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 didn't see the guy who ordered the killings, but the police don't believe him. The U.S. attorney who thinks he knows who was behind the murders has bet his career on Pellam's identification of a criminal the feds have been trying to nail for years. They'll do anything to get Pellam's 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 Pellam's ticket back to the top of the heap in Hollywood, a perch he fell off of when he supplied the drugs that killed his best friend. The cops want Pellam's testimony, the mob boss wants him permanently silenced, and the film's director wants him to finish the job he's been paid to do. But first Pellam has to find his way out of the traps they've 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, Hell's 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 Deaver's 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


From Publishers Weekly
Movie location scout John Pellam is working in Maddox, Mo., when he goes out for a case of beer. This innocuous outing lands him in big trouble when his beer collides with the door of a parked car whose occupants subsequently commit a rubout. Next thing he knows, Pellam finds himself being pursued by the killers, who fear Pellam can identify them; by the local police, because a cop was shot during the rub-out; and by the FBI, who think the murder was related to a racketeering case. Vincent Gaudia, the man who was killed, had turned witness against his boss, Peter Crimmins, who is wanted on RICO charges. The official bag of tricks used by the feds and police against Pellam includes interrogation, threats of prosecution on false charges, disruption of Pellam's life and business and hints that the film he's working on could be shut down. Jefferies ( Shallow Graves ) adds a twist that gives Pellam the last laugh while he makes his point about the baseness of the so-called good guys. Although the book works technically, reading a tale so replete with unpleasantness is still no picnic. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Jeffery Deaver is the New York Times bestselling author of The Empty Chair and The Devil's Teardrop. Here his trademark "ticking-bomb suspense" (People) explodes off the page in another heart-stopping thriller. Hollywood location scout John Pellam thought the scenic backwater town of Maddox, Missouri, would be the perfect site for an upcoming Bonnie and Clyde-style film. But after real bullets leave two people dead and one cop paralyzed, he's more sought after than the Barrow Gang. Pellam had unwittingly wandered onto the crime scene just minutes before the brutal hits. Now the feds and local police want him to talk. Mob enforcers want him silenced. And a mysterious blonde just wants him. Trapped in a town full of sinister secrets and deadly deceptions, Pellam fears that death will imitate art, as the film shoot -- and his life -- race toward a breathtakingly bloody climax.


Download Description
Hollywood location scout John Pellam arrives in the scenic, yet dying town of Maddox, Missouri, to check it out for an upcoming Bonnie and Clyde -- style shoot-'em-up. But after real bullets leave two dead and a cop paralyzed, he finds himself neck-deep in a real-life, deadly plot. Trapped between the feds and the mob in a place full of sinister secrets, this is one script Pellam may be written out of -- permanently.


About the Author
Jeffery Deaver is the author of sixteen suspense novels, including The Empty Chair, The Bone Collector, now a major motion picture from Universal starring Denzel Washington, the New York Times bestsellers The Coffin Dancer and The Devil's Teardrop, and his newest hardcover, Speaking in Tongues. He is a four-time Edgar Award nominee and his books have been translated into fifteen languages. As William Jefferies, he is the author of Shallow Graves, Bloody River Blues, and one other Location Scout mystery soon to be published by Pocket Books, Hell's Kitchen. Deaver was born in Chicago, attended the University of Missouri, and received a law degree from Fordham University in New York. He has residences in California and Virginia.

ANNOTATION

Hard luck, the bottle and a prison stretch ended John Pellam's promising directorial career--and now the ex-Hollywood insider has been reduced to location scout. But while scouting locations for a shoot-em-up in Maddox, Missouri, he gets perilously close to a real riverfront rub-out. William Jefferies is the pseudonym for Jeffrey Deaver. Original.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Hollywood location scout John Pellam thought the scenic backwater town of Maddox, Missouri, would be the perfect site for an upcoming Bonnie and Clyde-style film. But after real bullets leave two people dead and one cop paralyzed, he's more sought after than the Barrow Gang. Pellam had unwittingly wandered onto the crime scene just minutes before the brutal hits. Now the feds and local police want him to talk. Mob enforcers want him silenced. And a mysterious blonde just wants him. Trapped in a town full of sinister secrets and deadly deceptions, Pellam fears that death will imitate art, as the film shoot—and his life—race toward a breathtakingly bloody climax.

SYNOPSIS

Hollywood location scout John Pellam thought the backwater town of Maddox, Missouri, would be perfect for an upcoming Bonnie and Clyde-style film. But real bullets leave two people dead and one cop paralyzed. Now the feds and local police want him to talk. Mob enforcers want him silenced. And a mysterious blonde just wants him.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly