What's a veteran cold war novelist to do when there's no more cold war? In the case of British spymaster Deighton, head west for a knotty, if zesty, seriocomic thriller set against Aspen snow and L.A. sleaze. You suspect Deighton's off stride when he starts with a small cheat: Mickey Murphy--a rumpled L.A. attorney whose appealingly grumpy narration energizes the story--huddles behind his desk, trying not to frighten ``the woman'' perched on his office window ledge. Mickey finally coaxes ``the woman'' inside--and only then tells us that she's his ex-wife, angling for a handout. Mickey's day goes downhill from there, as he meets with an actor who wants a gun, visits his own wastrel son, and attends a party thrown by Zack Petrovich, the tycoon who's just bought control of Mickey's small law firm--and who's married to his old flame Ingrid. At the party, Mickey chances upon a bomb hidden in Zack's phone: Who's trying to kill his new boss? Is it Ingrid--who claims that Zack wants to kill her? What do these threatened murders have to do with the body-snatching scheme by which one of Mickey's clients will be declared dead in order to run off with an illicit fortune? And who knocked off and then freeze-dried the retired hit man who claimed, just before he died, that Ingrid had asked him to kill Zack? A picturesque visit to Zack's Aspen ranch doesn't clarify matters, but Mickey finds plenty more to grumble about as he tends to his vintage Caddie and mouths off about foreign cars, smoking, lax airport security, and even appliance-repair requirements, meanwhile tying together plot threads right up to a twisty finale that's not half as compelling as the burning cityscape--courtesy of L.A.'s 1992 riots--that backdrops it. Like sugarcoating on a pill, Mickey's lively patter makes the contorted, lumpy storyline easier to swallow--but this kind of bumptious California thriller really isn't Deighton's bag. (First printing of 125,000)

YA-A masterfully crafted tale awaits both teens seeking leisure reading and those looking for a contemporary author for a literature assignment. Within the first six pages, evidence is given to support the title lead in: ``If America is a lunatic asylum, then California is the Violent Ward.'' The lives of Mickey Murphy, a LA criminal lawyer; and the entire cast of con artists and people on the cusp of legitimacy, Hollywood wannabes, old friends, and especially Mickey's childhood sweetheart, Mrs. Ingrid Petrovitch, are deftly woven into this plot that is full of humor and unexpected twists and turns. The surrealistic combination of media coverage juxtaposed with the first-person accounts of the rioting following the first Rodney King trial provides a fitting context for the physical and intellectual resolution of this story.-Barbara Hawkins, Oakton High School, Fairfax, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Deighton's latest, an enjoyable departure from his tales of British espionage ( City of Gold , etc.), introduces a protagonist with definite series potential. Harried L.A. lawyer Mickey Murphy is plagued by a slew of eccentrics who fully bear out the book's epigraph: ``If America is a lunatic asylum then California is the Violent Ward.'' Among them are an ex-wife who tries to get more alimony by perching on the ledge outside his office, a slightly over-the-hill actor in search of a handgun, a Robert Maxwell clone called Sir Jeremy Westbridge and a Trump-like entrepreneur named Zach Petrovich, who owns Murphy's law firm and is married to his high school sweetheart. Their maneuverings spark a complicated plot whose many ramifications include a charitable organization that doubles as a clearinghouse for those seeking to fake their own deaths and the set-up of a tax-free Peruvian corporation through the use of bearer shares, but Murphy keeps all the craziness in perspective with a first-person narration that unfolds as a series of quiet, subtle surprises. Told in perfect Dashiell Hammett style, with the clues all noted but never underlined, this novel respects the reader's intelligence and almost begs for a rereading just to savor how skillfully Deighton has woven everything together. Author tour. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Deighton's latest is markedly different from his international spy thrillers. This time his story is set among the rich and famous of Southern California, with L.A. lawyer Mickey Murphy as the hero. Unfortunately, the novel is a hodge-podge of trite, contrived, trying-too-hard-to-be-funny characters and dialogue, with a Byzantine plot and a surfeit of why-is-this-here subplots (guns, antique cars, the Rodney King riots, has-been actors) that only add to the confusion. The plot goes like this: Murphy's law firm has been bought by Zach Petrovitch, a megarich mogul with fingers in lots of pies. Petrovitch's wife, Ingrid, Murphy's childhood sweetheart, still makes Mickey's heart rate accelerate. But something funny's going on, and Murphy has to figure out whether Zach's trying to kill Ingrid, Ingrid's trying to kill Zach, or one of Zach's associates is trying to kill them both. As if this weren't enough, Murphy also has to cope with his worthless, "lend me fifty, Dad" son, his airheaded "lend me a hundred, Mickey" ex-wife, and a secretary who can't seem to understand that he likes his croissants without jelly. Warning for other authors tempted to tamper with what's worked in the past: don't. It's a risk that rarely pays off. Of course, with Deighton's name on the cover, Violent Ward will probably generate requests despite its flaws. So buy plenty of copies, but don't be surprised if readers are less than thrilled. (Reviewed June 1993)0060179384Emily Melton