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Violent Ward
A hard-boiled Los Angeles criminal lawyer copes with a son in trouble, a passion for his biggest client's wife, and cops who want to pin a murder on him
305 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
19 people are currently reading
209 people want to read
About the author
Len Deighton
225 books944 followersDeighton was born in Marylebone, London, in 1929. His father was a chauffeur and mechanic, and his mother was a part-time cook. After leaving school, Deighton worked as a railway clerk before performing his National Service, which he spent as a photographer for the Royal Air Force's Special Investigation Branch. After discharge from the RAF, he studied at St Martin's School of Art in London in 1949, and in 1952 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1955.
Deighton worked as an airline steward with BOAC. Before he began his writing career he worked as an illustrator in New York and, in 1960, as an art director in a London advertising agency. He is credited with creating the first British cover for Jack Kerouac's On the Road. He has since used his drawing skills to illustrate a number of his own military history books.
Following the success of his first novels, Deighton became The Observer's cookery writer and produced illustrated cookbooks. In September 1967 he wrote an article in the Sunday Times Magazine about Operation Snowdrop - an SAS attack on Benghazi during World War II. The following year David Stirling would be awarded substantial damages in libel from the article.
He also wrote travel guides and became travel editor of Playboy, before becoming a film producer. After producing a film adaption of his 1968 novel Only When I Larf, Deighton and photographer Brian Duffy bought the film rights to Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop's stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! He had his name removed from the credits of the film, however, which was a move that he later described as "stupid and infantile." That was his last involvement with the cinema.
Deighton left England in 1969. He briefly resided in Blackrock, County Louth in Ireland. He has not returned to England apart from some personal visits and very few media appearances, his last one since 1985 being a 2006 interview which formed part of a "Len Deighton Night" on BBC Four. He and his wife Ysabele divide their time between homes in Portugal and Guernsey.
Deighton worked as an airline steward with BOAC. Before he began his writing career he worked as an illustrator in New York and, in 1960, as an art director in a London advertising agency. He is credited with creating the first British cover for Jack Kerouac's On the Road. He has since used his drawing skills to illustrate a number of his own military history books.
Following the success of his first novels, Deighton became The Observer's cookery writer and produced illustrated cookbooks. In September 1967 he wrote an article in the Sunday Times Magazine about Operation Snowdrop - an SAS attack on Benghazi during World War II. The following year David Stirling would be awarded substantial damages in libel from the article.
He also wrote travel guides and became travel editor of Playboy, before becoming a film producer. After producing a film adaption of his 1968 novel Only When I Larf, Deighton and photographer Brian Duffy bought the film rights to Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop's stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! He had his name removed from the credits of the film, however, which was a move that he later described as "stupid and infantile." That was his last involvement with the cinema.
Deighton left England in 1969. He briefly resided in Blackrock, County Louth in Ireland. He has not returned to England apart from some personal visits and very few media appearances, his last one since 1985 being a 2006 interview which formed part of a "Len Deighton Night" on BBC Four. He and his wife Ysabele divide their time between homes in Portugal and Guernsey.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
January 6, 2018
I really liked the book and the writing is superior. However, Len Deighton is actually more of a major figure of the Spy Thriller genre, so this book is a kind of unusual. Since The Cold War is not really relevant anymore, he's probably trying to cash in on the 'comedic thriller' genre. The book seems to me like something Donald E. Westlake might have done, but Deighton is probably the better craftsman. The story-line might be a bit too convoluted, but Deighton's style makes it worth the effort.
August 29, 2018
Originally published on my blog here in April 2005.
One of Robert A. Heinlein's best known short stories, ...And He Built A Crooked House, begins with a whimsical description of the lunacy of America. This novel, with its tagline "If America is a lunatic asylum then California is the Violent Ward", brings that idea up to date, with a much bleaker view of Lost Angeles set during the Rodney King trial: the amiable eccentricity of Heinlein's early fifties suburbia is long gone.
Mickey Murphy is a shady lawyer, whose clients, though they include a well known film actor, tend to be on the edges of the underworld. He reluctantly becomes involved in something rather more serious than shady dealing, and this comes to a head against the background of increasing tension on the streets - a nice use of the "pathetic fallacy".
Deighton is a vintage writer covering familiar ground - the cynical, tough narrator involved in something he doesn't approve of, who knows a lot more about what is going on than he reveals to the reader is found in many of his novels. Given the LA setting, Violent Ward sometimes reads as though it could be the backstory of an ambiguous character who later turns up in one of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels. A similar background, more or less centred on the film industry, has appeared before in Deighton's work, in Xpd and Close Up, but this is a more straightforward novel than either. It is more successful than XPD in particular because it leaves out the various elements that combine to make that novel one of Deighton's least believable. On balance, Violent Ward joins City Of Gold to be Deighton's best work of the nineties, a more fitting end to his career than the comparatively lacklustre final Bernard Samson trilogy.
One of Robert A. Heinlein's best known short stories, ...And He Built A Crooked House, begins with a whimsical description of the lunacy of America. This novel, with its tagline "If America is a lunatic asylum then California is the Violent Ward", brings that idea up to date, with a much bleaker view of Lost Angeles set during the Rodney King trial: the amiable eccentricity of Heinlein's early fifties suburbia is long gone.
Mickey Murphy is a shady lawyer, whose clients, though they include a well known film actor, tend to be on the edges of the underworld. He reluctantly becomes involved in something rather more serious than shady dealing, and this comes to a head against the background of increasing tension on the streets - a nice use of the "pathetic fallacy".
Deighton is a vintage writer covering familiar ground - the cynical, tough narrator involved in something he doesn't approve of, who knows a lot more about what is going on than he reveals to the reader is found in many of his novels. Given the LA setting, Violent Ward sometimes reads as though it could be the backstory of an ambiguous character who later turns up in one of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels. A similar background, more or less centred on the film industry, has appeared before in Deighton's work, in Xpd and Close Up, but this is a more straightforward novel than either. It is more successful than XPD in particular because it leaves out the various elements that combine to make that novel one of Deighton's least believable. On balance, Violent Ward joins City Of Gold to be Deighton's best work of the nineties, a more fitting end to his career than the comparatively lacklustre final Bernard Samson trilogy.
August 12, 2024
This was entertaining enough but nothing special or intriguing. Quite sure that after a couple of months I won't even remember what the plot is about.
At one point while reading I came up with a notion that made me wonder, what would a good man or woman do if there was seemingly no easy way out of a difficult and complex situation. If going to the cops was surely incriminating or just not an option due to corruption. What would a good person do then? Turn a blind eye to the evil happening around them or fight an injust system as a one man army, possibly risking one's own life, their carreer and/or family? Or maybe you would run. Flee the country and seek asylum elsewhere. But what if the country you're running from is NK or Russia? And you'll just get shot wherever you end up.
What would you do?
At one point while reading I came up with a notion that made me wonder, what would a good man or woman do if there was seemingly no easy way out of a difficult and complex situation. If going to the cops was surely incriminating or just not an option due to corruption. What would a good person do then? Turn a blind eye to the evil happening around them or fight an injust system as a one man army, possibly risking one's own life, their carreer and/or family? Or maybe you would run. Flee the country and seek asylum elsewhere. But what if the country you're running from is NK or Russia? And you'll just get shot wherever you end up.
What would you do?
July 9, 2022
I enjoyed this tale of an LA lawyer drawn into dubious legal territory with some very dubious clients including hi high school sweetheart
January 4, 2017
Len Deighton is best-known as a spy novelist who's also published several books of military history. In 1993, he tried his hand at a Spillane-ish noir concerning Los Angeles lawyer Mickey Murphy called Violent Ward.
During the closing days of the Rodney King trial, Murphy's law practice is sold to entrepreneur and sometime acquaintance Zach Petrovitch. Before the deal is finalized, Zach's wife Ingrid -- an old flame of Mickey's, naturally -- asks for his help because she says her life is in danger. Is it? Mickey can't be sure. He's also not sure about his client, fading leading man Budd Byron, who's asked him to get a gun but not through the official channels; about his law partner's dealings with a seedy evangelist; about his ex-wife who alternates between asking him for more money and threatening suicide; about some clients whose financial empire is looking a little shaky, and so on. Things will come to a head in the riots that follow the "not guilty" verdict given against the officers accused of beating King.
Mickey narrates in a kind of 1940s tough-guy-on-wry patter. Even though the book is set in sunny 1990s Los Angeles it's not hard to picture it in black-and-white and filled with men wearing fedoras. There's some serious threatening and a little mayhem going on even before the riots, but the overall tone is snappy with the same kind of dry wit Deighton used in his Bernard Samson novels. Mickey lacks Samson's glum pessimism, perhaps a feature of the Los Angeles setting compared with Samson's dreary London and Berlin stages. The plot sometimes twists back on itself a little too hard, leaving us wondering for a moment just what's going on, but overall it's a fun path to follow.
Deighton would follow Violent Ward with the concluding trilogy of Bernard Samson novels, and some speculated that he might continue to write about Mickey Murphy and his classic Cadillac as they wove through the bizarre mix of reality and unreality of southern California. But sequels never materialized and the author seems more or less retired at 82, so this book remains Mickey's only chronicle.
Original available here.
During the closing days of the Rodney King trial, Murphy's law practice is sold to entrepreneur and sometime acquaintance Zach Petrovitch. Before the deal is finalized, Zach's wife Ingrid -- an old flame of Mickey's, naturally -- asks for his help because she says her life is in danger. Is it? Mickey can't be sure. He's also not sure about his client, fading leading man Budd Byron, who's asked him to get a gun but not through the official channels; about his law partner's dealings with a seedy evangelist; about his ex-wife who alternates between asking him for more money and threatening suicide; about some clients whose financial empire is looking a little shaky, and so on. Things will come to a head in the riots that follow the "not guilty" verdict given against the officers accused of beating King.
Mickey narrates in a kind of 1940s tough-guy-on-wry patter. Even though the book is set in sunny 1990s Los Angeles it's not hard to picture it in black-and-white and filled with men wearing fedoras. There's some serious threatening and a little mayhem going on even before the riots, but the overall tone is snappy with the same kind of dry wit Deighton used in his Bernard Samson novels. Mickey lacks Samson's glum pessimism, perhaps a feature of the Los Angeles setting compared with Samson's dreary London and Berlin stages. The plot sometimes twists back on itself a little too hard, leaving us wondering for a moment just what's going on, but overall it's a fun path to follow.
Deighton would follow Violent Ward with the concluding trilogy of Bernard Samson novels, and some speculated that he might continue to write about Mickey Murphy and his classic Cadillac as they wove through the bizarre mix of reality and unreality of southern California. But sequels never materialized and the author seems more or less retired at 82, so this book remains Mickey's only chronicle.
Original available here.
September 18, 2014
Clever plot, trenchant social observations and a dark sardonic wit. Still a timely and entertaining read. That Len Deighton was quite a character, they don't make 'em like that any more.
October 13, 2021
Len Deighton continues to surprise and delight. Normally known for his very dense and intricate Cold War spy novels, he shows his versatility and sense of humor wonderfully in this almost perfect copying of the hard bitten LA detective/lawyer genre. Mickey Murphey is a small time lawyer with an improbable cast of high school friends--many of whom seem to have made it much bigger than he has. But Deighton is a master of the details--and in and amongst the laconic and ironic recounting of the egotism which LA and Hollywood in particular seem to be driving all people, Mickey is not fooled. The twist at the end is fun and challenging, while the humor and the camp along the way is a delight. Maybe a little more like Tarantino than like early Deighton, but still with the humor and intelligence which one expects of Deighton.
A few samples:
"I have a truly wonderful script, and a certain big-name director is reading it now. This is a story about a guy who sells life insurance door-to-door, but he's a vicious serial killer who dismembers his victims. Psychotic. Bizarre. And yet it's all done in a light comedic vein. It's a comment on the world we live in."
"She stood against the wall under the expensively framed steel engraving of Cork..."
A riot breaks out as a result of the "wrong" verdict of the Rodney King trial: "Dodging through the traffic came individuals, then streams of men, women, and children, every last one of them laboring under the weight of some item or the other, from car batteries to sewing machines. The looting had started: political science gave way to economics. Seeing so many shiny possessions cradled in the loving arms of new owners, the gangs roaming the streets were irresistibly diverted from violence to theft."
Deighton retains his ironic analysis of LA as perhaps only a Brit could observing something wholly alien but weaves a story believably from the inside. Way better than the 3.25 rating given.
A few samples:
"I have a truly wonderful script, and a certain big-name director is reading it now. This is a story about a guy who sells life insurance door-to-door, but he's a vicious serial killer who dismembers his victims. Psychotic. Bizarre. And yet it's all done in a light comedic vein. It's a comment on the world we live in."
"She stood against the wall under the expensively framed steel engraving of Cork..."
A riot breaks out as a result of the "wrong" verdict of the Rodney King trial: "Dodging through the traffic came individuals, then streams of men, women, and children, every last one of them laboring under the weight of some item or the other, from car batteries to sewing machines. The looting had started: political science gave way to economics. Seeing so many shiny possessions cradled in the loving arms of new owners, the gangs roaming the streets were irresistibly diverted from violence to theft."
Deighton retains his ironic analysis of LA as perhaps only a Brit could observing something wholly alien but weaves a story believably from the inside. Way better than the 3.25 rating given.
Read
March 2, 2022Thoroughly competent. In its own odd way, self-fulfilling in that lead character Mickey Murphy (L.A. lawyer) often asserts that an L.A. lawyer would make a good subject for a suspenseful film--which is pretty much what the narrative turns out to be. Mickey seems like he would have a good time with Larry Sportello (Inherent Vice, Pynchon) were Mickey not living 25 years later. The "Rodney King" verdict provokes the last stages of the narrative, though it is hard to imagine a story more different from Richard Powers' The Time of Our Singing which, on the great calendar/clock of fictional time, is winding up right around the corner from Mickey's hole-in-the-wall, "Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel" law office. Mickey is a noirish, hard-talking, wisecracking guy, of Irish ancestry (Gee? With a name like Mickey Murphy?), who occasionally, when the reader is not looking, especially when food is mentioned, slips into being Bernard Samson for a short time. There are dames. Killer dames. To die for and to die because of. And inversions, reversions, perversions, and other versions. I enjoyed it, but, as I thought about The Last Bookshop in London perhaps the greatest weakness of this novel is that it is exactly what one would expect it to be.
December 30, 2019
I always enjoyed Len Deighton's ability to make you feel like you are the character, or are at least party to the happenings. Berlin Game, Mexico Set, and London Match blurred together for me, so it was good to have a standalone story.
And a story it is. I very much like the turnaround at the end where the lawyer who appeared to be at the mercy of everyone else gets out of hot water and makes it big while serving justice to those who deserve it.
I will also credit Mr. Deighton here because unlike another book of California intrigue written by Alistair Maclean, he doesn't sound like an Englishman trying to sound like a Californian trying to sound like a spy. Deighton sounds like California. He sounds like a PI/lawyer without resorting to cliche.
There are the stereotypical mooches, hangers-on, angered exes, hit men, useless wealthy types, those in the circle who just don't get it, but the gift of the story is that Mickey Murphy has them all under some semblance of control by the end without a TSMH.*
* = Then Something Magical Happens
And a story it is. I very much like the turnaround at the end where the lawyer who appeared to be at the mercy of everyone else gets out of hot water and makes it big while serving justice to those who deserve it.
I will also credit Mr. Deighton here because unlike another book of California intrigue written by Alistair Maclean, he doesn't sound like an Englishman trying to sound like a Californian trying to sound like a spy. Deighton sounds like California. He sounds like a PI/lawyer without resorting to cliche.
There are the stereotypical mooches, hangers-on, angered exes, hit men, useless wealthy types, those in the circle who just don't get it, but the gift of the story is that Mickey Murphy has them all under some semblance of control by the end without a TSMH.*
* = Then Something Magical Happens
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2023
I missed this on first publication, the only gap in my Deighton novel collection. It's very much in the usual "harboiled first person narrator thriller" mould: we're in '90s Los Angeles with wise cracking lawyer Mickey Murphy. There's intrigue, murder and shady deals, all culminating in the riots.
The big draw for me was our hero. He's a funny, fallible divorcee father with a battered and bruised honour. There's the real sense of a fully-rounded quirky character who loves his '59 Cadillac, his terrier Rex and tapdancing as an exercise regime (!?). His cynicism is matched by his loyalty and a deceptive sharpness.
The tone switches from double-dealing to humour and Tinsletown satire - the writing is superb as always. I enjoyed the hopeful, slightly unresolved ending, a far cry from the bleakness of the author's spy novels. The riots don't feature massively, more of a backdrop to the finale. All in all, an enjoyable "one off".
The big draw for me was our hero. He's a funny, fallible divorcee father with a battered and bruised honour. There's the real sense of a fully-rounded quirky character who loves his '59 Cadillac, his terrier Rex and tapdancing as an exercise regime (!?). His cynicism is matched by his loyalty and a deceptive sharpness.
The tone switches from double-dealing to humour and Tinsletown satire - the writing is superb as always. I enjoyed the hopeful, slightly unresolved ending, a far cry from the bleakness of the author's spy novels. The riots don't feature massively, more of a backdrop to the finale. All in all, an enjoyable "one off".
July 17, 2020
I love Len Deighton's Samson novels and this book gave Deighton all the room he needed to bring the sarcastic humor that marked Samson's first person narrative to the forefront. Unfortunately, the plot was a sort of mashup between a thriller, a lawyer procedural, and a commentary on the Rodney King verdict riots that didn't work. Deighton's writing skill kept my interest and his protagonist, like Samson, is likable and real.
March 29, 2020
This was my first Deighton novel, so I had no expectations of a spy thriller. What a bunch of crazies. If California is a lunatic asylum, Los Angeles must be the violent ward. Deighton didn't explain what happened to Billy Kim or the $20,000 he took out of the office safe.
July 24, 2017
Not your typical Deighton novel. Low key but interesting lawyer and slick client story....A 2-3 rating.
January 9, 2018
More Carl Hiassen than the Len Deighton I know - very readable however
September 4, 2019
This novel maintained the reader's interest throughout. The characters were enjoyable to follow.
November 18, 2019
Fast moving. Funny in parts.
September 24, 2020
Ho-hum/so-so
March 27, 2021
not so good like the Sampson series but readable , entertaining and funny.
August 8, 2021
Hard to follow at times but liked the final realization.
September 26, 2021
Took a while to get going but was a page turner after the first 40 or so pages.
January 2, 2023
I am becoming a little addicted to Len Deighton.
April 7, 2023
I like reading books from before all the authors decided to use their story lines to promote values that I don't hold such as homosexuality, transgender and overall political correctness.
January 11, 2025
Why did this continually make me think of The Lincoln Lawyer I wonder?
August 19, 2021
Sad to say but Deighton stumbles badly here, even though he has created a proto if cartoonish Mickey Haller. I did like the stuff about money laundering
January 16, 2013
Actually a 2-1/2 star....I read this book because after reading the sleeve I thought it was a different read for me, so I thought I would give it a try. It turned out that I didn't quite get into it as much as I thought I would. I liked the main character (Mickey) but the rest of the characters were annoying and aggravating. The humor in this book was enjoyable, especially since I do not usually read books with humor. I found this book to be mainly a narrative ie. one person telling something....which didn't add up to much.
All this being said, I would definitely give this author another try.
All this being said, I would definitely give this author another try.
February 6, 2014
A fast moving discombobulated tale of life in the fast lane in Los Angeles. Deighton has a very dry wit. Sometimes it's very funny - other times it detracts from what's happening in the story. I found this book hard to get through. Why did I finish it?!!! I guess I just needed to see if it got any better. Surely, this wasn't IT?? I was so happy when I was done!
July 7, 2009
It's been six months since I read this and even after reading the blurb ont he listing, I don't remember a thing about it. For that reason I downgraded it from three stars to two. Totally forgettable.
August 14, 2012
Although I have read and reread this a number of times, as I have Deightons other books, I'm not sure this works for me.
A total departure from his other novels mixing an American lawyer, shady business intrigues, riots and another introduction to the film world. I'm not sure it entirely works.
A total departure from his other novels mixing an American lawyer, shady business intrigues, riots and another introduction to the film world. I'm not sure it entirely works.
May 1, 2016
Fun little mystery that takes place in the early 90's. The author can write and the main character Micky, is a sarcastic, cynical lawyer, perfectly suited to working wth psychopaths in the entertainment industry and other assorted rich people in Southern California.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews