EDDIE’S WORLD
Eddie Senta has a problem, in this hard-boiled, fast-paced novel of
crime. His attractive second wife, a highly successful marketing
research executive who hears her biological clock loudly ticking, wants
a baby. She also wants Eddie to clean up his act. Their marriage is
going bad.
Nothing's going great for Eddie, in fact. His stints as a firecracker
word processor in the legitimate business world dull him, and the kick
he once got running for the mob has turned into mere efficiency. Maybe
it's a midlife crisis, like his wife's unsympathetic therapist says.
Uneasy with the feeling that his world is daily shrinking, Eddie seizes
the opportunity, when it presents itself, to make an easy score and at
the same time to help out a friend. While Eddie by no means needs the
five grand he'll make on the deal, he longs for the thrill--and the
reinvigoration of his stale fortyish self--that a quick, uncomplicated
robbery might bring.
Rights
available: English except North America (Carroll & Graf, USA,
2001); World translation rights ex. Russia (Centrepolygraph)
JIMMY BENCH-PRESS
Jimmy Mangino figures he’s overdue. Already he’s done two stretches in
the joint. But he’s back, and he’s still a good earner for the family.
You got a loser you need to lean on, Jimmy lends his strong arm, and he
doesn’t flinch at murder, not for the Vignieris. He also bench-presses
four hundred pounds. Jimmy wants to be a made man. Alex Pavlik wants to
take Jimmy down. Pavlik, the edgy Polish cop who tailed Eddie Senta in
Charlie Stella’s enthusiastically reviewed debut, Eddie’s World, has
been transferred to Organized Crime from Homicide, where his short
temper, keen sense of justice, and too-ready prizefighter’s fists have
proved to be a volatile combination.
Tough-talking, taut, and craftily plotted, Stella’s second novel takes
Pavlik and his new partner, another New York police detective, John
DeNafria, into the shifty world of Jimmy Bench-Press when
wannabe-mobster Larry Berra hires Mangino to collect on a bad loan to a
sixty-three-year-old Italian barber with a Cuban girlfriend. Jimmy’s
got his fingers in any number of illegal pies, from extortion to
murder, among purveyors of drugs and porn. Enough to get a man made,
maybe.
Rights
available: World translation rights ex. Russia (Centrepolygraph).
Published in the USA by Carroll & Graf and in the UK by Robert Hale
Books.
CHARLIE OPERA
A guy goes to Las Vegas for a holiday. In a matter of hours he gets
drunk, gets mugged, and gets dumped by his wife. Things could get
worse, and do, in this new crime novel from Charlie Stella, whose work,
says the San Diego Union Tribune, not only recalls George V. Higgins
but also “stacks up well against the master.”
With bravura, alternating brutality with humor and high-octane action
with virtuoso tough-guy dialogue, Stella crafts his story of Charlie
Pellecchia, whose unwitting entanglement with New York mobster Nicky
Cuccia plops him in the path of the DEA, FBI, and Las Vegas police. Law
enforcement may find Charlie awkwardly in its way, but elsewhere—in
deluxe casino hotel suites, at deserted construction sites, on quiet
residential streets—a bodybuilding punk looking to be made, a
professional killer, a mob chief’s double-dealing accountant, and a
pair of Vietnamese gangbangers are all trying to put Charlie
permanently out of the way. All because he broke a wiseguy’s jaw.
Add to the mix hookers with felonious kinks, a cop deeply troubled by
his wife’s infidelity, a ham-fisted redneck with vengeance on his mind
and some bad faith between a Brooklyn crime family and the Russian mob.
Things go down tough in Charlie’s opera.
Rights
available: World translation rights ex. Russia (Centrepolygraph).
Published in the USA by Carroll & Graf and in the UK by Robert Hale
Books.
CHEAPSKATES
Reese Waters is headstrong, principled, and a bit naive. The former bus
driver and now ex-con merely wants to do the right thing by prison
buddy Peter Rizzo. He just doesn’t expect the right thing to entail
$50,000 in cash, a funeral, the mean-spirited schemes of Rizzo’s
congenitally greedy ex-wife, confrontations with Mafia consigliere
Jimmy Valentine, two hit men, a Nation of Islam splinter group, and the
homicide investigation of two New York police detectives.
Reese is barely a day out of Fishkill Penitentiary before his world is
spinning crazily out of control because everybody’s after the money,
which is all at once a divorce settlement, an unhonored debt, a ransom
demand, a shakedown, a killer’s fee, and a mere fifty g’s.
With dynamite dialogue, high-octane action, and hardboiled humor, what
author Charlie Stella’s Cheapskates will do for the money gets as wild
as the ride of a runaway bus loose on Second Avenue.
Rights
available: English ex. North America (Carroll & Graf, USA, 2005);
World translation rights ex. Russia (Centrepolygraph).
Praise for Charlie Stella's books
Eddie's World
"Fresh, fast and darkly-funny. A sure-footed debut from a writer with a
spare, no-nonsense prose style who can make you like characters you
think you shouldn't." - Kirkus *Starred* Review
"Stella's characters are all too believable, and the novel manages a
lightness throughout despite its dark subject matter. Written by an off
off Broadway playwright, this promising first novel should move from
library shelves where crime fiction is popular." - Library Journal
"This
is Charlie Stella’s first novel. Readers may be reminded, in both style
and substance, of George V. Higgins’ underworld thrillers, especially
the classic “The Friends of Eddie Coyle.” The comparison is not odious;
Stella stacks up well against the master. He plots cleverly, keeps his
finger firmly on the suspense button and moves the action along
briskly. He is also blessed with a gift for dialogue, likely springing
from his experience as an off-Broadway playwright." - Robert Wade (San Diego Union Tribune)
Jimmy Bench-Press
" Stella moves confidently into territory staked out by Elmore Leonard
… for fans of unrelenting underworld fiction … This solid follow-up to Eddie's World should spread Stella's name wider …" - Publishers Weekly
"It's even harder to be soft-hearted about the gangsters in Charlie
Stella's blood curdling, convincing Jimmy Bench Press ... Stella is a
kind of obscene Ring Lardner, finding a lean, rancid poetry in his
characters' vernacular, and rendering it with flawless precision and
humor." - Washington Post Book World
"Stella's debut (Eddie's World, 2001) was dark and violent, but this
ups the ante to rampant brutality. Still, the story of the two troubled
cops--essentially honorable men in a society where principle has become
excess baggage--is compelling." - Kirkus Reviews
Stella
follows his impressive debut (Eddie's World) with this second novel
featuring hard-edged but likable cop, Alex Pavlik. This is a grittier
effort than Stella's first and one with a much more subtle payoff than
most crime novels. Recommended for public libraries where crime fiction
is popular." - Library Journal
Charlie Opera
A Mystery Book of the Year 2003 Selection – Publishers Weekly
Booklist runner-up to the Top Ten Mysteries of late 2003/early 2004 – Booklist
A Crime Factory (the Australian Crime Fiction Magazine) pick as one of the best crime reads of 2003.
"
For his third brilliant crime novel, following Jimmy Bench-Press
(2002)…Stella's dialogue is electric and funny…This outing Stella
offers us quite a few sympathetic characters, from Charlie and the
cocktail waitress he's falling for, to strong-arm men Francone and
Lano. You actually feel sorry for the poor New York Mafioso,
dropped in Las Vegas like sharks flipped into a pool of piranhas." - Publishers Weekly *Starred* Review
"Stella
is carving himself a niche in crime literature somewhere between the
late Eugene Izzi's street noir and Elmore Leonard's ironic
tragicomedies. Bottom line: it works. Stella is a rising
star." - Wes Lukowsky (Booklist *Starred* Review)
"Stella's
Goodfellas do their wild and crazy thing once more … the pace never
slows, and you'll like tough, tenderhearted Charlie a lot." - Kirkus Reviews
"Combine
Mario Puzo and Elmore Leonard, add a dash of George V. Higgins and what
do you get? Charlie Stella, that's what. His flamboyant
characters, violent action and picturesque dialogue place his work
among the best of underworld thrillers, past and present." - San Diego Union Tribune
Cheapskates
"It takes a finely tuned ear to write dialogue that rings true, and
Stella (Charlie Opera , etc.) has it. With his hapless crooks and wry
humor, he belongs in line behind Elmore Leonard and Donald E.
Westlake... Readers will eagerly await the next book from this talented
author." - Publishers Weekly
"Stella (Charlie Opera, 2003, etc.) loves his people, the bad no less than the good, which is why you will too." - Kirkus Reviews
"With his fourth book, Cheapskates (Carroll & Graf, $25), Stella
has combined his playwright's gift for crackling dialogue with another
strong, character-driven story that resonates with authenticity and
emotion ... Stella writes with intelligence and wit, infusing his
stories with the reality of the streets and a sly sense of
humor. He might just be the best crime writer you've never
read." – David Montgomery (Chicago Sun-Times)
“ …a metropolitan Macbeth filled with mobsters, bent cops, a Nation of
Islam splinter group, and a rapacious ex-wife. Stella, the author
of three well-received, character-driven crime novels—presents another
deeply realized hero confronting a greed-crazed world.” - Connie Fletcher (Booklist)
“Stella, a rising star in the neo-noir thriller world, renders
memorable characters who are every bit as bad as those in Scorcese’s
GoodFellas … This is the fifth underworld thriller for Stella
(following Cheapskates, 2005), and his deft plotting, acerbic humor,
and knack for street talk will delight fans of Donald Westlake and
Elmore Leonard, whose patter-happy bad guys remain the genre’s gold
standard.” - Booklist Boxed *Starred* Review |
