Violent Ward

Violent Ward
Len Deighton

If America is a lunatic asylum, then California is the Violent Ward.Mickey Murphy is a criminal lawyer with an office in LA’s downtown low-rent district, an ex-wife who bleeds him for money, clients who would plead the Fifth Amendment if they could count that high, and an unrequited passion for his wealthiest client’s wife. To make matters worse, Mickey finds himself embroiled against his wishes in an elaborate and clever scam that’s going askew, and being interrogated by the LAPD about a brutal murder.With an observant eye and ear for the California ‘scene’, Deighton once again uses his brilliant storytelling skills to propel an exciting and suspenseful narrative at breakneck speed to a dramatic climax in a riot-torn city.This reissue includes a foreword from the cover designer, Oscar-winning filmmaker Arnold Schwartzman, and an introduction by Len Deighton, which offers a fascinating insight into the writing of the story.

Len Deighton

Violent Ward

Copyright

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

This paperback edition 2011

First published in Great Britain by

HarperCollinsPublishers in 1993

Copyright © Len Deighton 1993

Introduction copyright © Pluriform Publishing Company BV 2011

Cover designer’s note © Arnold Schwartzman 2011

Len Deighton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

VIOLENT WARD. Copyright © Len Deighton 1993. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Source ISBN: 9780006479017

EBook Edition © JULY 2011 ISBN: 9780007450879

Version: 2017-08-10

Contents

Cover (#uf7bca8b1-639a-574d-8b36-20eb4415f466)

Title Page

Copyright

Cover designer’s note

Introduction

1

‘There’s a woman sitting on my window ledge,’ I said…

2

That was some bash, that party for Petrovitch. The little…

3

I drove back from the Petrovitch bash with a lot…

4

Fancy Goldie remembering our breakfasts in Tommy’s. It’s one of…

5

I’d had it too long to trade it in. Maybe…

6

It wasn’t like staying with friends. There was a sort…

7

Flying back from Colorado was not a pleasure for me,…

8

I went home to Woodland Hills and shuffled through some…

9

Next day was Sunday. From the very back of my…

10

Budd’s party was not the sort of Hollywood celebration that…

11

When my next-door neighbors, the Klopstocks, had people over, they…

12