschetti brothers planning changes to their organization, including the murder of a man in London who knows t0o much, the Bruschetti's plans begin to unravel.
After Harry makes the well-intentioned if egregious mistake of trying to warn the Bruchetti's intended victim he finds himself alone in a foreign country, on the wrong side of the law, with a suitcase full of cash and a dangerous man on his trail. And while his good looks, charm and cheerful persistence may prove assets in the turbulent events that follow, none of Harry's past roles have prepared him for what happens next.
A turns tense and funny, Once a Crooked Man is infused with the infectious charm that has made David McCallum one of television's longest running, most-beloved stars.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 12, 2016

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781427271693
      • File size: 343705 KB
      • Duration: 11:56:03

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 9, 2015
      Actor McCallum, of NCIS and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. fame, makes his fiction debut with a suspense novel that opens promisingly with echoes of the classic Hitchcock film North by Northwest. Harry Murphy, a struggling New York City actor, is desperate to find a bathroom after an audition. When he’s denied entry at a restaurant, he goes to a nearby alley to urinate, only to overhear some men planning the murder of a man in London named Villiers. Without knowing exactly what’s going on or who the conspirators are, Harry impulsively decides to travel there to warn Villiers, after first trying to phone him. The proceeds from a new voice-over gig make the trip possible. Arriving in London just in time to foil the hit, Harry soon becomes the quarry of both good and bad guys, but he’s never plausible as a man of action in a story line that tends to the formulaic. Toward the end, the puzzling behavior of Det. Sgt. Lizzie Carswell, who befriends a mobster, may trouble some readers. Agent: Erica Silverman, Trident Media Group.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      To hear a terrific book brilliantly performed by the author is one of life's huge pleasures. Is McCallum up to it? He's only been working on stage and screen for what--six decades? Oh, surprise, he's fabulous. Really, listen to him do a simple thing like chuckle winningly. Go on, you try it. His velvety voice is a wonderful instrument, and he uses it to purr, to alarm, to make you laugh while he remains quietly deadpan as he follows his Candide-like actor-hero Harry Murphy through a baroque series of toils and dangers he got into because he was trying to save a stranger's life. Only an actor could have written this deliciously entertaining story, and no one could have performed it better. Standing O. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      April 15, 2016

      Actor McCallum (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; NCIS) has written an outstanding novel with interesting, well-developed characters and a well-crafted plot. He adroitly mixes such elements as money laundering, a seemingly respected high-society money manager, a trio of older criminal bosses looking to go legit and erase any record of a life of crime, and a good Samaritan actor who overhears the wrong conversation while urinating in an alley. The author narrates the tense, funny work himself; listeners will easily see why he is beloved by his many fans. VERDICT Highly recommended. ["McCallum's characterizations are decent in this serviceable, competent thriller, and protagonist Harry is likable enough that readers would likely enjoy further adventures": LJ 12/15 review of the Minotaur: St. Martin's hc.]--Scott R. DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.

      Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 29, 2016
      In this comedy thriller, written and performed by television actor McCallum, the hero is an actor based in Manhattan named Harry Murphy. Harry overhears gangsters Sal and Enzo Bruschetti plotting the assassination of a Londoner named Villiers. When he can’t reach the intended victim by phone to warn him, big-hearted Harry uses his last paycheck to fly to England. He foils the hit but winds up in between the gun sights of the Bruschettis and Villiers. Worse yet, he is forced by British detective sergeants Ivan Supinsky and Lizzie Caldwell to act as bait to catch the criminals. McCallum is effective when giving voice to his creations, going American for the Manhattanites, upper-class Brit for Villiers and his wife, adding a bit of a Russian growl for Ivan, and a brash, sexy cockney for Lizzie. But when using his own familiar delivery, complete with faint Scottish burr, for the descriptive passages, he’s unemotional to the point of sounding bored, an approach that works best as counterpoint during the novel’s somewhat jarring scenes of violence and sex. A Minotaur hardcover.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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