Gambling Fiction Novels
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- Balling the Jack : A Novel ~ Ships in 2-3 days
- Frank Baldwin / Hardcover / Published 1997
Our Price: $15.40 ~ You Save: $6.60 (30%)
'Betting all you have cleans the system,' says young Wall Street paralegal Tom Reasons as he hands over $400 of his weekly $447 paycheck to his bookie, Toadie, in bets on baseball games. But it's the low-profile sport of darts that gets Tom into real trouble, in this raucous, raunchy thriller. When he loses $40,000 on the toss of a feathered sliver of steel, Tom has to outsmart Mafia loan sharks to stay in one piece. Along the way, Frank Baldwin manages to tap into the energy of ambitious, amoral, and frighteningly fascinating 20-somethings.
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- Death in a Dry Season ~ Ships in 2-3 days
- John Wells / Hardcover / Published 1997
Our Price: $17.47 ~ You Save: $7.48 (30%)
Hired by Bernie D'Angelo to find his brother, private eye Frank Sweeney tracks Nick D'Angelo to Atlantic City, where he finds the missing brother burned to death and embarks on a desperate search for a killer.'
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- King of a Small World ~ Ships in 2-3 days
- Rick Bennet / Hardcover / Published 1995
Our Price: $15.37 ~ You Save: $6.58 (30%)
King of the poker players from his suburban enclave in Maryland to Washington, D.C., Joey Moore faces a crisis in his life when an gambling opponent commits suicide and an unwanted baby is forced on him.
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- Memoir of the Bookie's Son ~ Ships in 2-3 days
- Sidney Offit / Hardcover / Published 1995
Our Price: $13.27 ~ You Save: $5.68 (30%)
A journeyman author recounts his coming of age under the guidance of an admirable outlaw father. The title, no less spare than the text, encapsulates it all. Setting his story in Baltimore a generation or two ago, with flashes forward to recent years, Offit leaves his accustomed venue of fiction for young readers (What Kind of Guy Do You Think I Am?, 1977, etc.) in order to paint a fond portrait of his father, Buckley Offit, Prince of the Streets. Offit pŠre, his son reports, was, from the end of the First World War until the '50s, quite simply ``among the elite of the nation's bookmakers.' Buck got busted just once, but he never served time. Just once the Mob tried to grab him, but Buck fought them off. The archetype of a respected, street-smart, self-reliant operator, the bookie was a loving father and husband during nonworking hours. No deceptive duke, Buck never lied or fooled anyone. In the eyes of his sons, he was wonderful. His wife, Lily, practical mother, reader of Montaigne, was unconditionally devoted. And why not? The character portrayed is a gruff rascal and, simultaneously, a careful, utterly trustworthy Jewish dad. The combination worked. ``How'd it go at yer office today?' he inquired when his young sons came home from school. ``We all take our lumps...Buy yerself a new hat and keep going' was his stoic and sartorial philosophy. Don't search here for details of living on the lam or for hints on the business of taking bets. This book is straightforward homage to a father who, before his death at 96, summarized his career in crime: ``What's the ussa talkin'? What's done is done.' A son's personal recollection that may strike a chord for others. -- Copyright ©1995, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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- Memoir of the Bookie's Son ~ Ships in 2-3 days
- Sidney Offit / Paperback / Published 1996
Our Price: $8.76 ~ You Save: $2.19 (20%)
When he witnessed his father's fierce resistance to a gang of kidnappers, Sidney Offit became aware that his family was different. He once overheard a camp counselor call him the richest kid in camp because, 'Offit's father is the biggest bookie in Baltimore and maybe even the entire United States.' In this elegant memoir, Offit--novelist, teacher, and curator of one of the country's most prestigious journalism awards--explores the complexities of his extraordinary father-son relationship.
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- Tropical Depression Vol 1 ~ Ships in 2-3 days
- Laurence Shames / Hardcover / Published 1996
Our Price: $15.37 ~ You Save: $6.58 (30%)
A pill-popping lingerie businessman, Murray Zemelman leaves his 'boring' life in New Jersey to go to Key West, where he and his Native American friend find themselves fighting to save their money, lives, and new business (Key West's first legal gambling parlor) from a local mafioso. Tour.
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