I Know A Trick Worth Two Of That

Sam Holt #2

by Donald E. Westlake

Sam Holt spent years playing Packard, everyone's favorite TV-detective; he's got no desire to play sleuth in real life. But when a long-lost pal calls with a rant about conspiracies, sinister cargo ships and hit men, and then gets poisoned at a party full of Holt's closest friends, there doesn't seem to be a lot of choice. Sure, Holt could leave it to the cops and cross his fingers. But Packard would never have taken such a weenie's way out. And Holt, to his astonishment, finds that he can't take it, either.

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1986

About the author

Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008) was one of the most prolific and talented authors of American crime fiction. He began his career in the late 1950's, churning out novels for pulp houses—often writing as many as four novels a year under various pseudonyms such as Richard Stark—but soon began publishing under his own name. His most well-known characters were John Dortmunder, an unlucky thief, and Parker, a ruthless criminal. His writing earned him three Edgar Awards: the 1968 Best Novel award for God Save the Mark; the 1990 Best Short Story award for "Too Many Crooks"; and the 1991 Best Motion Picture Screenplay award for The Grifters. In addition, Westlake also earned a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1993.

Westlake's cinematic prose and brisk dialogue made his novels attractive to Hollywood, and several motion pictures were made from his books, with stars such as Lee Marvin and Mel Gibson. Westlake wrote several screenplays himself, receiving an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of The Grifters, Jim Thompson's noir classic.

Some of the pseudonyms he used include
•   Richard Stark
•   Timothy J. Culver
•   Tucker Coe
•   Curt Clark
•   J. Morgan Cunningham
•   Judson Jack Carmichael
•   D.E. Westlake
•   Donald I. Vestlejk
•   Don Westlake

Reviews

[Mohammed Abdikhader Firdhiye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sam Holt, ex-cop, out of work actor, is visited by his old partner from his police days with a wild story of the mob after him from something he discovered. He hides him out even though he's throwing a party the next week.

Sam Holt books are amateur detective stories that Westlake writes so well,is fun,have well developed characters. He makes first person POV work well too. Its also as Westlake says in the Foreword he wrote under Sam Holt name to say things he couldn't say in his own name about tv,film world. Its very very interesting reading a writer with screenplays background writing about that world. Interesting to read about actors,screenplay writers,producers etc

[Craig Pittman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I had read this before but I did not. It's one of the many books that the masterful and prolific mystery writer Donald E. Westlake wrote under a pseudonym. For this series, he adopted the nom de plume of his main character, actor Samuel Holt, who played a private eye on TV named "Packard." Now, to figure out who killed an old friend of his, he plays private eye in real life.

Holt gets a mysterious phone call from his old ex-partner when he was on a small-town police force. His friend is in hiding because powerful people want to kill him. Holt lets him stay at his place, forgetting he was suppoy sed to host a party there in a few days. He encourages the friend to wear a disguise and pretend to be a screenwriter. The impersonation goes well -- until his friend is discovered dead.

The official verdict is suicide but Holt doesn't believe it. Plus he's irritated that someone he regarded as a friend betrayed his trust to kill someone under his protection. He begins investigating, in effect quizzing the guests at his party about where they were during the party.

The set-up is effective and the otherwise dull procedural details are spiced up by the way Westlake presents them. The high point comes when Holt goes to Atlantic City to look at, in person, the mob-connected businessman who probably ordered the hit. Bad consequences soon follow, but then Holt finally gets an ally. The ending is effective and the way Holt figures it out is totally fair and fairly surprising.

I now want to read the rest of this series.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like when we're given a clue or two, and don't have to depend on books from before in a series Brett is a fan, not a friend, so he brings fake Vera, told she is a burglary scout. She mis-calls secretary Janet instead of Edna, used by real Vera's assistant.

[Terry Giardina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t like this book as much as I did the first one but it was still pretty good.

[Dyana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Donald Westlake (one of my favorite authors) wrote this book as Samuel Holt in the mid eighties. He wanted to see if "he could do it today?" after his success under his real name. If I hadn't known Westlake had written this story, I probably wouldn't have read it - I found it mediocre compared to his Dortmunder Gang stories. The main character's name is Sam Holt, a TV actor (former police officer) who plays TV detective Packard ("everybody's favorite TV detective"). A former police officer partner, Doug Walford, wants to secretly meet with him. Doug is scared and reveals what he thinks are conspiracies involving pharmaceutical companies and government agencies, suspicious cargo ships, and the mob which are all related. Also, hit men are out to kill him. Holt hides him out, but during a party with his closest friends attending Doug is poisoned. The police are convinced it was a suicide, but Holt knows differently. The problem is the murderer has to be one of his friends. So using his Packard persona, he begins questioning his friends to figure out who was where during the party. I found the ending to be a little abrupt - I wanted more details! The story did not solve any of the above conspiracies - only the murder of his friend.

[Jiří Pavlovský · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jak už jsem psal u jedničky, Westlake se rozhodl vyzkoušet, jestli by zvládl ještě prorazit, takže si vymyslel nové jméno, novou postavu, napsal tři knihy - a když pak vyšla první kniha, byla všude uváděná jako "Donald Westlake coby Sam Holt". Čili veškerý experiment byl na nic.
Přijde mi, že tuhle knihu už napsal (nebo aspoň dopisoval) až ve chvíli, kdy věděl, že je projekt v kopru. Protože, až na pár Westlakeovských detailů, je to čirá nuda. Jak se snaží, aby nespadl ani do Westlakeovského ani Starkového stylu, zůstal z toho jen nudný whodunit, o který by si Agatha Christie neopřela ani kolo. Přitom začátek je solidní. Hlavní hrdina pozve skupinu svých dobrých přátel na mejdan - a dojde k vraždě. Vrahem je jeden z nich. Což by mohlo vést k depresivním thrilleru i komedii, ale v téhle knize prostě jen hrdina chodí od známého k známému, ptá se ho kde byl, pak za jede jinam... a posledních pěti stránkách mu dojde, kdo to byl, které z postav, které je těžké si zapamatovat, to byla. Nic víc. I v klasických detektivkách staré školy dojde aspoň k druhé vraždě, objevují se nové skutečnosti, motivy, prostě něco zajímavého. Tady je nic - a pak rozuzlení.

[Spiros · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the '80's, Donald Westlake, as a moderately successful author, succumbed to the temptation of seeing "Could I do it today? If I were starting now, would I succeed or fail?". Hence was born the character (and nom de plume) Sam Holt; the character, a former cop turned television actor, whose success playing a P.I. named Packard has caused him to be typecast and virtually unemployable; the author, an attempt by Westlake to see if he could be loved for who he was as an author, without the "Westlake" or "Richard Stark" brand-name prejudicing his public. Unfortunately, the marketing department of his publisher blew the secret, and Westlake lost interest in the experiment.
The results? Not quite vintage Westlake (or Stark): not as funny as Westlake, not nearly as hard-boiled as Stark, tending closer towards the Westlake end of the spectrum. Certainly a fun read, and enjoyable for the chance it gave Westlake of gently ridiculing Hollywood. I'll certainly seek out the first volume of the series, and possibly the third.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam Holt, ex-cop, out of work actor, is visited by his old partner from his police days with a wild story of the mob after him from something he discovered. He hides him out even though he's throwing a party the next week.
Near the end of that party, when most of the guests have left, and only the close friends are left, Sam sees his friend go up stairs, only to be found dead later.
One of his close friends had murdered him and Sam has to play detective in order to learn which one.

[Craig Rettig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Westlake's Holt series isn't quite as hard-boiled as his other stuff, but it's still pretty fun. This one had an odd structure to it, though, which may put some people off.