Bloody River Blues

Bloody River Blues by Jeffery Deaver writing as William Jefferies. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780739414644.

John Pellam, scouting locations for a new film in a small town in Missouri, inadvertently witnesses a double homicide and some serious gunplay that left a cop paralyzed. He didnt see the guy who ordered the killings, but the police dont believe him. The U.S. attorney who thinks he knows who was behind the murders has bet his career on Pellams identification of a criminal the feds have been trying to nail for years. Theyll do anything to get Pellams cooperation, including threatening his new girlfriend, shutting down the movie, and keeping Pellam from inking a deal to get his own film made. That project is Pellams ticket back to the top of the heap in Hollywood, a perch he fell off of when he supplied the drugs that killedhis best friend. The cops want Pellams testimony, the mob boss wants him permanently silenced, and the films director wants him to finish the job hes been paid to do. But first Pellam has to find his way out of the traps theyve all set for him, and he does it with style, wit, and a self-deprecating charm that makes him a hero to everyone--well, almost everyone.William Jefferies, who usually writes under the better-known nom de plume of Jeffery Deaver, has a couple of other Location Scout mysteries to his name (Shallow Graves, Hells Kitchen). Pocket Books has reissued them as Deaver titles ("writing as William Jefferies"), but regardless of their provenance, they feature topnotch writing, snappy dialogue, solid pacing, and excellent characterization. Bloody River Blues was overlooked by Deavers fans when it first came out eight years ago. Now that the publisher has cleared up the mystery of who actually wrote it, it ought to get the attention it deserves. --Jane Adams