Jack and the Beanstalk (Matthew Hope)

BOOK: Jack and the Beanstalk (Matthew Hope)
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P
RAISE FOR THE MATTHEW HOPE SERIES

“A master. He is a superior stylist, a spinner of artfully designed and sometimes macabre plots.” —
Newsweek

“He is, by far, the best at what he does. Case closed.” —
People

“McBain has a great approach, great attitude, terrific style, strong plots, excellent dialogue, sense of place, and sense of reality.” —Elmore Leonard

“It’s hard to think of anyone better at what he does. In fact, it’s impossible.” —Robert B. Parker

“The Matthew Hope novels do for the world of Florida sleaze what the 87th Precinct books do for big-city vice. The reader is hooked and given not a moment’s letup.” —
New York Times Book Review

Jack & The Beanstalk
“A cracking good read...a solid, suspenseful, swiftly-paced story.” —
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The House That Jack Built
“Deft plotting, crisp dialogue, and intriguing characters rack up solid entertainment.” —
San Diego Union

“When McBain sets his tale to wagging, he commands close attention.” —
Los Angeles Times

Three Blind Mice
“Matthew Hope, the suave Florida lawyer, is back in the latest of McBain’s series of cynically titled nursery-rhyme and fairy-tale themed novels...
McBain is an undisputed master of the genre—slick, wry, and satisfying.” —
Booklist

There Was a Little Girl
“McBain does it again! A brilliant piece of writing...and you won’t put it down.” —Larry King,
USA Today

Cinderella
“The first page of a McBain novel is like the first potato chip: It whets the appetite for more.” —
Newsday

Snow White & Rose Red
“Guaranteed to raise the hackles you didn’t know you had.” —
Kansas City Star

A
LSO BY ED McBAIN...

T
HE 87TH
P
RECINCT
N
OVELS

Cop Hater
(1956),
The Mugger
(1956),
The Pusher
(1956),
The Con Man
(1957),
Killer’s Choice
(1957),
Killer’s Payoff
(1958),
Lady Killer
(1958),
Killer’s Wedge
(1959), ‘
Til Death
(1959),
King’s Ransom
(1959),
Give the Boys a Great Big Hand
(1960),
The Heckler
(1960),
See Them Die
(1960),
Lady, Lady, I Did It
(1961),
The Empty Hours
(1962),
Like Love
(1962),
Ten Plus One
(1963),
Ax
(1964),
He Who Hesitates
(1964),
Doll
(1965),
Eighty Million Eyes
(1966),
Fuzz
(1968),
Shotgun
(1969),
Jigsaw
(1970),
Hail, Hail the Gang’s All Here!
(1971),
Sadie When She Died
(1972),
Let’s Hear It for the Deaf Man
(1972),
Hail to the Chief
(1973),
Bread
(1974),
Blood Relatives
(1975),
So Long As You Both Shall Live
(1976),
Long Time No See
(1977),
Calypso
(1979),
Ghosts
(1980),
Heat
(1981),
Ice
(1983),
Lightning
(1984),
Eight Black Horses
(1985),
Poison
(1987),
Tricks
(1987),
Lullaby
(1989),
Vespers
(1990),
Widows
(1991),
Kiss
(1992),
Mischief
(1993),
And All Through the House
(1994),
Romance
(1995),
Nocturne
(1997),
The Big Bad City
(1999),
The Last Dance
(2000),
Money, Money, Money
(2001),
Fat Ollie’s Book
(2002),
The Frumious Bandersnatch
(2004),
Hark!
(2004),
Fiddlers
(2005)

T
HE
M
ATTHEW
H
OPE
N
OVELS

Goldilocks
(1977),
Rumpelstiltskin
(1981),
Beauty and the Beast
(1982),
Jack and the Beanstalk
(1984),
Snow White and Rose Red
(1985),
Cinderella
(1986),
Puss in Boots
(1987),
The House That Jack Built
(1988),
Three Blind Mice
(1990),
Mary, Mary
(1992),
There Was a Little Girl
(1994),
Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear
(1996),
The Last Best Hope
(1998)

O
THER
N
OVELS

The April Robin Murders (with Craig Rice)
(1958),
The Sentries
(1965),
Where There’s Smoke
(1975),
Doors
(1975),
Guns
(1976),
Another Part of the City
(1986),
Downtown
(1991),
Driving Lessons
(2000),
Learning to Kill
(2005),
Transgressions
(2005)

A
ND BY EVAN HUNTER...

The Evil Sleep!
(1952),
Don’t Crowd Me
(1953),
The Blackboard Jungle
(1954),
Second Ending
(1956),
Strangers When We Meet
(1958),
A Matter of Conviction
(1959),
Mothers and Daughters
(1961),
Buddwing
(1964),
The Paper Dragon
(1966),
A Horse’s Head
(1967),
Last Summer
(1968),
Sons
(1969),
Nobody Knew They Were There
(1971),
Every Little Crook and Nanny
(1972),
Come Winter
(1973),
Streets of Gold
(1974),
The Chisholms: A Novel of the Journey West
(1976),
Walk Proud
(1979),
Love, Dad
(1981),
Far from the Sea
(1983),
Lizzie
(1984),
Criminal Conversation
(1994),
Privileged Conversation
(1996),
Candyland
(2001)

P
LAYS

The Easter Man
(1964),
The Conjuror
(1969)

S
CREENPLAYS

Strangers When We Meet
(1960),
The Birds
(1963),
Fuzz
(1972),
Walk Proud
(1979)

T
ELEPLAYS

The Chisholms
(1979),
The Legend of Walks Far Woman
(1980),
Dream West
(1986)

C
HILDREN’S
B
OOKS

Find the Feathered Serpent
(1952),
The Remarkable Harry
(1959),
The Wonderful Button
(1961),
Me And Mr. Stenner
(1976)

S
HORT
S
TORY
C
OLLECTIONS

The Jungle Kids
(1956),
The Last Spin & Other Stories
(1960),
Happy New Year, Herbie
(1963),
The Easter Man (a Play) and Six Stories
(1972),
The McBain Brief
(1982),
McBain’s Ladies: The Women of the 87th
(1988),
McBain’s Ladies, Too
(1989),
The Best American Mystery Stories
(2000),
Running from Legs
(2000),
Barking at Butterflies
(2000)

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Text copyright ©1981, 1977 HUI Corporation.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by Thomas & Mercer
P.O. Box 400818
Las Vegas, NV 89140

eISBN: 9781477855485

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

1

J
APANESE LANTERNS
festooned the outdoor gardens of the Ca D’Ped. Their glow only seemed to add to the suffocatingly moist heat of the August night. The Ca D’Ped was Calusa’s art museum, a vast hacienda back when Florida was still a Spanish possession, renovated and refurbished in 1927 when its original name—Casa Don Pedro—was abbreviated to its present form. Calusa natives called it “The Ped.” My partner Frank called it “The Carport.”

The party on that eighth night of August was a formal affair in honor of Calusa’s resident artists. “Formal” in Calusa, at least during the summer months, meant white dinner jackets and black ties for the men, and long gowns for the women. Frank’s wife was wearing a slinky black creation slit to her waist, the better to expose what Frank proudly called “the family jewels.” Like a juggler defying an expectant crowd, Leona kept daring one or the other of her precocious treasures to spill from the front of the gown, seemingly unaware of how dangerously close they were to indecent exposure.

BOOK: Jack and the Beanstalk (Matthew Hope)
10.22Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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