Bone Key

by Les Standiford

Book Overview

A hustler is beaten by a cop. Two days later he's found slain. The cops claim ignorance. All John Deal has to go on are the rumors of the man's connection to a 70-year-old tale of piracy, murder, and greed.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425195503
• ISBN13: 9780425195505
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

bone key is a good read for the mystery buff

i read bone key in one reading and enjoyed it very much. take out the prologue and all the action occurs in a couple of days in key west florida. the protagonist is a construction company owner who has come to key west to look at the pet project of a rich man named stone. while in key west he meets an old girl friend and encounters plenty of other trouble. i figured out the bad guy about two thirds of the way through but that isnt necessarily a bad thing. i plan to read some more of this series when i get the chance. written very well and plotted very well.

Deal Ages Well

Hate to say it, but I like this one best in the series. One day while I was looking for a poolside book in a Keys bookstore the owner asked me if I had read Bone Key, I said I liked the other Deal novels and he said, you might want this one . Good thing it was a nice couple of days, because as I slowly roasted and quickly turned pages I got near enough to the end that when I left it behind as I deplaned, I had finished the whole thing. And it is a whole thing. This is a big book and it has some great suspense. Now, that Ivan has passed, we can probably accept the hurricane from nowhere that is key to the plot. How the celler gets dug in Key West is beyond me, but the whole idea of a celler full of a premium year of fine French wine is a treasure hunt goal worthy of the greatest of the Galleon gold finders. It is most obviously a sum that would motivate a wicked condo developer ( of just the sort who is always trying to co-opt Deal. The small time sting artist, getting caught up in something too big, the crooked cops, the crossed paths of an old love - all the elements of a Keys thriller are here. Even some good Jazz and restaurant scenes. Now if only someone will come up with a novel based on a stash of pre-embargo Cuban tobacco...... HUmm could be a plot there. Oh, by the way. Driscoll is somewhere else, this time and Deal partners with his foreman Vern Straight. Janice is mentioned, but not present. Makes for an interesting love affair/trap? Oh well, if you are a Deal fan, you'll like this book. If you have not yet met Deal you just might click with this one. Some people dismiss this as fantasy, but honestly, once we accept a nice guy Keys developer, what is there to complain about there.

Strong Novel And Strong Series: Bone Key by Les Standiford

John Deal has once again naively blundered into a mess, but instead of doing it in his old stomping grounds of Miami, he is trouble in Key West. "Deal, who'd inherited what was left of DealCo Construction from his late father, had come down from Miami to Key West to see a man about a job, as it were." The meeting with the very rich developer Franklin Stone keeps getting postponed and as the novel opens, Deal is having a drink with Russell, his new friend as well as newly promoted construction superintendent.Russell goes off for a few minutes and one of the local hustlers approaches Deal. Dequarius Moyes seems to want a job and Deal tries to brush him off. Dequarius insists that he needs to talk to him before being thrown out by the bartender. Deal quickly forgets all about him when the lounge singer appears. The beautiful woman is his old flame Annie, from a time long before Janice his current wife from whom he is separated.The next day, Deal and Russell see Dequarius being beat on by a local police officer. Without a handy videotape camera, they intervene and physically stop the officer from beating the defenseless Dequarius. Both are thrown in jail and almost as quickly released because of the intervention of Franklin Stone. Stone also manages to get Dequarius released. Before long, Dequarius is brutally murdered and Deal seems to have involved himself in something that he does not understand. The Police are unhelpful, to say the least, and the mysterious Stone seems to be pulling unseen strings beyond his land development plans and using his influence to manipulate everyone to an end only he can foresee.This book is a significant improvement over the last novel and is a refreshing return to what made this author interesting to read. The writing is tight with plenty of action and intriguing characters. And once again, just when the reader thinks he knows all there is to the John Deal character, the author manages to add a new nuance to him. This is a fast paced mystery and a story that while it is very complex, moves along at a strong pace. It is nice to see Les Standiford back on his game and this recent effort makes him a pleasure to read again.

good 4 star mystery

In Les Standiford's latest John Deal novel you get a solid mystery with characters you've become familiar with but still remain fresh. This time around Deal and his newly appointed construction engineer, Russell Straight, are heading down to Key West to discuss a business proposition with a big time developer that his father once knew. Obviously with Mister Deal involved, something bad usually happens, and this time it's no exception. His unfortunate run in with a young black hoodlum is just the start of a long hard stay in the Key's. Murder, along with an old tale of piracy drive this sometime suspenseful tale to its satisfying conclusion.Recommended.

complex, multi-layered crime novel

John Deal is trying to return his deceased father's Florida building firm, DealCo Construction to its former glory. It's a matter of pride plus he needs the money to support his estranged wife and pay his daughter's tuition fees. He travels to Key West with his friend and co-worker Russell Straight to see if they can come to terms with local developer flamboyant Franklin Stone who wants Dealco to build his latest project. Even before the two men meet, a local hustler named Dequarious tries to tell Deal something in a local restaurant. Before he can, Dequarious is thrown out. The next time the builder sees the hustler, John tries to stop a local police officer from killing Dequarious. He succeeds but shortly thereafter, Dequarious is found by Deal shot to death in his hotel room, a wine label in his hand. John Deal is determined to find out who is behind the killing or die trying. Les Standiford has written a complex, multi-layered crime novel that will pique and maintain reader interest from first page to last. The author is a master of characterization, populating his novel with people readers will like even though the audience knows that these individuals can operate on the wrong side of the law. BONE KEY is a mystery that is impossible to figure out until the author is ready to reveal the answers.Harriet Klausner