Actor Harry Murphy stopped at a chinese restaurant to go to the restroom after an audition and was abruptly told to leave. Having no choice he ran around back and used the alley. In doing so he overhears a conversation between the Bruschetti brothers, Sal, Max, and Enzo, who have spent a lifetime on the wrong side of the law, managing to stay off the radar of the police.
After hearing their plans to close down their business by killing people and handing off territory, Harry feels like he has no choice but to fly to London and warn one of the people on the kill list. By doing this, Harry throws himself into a mess, which leads him to working with a sexy, unorthodox member of the British police. Now he goes from being an out of work actor to a man being shot at and chased around the world.
David McCallum has written an exciting and suspense filled book that follows an unlikely hero around the world, which is my biggest problem with the book. The unlikelihood of Harry, an actor, getting that information and going all the way to London, instead of just sticking with the initial phone call and calling back when the guy gets home. But without the trip to London the rest of the book doesn't happen. So if you can get past that part, the rest of the story works.
Crazy characters who respond in unexpected ways is what makes ONCE A CROOKED MAN interesting. So kudos to David McCallum in his first novel.
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.
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