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Gold Coast
Bantam 1985 edition paperback vg++ condition
218 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
379 people are currently reading
736 people want to read
About the author
Elmore Leonard
215 books3,738 followersElmore John Leonard lived in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Memphis before settling in Detroit in 1935. After serving in the navy, he studied English literature at the University of Detroit where he entered a short story competition. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.
Father of Peter Leonard.
Father of Peter Leonard.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews
January 18, 2025
Gold Coast is one of Elmore Leonard's best character studies in the guise of a crime thriller. You could also call it a crime thriller in the guise of a character study. I am not sure. Elmore really does spin a tall tale here.
Karen DiCillia, an attractive widow in her forties, cannot seem to maintain relationships with men. She hits it off with them on the first meeting but then they seem to back off for no good reason. Upon some deep digging, she discovers that her dead Italian gangster husband Frank DiCillia has a contract out on her, which involves hired tough guys threatening any man who would dare to date her. Sure, she can leave this enforced celibacy any time she wants. Nobody would kill her. But then, she would not get any of the millions that Frank has left her. The life he has set up for her includes a beautiful Florida mansion with a maid who serves cocktails, $20,000 a month in interest from bonds and other properties. It simply does not involve getting laid.
Carl Maguire is an ageing and depressed ex-con who knows a bit about art but is stuck in an amusement park job after barely escaping sentencing for a job he carried out for Frank. When he traces Karen down to recover the money that Frank owed him, they fall in love and believe they have a chance to escape. Carl finds Karen to be cold and meandering at times, so he lets loose some interesting theories about humans and animals : "When I worked at the dolphin place down on Marathon, ten years ago, I didn't tell you, did I, I got arrested, for wilful destruction of property? ..... they had wire fences built out from the shore and the breakwater. Like pens they kept the dolphins in. Different pens that were attached to each other. One night I went out there with some tinsnips and cut out the fences.The dolphins swam out to the sea .... but as soon as they got hungry, they all came back to the pens and never left again ..... They didn't want to be saved. They just wanted to play games."
Elmore Leonard seems to be tackling the theme of freedom. When we say we want to escape our boring lives, do we really want to? Aren't we all just happy in our boring lives, waiting for Friday evening when I can get stone drunk? Playing games like writing reviews on Goodreads for total strangers whom I will never meet, hiding my true personalty. Waiting eagerly for them to press the like button.
Apart from all this deep stuff, Gold Coast is a really awesome crime thriller with fantastic dialog, clever plot twists involving deliberate misdirection, a great redneck villain and dim-witted Cuban gangsters (Elmore does not seem to think much of Mexican, Indian and Cuban gangsters, atleast in the novels I have read so far). Elmore certainly had great fun writing this book . I bet he had a good laugh and a drink after each of his crime thrillers became a bestseller, telling himself "I fooled them all again."
Karen DiCillia, an attractive widow in her forties, cannot seem to maintain relationships with men. She hits it off with them on the first meeting but then they seem to back off for no good reason. Upon some deep digging, she discovers that her dead Italian gangster husband Frank DiCillia has a contract out on her, which involves hired tough guys threatening any man who would dare to date her. Sure, she can leave this enforced celibacy any time she wants. Nobody would kill her. But then, she would not get any of the millions that Frank has left her. The life he has set up for her includes a beautiful Florida mansion with a maid who serves cocktails, $20,000 a month in interest from bonds and other properties. It simply does not involve getting laid.
Carl Maguire is an ageing and depressed ex-con who knows a bit about art but is stuck in an amusement park job after barely escaping sentencing for a job he carried out for Frank. When he traces Karen down to recover the money that Frank owed him, they fall in love and believe they have a chance to escape. Carl finds Karen to be cold and meandering at times, so he lets loose some interesting theories about humans and animals : "When I worked at the dolphin place down on Marathon, ten years ago, I didn't tell you, did I, I got arrested, for wilful destruction of property? ..... they had wire fences built out from the shore and the breakwater. Like pens they kept the dolphins in. Different pens that were attached to each other. One night I went out there with some tinsnips and cut out the fences.The dolphins swam out to the sea .... but as soon as they got hungry, they all came back to the pens and never left again ..... They didn't want to be saved. They just wanted to play games."
Elmore Leonard seems to be tackling the theme of freedom. When we say we want to escape our boring lives, do we really want to? Aren't we all just happy in our boring lives, waiting for Friday evening when I can get stone drunk? Playing games like writing reviews on Goodreads for total strangers whom I will never meet, hiding my true personalty. Waiting eagerly for them to press the like button.
Apart from all this deep stuff, Gold Coast is a really awesome crime thriller with fantastic dialog, clever plot twists involving deliberate misdirection, a great redneck villain and dim-witted Cuban gangsters (Elmore does not seem to think much of Mexican, Indian and Cuban gangsters, atleast in the novels I have read so far). Elmore certainly had great fun writing this book . I bet he had a good laugh and a drink after each of his crime thrillers became a bestseller, telling himself "I fooled them all again."
May 3, 2022
Published in 1980, Gold Coast is another great early crime novel from Elmore Leonard. At the heart of the story is a forty-four-year-old woman named Karen DeCilia who, several years earlier, made the mistake of marrying a mobster. She's living a live of apparent luxury on Florida's Gold Coast, but it's an empty life in which she's totally dependent on her husband, Frank. But when Frank suddenly and unexpectedly dies, Karen finds herself a very wealthy widow with a chance now to live her own life as she sees fit.
Or maybe not.
Frank DeCilia was a very possessive guy, and he remains so, even in the afterlife. In arranging his affairs, he left all of Karen's inheritance in a trust to be administered very frugally by his mob lawyer. And it's clear that Frank intends to control not only Karen's finance from the grave, but her social life as well.
Karen is completely frustrated and at her wit's end when two different men enter the picture. One is a seriously disturbed ex-con named Roland Crowe who works for the lawyer who administers Karen's inheritance. Roland assesses the situation and decides that he'd like to move in on Karen and take possession of her and her inheritance as well.
At the same time, a career criminal from Detroit named Calvin Maguire shows up in Florida. Maguire did a job in Michigan for Karen's husband and was promised $1500.00 for his trouble. Sadly, Frank died before paying off and now Maguire wants Karen to make good on the debt. Before long, all three characters are tangled up in a typically Elmore Leonard inspired plot.
Gold Coast has all the traits of a good Elmore Leonard novel. The characters are off-beat and cleverly developed. The dialogue is great, and until the final paragraph, the reader has no earthly idea how all of this will be resolved. A great re-read.
Or maybe not.
Frank DeCilia was a very possessive guy, and he remains so, even in the afterlife. In arranging his affairs, he left all of Karen's inheritance in a trust to be administered very frugally by his mob lawyer. And it's clear that Frank intends to control not only Karen's finance from the grave, but her social life as well.
Karen is completely frustrated and at her wit's end when two different men enter the picture. One is a seriously disturbed ex-con named Roland Crowe who works for the lawyer who administers Karen's inheritance. Roland assesses the situation and decides that he'd like to move in on Karen and take possession of her and her inheritance as well.
At the same time, a career criminal from Detroit named Calvin Maguire shows up in Florida. Maguire did a job in Michigan for Karen's husband and was promised $1500.00 for his trouble. Sadly, Frank died before paying off and now Maguire wants Karen to make good on the debt. Before long, all three characters are tangled up in a typically Elmore Leonard inspired plot.
Gold Coast has all the traits of a good Elmore Leonard novel. The characters are off-beat and cleverly developed. The dialogue is great, and until the final paragraph, the reader has no earthly idea how all of this will be resolved. A great re-read.
October 8, 2019
The best Elmore Leonard novel I've read since embarking upon my marathon re-read.
Karen DiCilia has been married to Frank -a high-ranking Mafiosi elder- for eight years when he suffers a killer heart attack and dies. Karen and Frank had recently had a fight after Karen discovers that Frank has been carrying on an affair with a female real estate agent.
Karen asks Frank how he would like it if she had an extra-marital affair.
Frank takes such a prospect as a threat.
Upon Frank's death Karen inherits four million dollars and an ocean front villa stocked with rare and delicate furnishings.
Frank's will stipulates that she never have sex again or she forfeits the home and the four million dollars. Frank's corporation sends around a guy to check up on her every couple of weeks and they've also tapped her phone, recording all of her calls, making sure she isn't trawling for male companionship.
Around this messy situation spins a host of characters good, bad, and worse. The worst being a Florida backwoods cowboy who comes off as very, very rapey and is seemingly invincible. The good is a rather hapless young guy in his late 30s who works with dolphins over at the nearby "Seaworld" type amusement park. His intentions are honorable but he's no match for the diabolical backwoods cowboy.
Karen's on her own.
This is a terrific suspense-thriller with a few murders, a couple of beatings, and loads of sexual intimidation and featuring a truly great female lead character.
I would recommend this novel to all Elmore Leonard newcomers.
Karen DiCilia has been married to Frank -a high-ranking Mafiosi elder- for eight years when he suffers a killer heart attack and dies. Karen and Frank had recently had a fight after Karen discovers that Frank has been carrying on an affair with a female real estate agent.
Karen asks Frank how he would like it if she had an extra-marital affair.
Frank takes such a prospect as a threat.
Upon Frank's death Karen inherits four million dollars and an ocean front villa stocked with rare and delicate furnishings.
Frank's will stipulates that she never have sex again or she forfeits the home and the four million dollars. Frank's corporation sends around a guy to check up on her every couple of weeks and they've also tapped her phone, recording all of her calls, making sure she isn't trawling for male companionship.
Around this messy situation spins a host of characters good, bad, and worse. The worst being a Florida backwoods cowboy who comes off as very, very rapey and is seemingly invincible. The good is a rather hapless young guy in his late 30s who works with dolphins over at the nearby "Seaworld" type amusement park. His intentions are honorable but he's no match for the diabolical backwoods cowboy.
Karen's on her own.
This is a terrific suspense-thriller with a few murders, a couple of beatings, and loads of sexual intimidation and featuring a truly great female lead character.
I would recommend this novel to all Elmore Leonard newcomers.
September 27, 2021
This is quite an old, neglected Elmore Leonard thriller but absolutely one of my faves of the 15 or so I've read by him. As always, the dialogue crackles with authentic life and the intricate plot comes together nicely. And there's a right nasty bastard to hate through it all. Top class crime writing.
August 13, 2022
I like the idea of this book, the strong, no BS woman that knows the reality that surrounds her. She’s cold in her assessments and actions but still has a warm side in her moments of escape. Couple this personality with the pet male character who becomes trapped by his own need for acceptance and feelings of loyalty. It’s these two characters that create a dynamic dance throughout the story.
The characters themselves, however and unlike other Leonard novels, never really come to life. Usually, Leonard characters possess a personality that goes through life balanced on a knife edge that divides desire from rationality. This device creates the opportunity for actions that can seem to be out of left field but are always understandable. With Gold Coast, this instability never fully materializes making the story a bit mundane, especially in light of Leonard’s best books.
I typically read Leonard books because of his character-forward style of writing. It gives me the ability to enjoy his novels without the deeper contemplations that more complex plot elements require. They offer a break in a reading regimen filled with more literary works, and Gold Coast still did just that.
The characters themselves, however and unlike other Leonard novels, never really come to life. Usually, Leonard characters possess a personality that goes through life balanced on a knife edge that divides desire from rationality. This device creates the opportunity for actions that can seem to be out of left field but are always understandable. With Gold Coast, this instability never fully materializes making the story a bit mundane, especially in light of Leonard’s best books.
I typically read Leonard books because of his character-forward style of writing. It gives me the ability to enjoy his novels without the deeper contemplations that more complex plot elements require. They offer a break in a reading regimen filled with more literary works, and Gold Coast still did just that.
March 24, 2015
2.5 stars.
Title this review, “The Time One of My Favorite Authors Wrote a Book I Didn’t Like Very Much.”
It happens. R.E.M. gives us Around the Sun, Quentin Tarantino writes and directs Death Proof, Michael Fassbender appears in Jonah Hex. Even our most reliable artists stumble from time to time – it would be unreasonable to expect otherwise – and with any luck, they recover. That’s largely how I feel about Gold Coast, a book that seems to have something on its mind but doesn’t execute very well.
The problem (and I’ll try to keep this short) is that in this book Leonard fails where he usually succeeds: his characters are, as the French would say, total merde. The book revolves around a spectacularly uninteresting trio consisting of widow Karen, cowboy-hat-wearing villain Roland, and wannabe good guy Maguire. And that’s unfortunate, because Gold Coast actually sports a killer premise. Karen’s ultra-possessive, mobbed-up husband Frank dies and leave her his estate in trust: a monthly payment of $20,000 which will eventually total $4 million. The catch is that his possessiveness stays behind to haunt her. If Karen dates anyone else – ever – she forfeits the money, and Frank facilitates the deal from beyond the grave by arranging for Roland to tap her phones and scare off any would-be suitors. This is where Maguire, a petty thief who decided to go straight by working at a low-rent Sea World knock-off, enters the picture. He falls for Karen – and she for him, sorta – and, after Karen learns of Frank’s scheme, the two of them cook up a plan by which they can get Roland out of the picture.
It’s good, right? I mean, I don’t pretend to have enough legal savvy to know if Frank’s deal is plausible, but Leonard sells it. After the first couple chapters I was prepared for a typically entertaining ride from the master of this sort of thing. But, as I mentioned above, the three main characters are just … dull. Where Leonard’s characters are usually sharply and incisively drawn, here we get broad strokes that are supposed to pass for personality. Roland is a backwoods hick who wears a blue suit; Maguire is brash and idealistic; and Karen is, well, sort of a blank slate. In her defense (and Leonard’s, by extension), we learn at the very end of Gold Coast that that’s very much by design. But the problem is that the revelation in question (which I obviously won’t spoil here) doesn’t turn the book on its head like it should, so Karen just sort of remains a void. It’s unclear, then, why these two men are fighting over her other than the fact that she’s a 44-year-old woman with the body of a 25-year-old. On one hand that reveals some troubling gender politics; on the other hand, it’s not totally implausible that that would be enough for some men to drop everything and take up fisticuffs.
Without well-defined characters on which to hang his trademark dialogue, Leonard’s plot spins its wheels aimlessly. Things gradually become more and more convoluted to the point where the book’s relatively scant 218 pages actually felt too long. I usually breeze through Leonard’s stuff in a day or two; this one I struggled with. As I’ve written in multiple reviews, I don’t need to relate to characters to enjoy a book, but I do need characters. To crib shamelessly from Luigi Pirandello, Gold Coast is a story in search of three characters.
I know enough of Elmore Leonard’s career to know he recovers from this uncharacteristic lull (when Gold Coast was published, Out of Sight, Get Shorty, and Rum Punch were still out of there on the horizon ten or more years in the future), but this is easily the first of his books I can’t enthusiastically recommend.
Read all my reviews at goldstarforrobotboy.net
Title this review, “The Time One of My Favorite Authors Wrote a Book I Didn’t Like Very Much.”
It happens. R.E.M. gives us Around the Sun, Quentin Tarantino writes and directs Death Proof, Michael Fassbender appears in Jonah Hex. Even our most reliable artists stumble from time to time – it would be unreasonable to expect otherwise – and with any luck, they recover. That’s largely how I feel about Gold Coast, a book that seems to have something on its mind but doesn’t execute very well.
The problem (and I’ll try to keep this short) is that in this book Leonard fails where he usually succeeds: his characters are, as the French would say, total merde. The book revolves around a spectacularly uninteresting trio consisting of widow Karen, cowboy-hat-wearing villain Roland, and wannabe good guy Maguire. And that’s unfortunate, because Gold Coast actually sports a killer premise. Karen’s ultra-possessive, mobbed-up husband Frank dies and leave her his estate in trust: a monthly payment of $20,000 which will eventually total $4 million. The catch is that his possessiveness stays behind to haunt her. If Karen dates anyone else – ever – she forfeits the money, and Frank facilitates the deal from beyond the grave by arranging for Roland to tap her phones and scare off any would-be suitors. This is where Maguire, a petty thief who decided to go straight by working at a low-rent Sea World knock-off, enters the picture. He falls for Karen – and she for him, sorta – and, after Karen learns of Frank’s scheme, the two of them cook up a plan by which they can get Roland out of the picture.
It’s good, right? I mean, I don’t pretend to have enough legal savvy to know if Frank’s deal is plausible, but Leonard sells it. After the first couple chapters I was prepared for a typically entertaining ride from the master of this sort of thing. But, as I mentioned above, the three main characters are just … dull. Where Leonard’s characters are usually sharply and incisively drawn, here we get broad strokes that are supposed to pass for personality. Roland is a backwoods hick who wears a blue suit; Maguire is brash and idealistic; and Karen is, well, sort of a blank slate. In her defense (and Leonard’s, by extension), we learn at the very end of Gold Coast that that’s very much by design. But the problem is that the revelation in question (which I obviously won’t spoil here) doesn’t turn the book on its head like it should, so Karen just sort of remains a void. It’s unclear, then, why these two men are fighting over her other than the fact that she’s a 44-year-old woman with the body of a 25-year-old. On one hand that reveals some troubling gender politics; on the other hand, it’s not totally implausible that that would be enough for some men to drop everything and take up fisticuffs.
Without well-defined characters on which to hang his trademark dialogue, Leonard’s plot spins its wheels aimlessly. Things gradually become more and more convoluted to the point where the book’s relatively scant 218 pages actually felt too long. I usually breeze through Leonard’s stuff in a day or two; this one I struggled with. As I’ve written in multiple reviews, I don’t need to relate to characters to enjoy a book, but I do need characters. To crib shamelessly from Luigi Pirandello, Gold Coast is a story in search of three characters.
I know enough of Elmore Leonard’s career to know he recovers from this uncharacteristic lull (when Gold Coast was published, Out of Sight, Get Shorty, and Rum Punch were still out of there on the horizon ten or more years in the future), but this is easily the first of his books I can’t enthusiastically recommend.
Read all my reviews at goldstarforrobotboy.net
February 23, 2022
Graham Greene used to describe some of his novels as “entertainments” distinguishing them from his more literary efforts. There are times where all I want from a novel is entertainment. When I was working and there was something particularly stressful going on, I might just need a diversion. More often now, it is simply adjusting the mix of what I have been reading. I may have just read something I didn’t care for, something that was intriguing but a bit dry or something that was long and challenging and afterwards I needed a break. Elmore Leonard is for me pure entertainment.
In Gold Coast Karen’s first husband has died and she has remarried Frank DiCilia, a retired mobster. After five years of marriage Frank has a mistress but is not pleased when Karen suggests that she should just do what he is doing. When Frank dies of natural causes less than a year later, Karen finds herself pinned down by the terms of Frank’s final request to his attorney and mobster friend. While this novel is not the best I have read by Leonard, the characters and story grab you quickly, and provided just the diversion I needed. I admired the intelligence of Karen (Hill) DiCilia that enabled her to function and survive in what is clearly a man’s world. Mind candy consumed, I am now ready to move on to something different.
In Gold Coast Karen’s first husband has died and she has remarried Frank DiCilia, a retired mobster. After five years of marriage Frank has a mistress but is not pleased when Karen suggests that she should just do what he is doing. When Frank dies of natural causes less than a year later, Karen finds herself pinned down by the terms of Frank’s final request to his attorney and mobster friend. While this novel is not the best I have read by Leonard, the characters and story grab you quickly, and provided just the diversion I needed. I admired the intelligence of Karen (Hill) DiCilia that enabled her to function and survive in what is clearly a man’s world. Mind candy consumed, I am now ready to move on to something different.
October 14, 2022
So much fun. Right on page 9, what I love about Elmore: Karen, “Playing a role and enjoying it. It was real.”
Or page 61, Maguire in a rant after my own heart: “I didn’t say I didn’t like it, I said it wasn’t real. It’s like a refuge. Nothing can happen to you there, you’re safe. But it’s got nothing to do with reality. It’s like you’re given security, but in exchange for it you have to give up yourself. You have to become somebody else.”
Getting it, even in the stories that are just pure fun, the playing roles and the false safeties, the way trouble is like an itch on your back you’ve got to scratch. Life is not a movie but also it is, only there’s just the one person in charge of casting and direction, Karen saying things to Maguire like, “I think you were miscast. You should’ve been something else.”
I don’t know what to tell you anymore, how much of a kick I get out of it, the story-ness of these stories, the thrashing around and the wrecking of normal life for one reason: because. The way I loved this in the end, when all Karen wanted was the trouble, God love her, coming quietly alive.
Or page 61, Maguire in a rant after my own heart: “I didn’t say I didn’t like it, I said it wasn’t real. It’s like a refuge. Nothing can happen to you there, you’re safe. But it’s got nothing to do with reality. It’s like you’re given security, but in exchange for it you have to give up yourself. You have to become somebody else.”
Getting it, even in the stories that are just pure fun, the playing roles and the false safeties, the way trouble is like an itch on your back you’ve got to scratch. Life is not a movie but also it is, only there’s just the one person in charge of casting and direction, Karen saying things to Maguire like, “I think you were miscast. You should’ve been something else.”
I don’t know what to tell you anymore, how much of a kick I get out of it, the story-ness of these stories, the thrashing around and the wrecking of normal life for one reason: because. The way I loved this in the end, when all Karen wanted was the trouble, God love her, coming quietly alive.
December 26, 2012
this is something like the...15th, 16th from leonard for me...kindle edition.
dedicated: for bill leonard
story begins:
one day karen dicilia put a few observations together and realized her husband frank was sleeping with a real estate woman in boca.
karen knew where they were doing it, too. in one of the condominiums frank owned, part of oceana estates.
time & place
*florida...fort lauderdale...miami...miami beach
*karen's present address, 1 isla bahia...the harbor beach section of lauderdale
*detroit
*la gorce, miami beach...golf course
*palm bay club
*may 10. a date to remember
*december 2...frank admitted to hospital...where he dies.
* holy cross hospital
*ed grossi's private office on the 39th floor of the biscayne tower
*deep run country club north of detroit, bloomfield hills
*wayne county jail
*1300 beaubien...police headquarters, detroit
*tall pines trailer court...where lionel oliva resides
*yankee clipper, a kind of restaurant/bar
*alligator pit...porpoise petting pool...shark lagoon
*an old-florida-looking stucco place called the casa loma...where macguire rents a one-room efficiency
*seascape porpoise & sea lion show, s.e. 17th st causeway
*the name of the boat was the salsa...where arnold napp lost the $450,000 worth of pot to the dea...coast guard cutter was the diligence
*arnold rapp's place...balcony...
*the place on the corner of 8th and 42nd that gave spiritual readings and advice
*the pink stucco house on monegro avenue
*500 bay lane where ed grossi's neighbor, richard nixon, had lived
*series 1975...a bunch of money, marked w/that date...the modern era, yay, verily, hallelujah amen
*ed grossi's place, house, on hurricane drive, key biscayne
*cento vasco on southwest 8th street
*the drugstore by the causeway
*house off mulholland drive...where julie lives
*miami international...arnold's jag...arn-268...parked in the delta area
characters
*karen dicilia...married to her second husband, frank dicilia, when the story opens...widowed soon after...has outlived two franks, one an automotive engineer...was karen hill...a nice girl, polite, obedient, a practicing catholic...accepted popular ideas about happiness...too, virginia hauser, or virginia hill hauser...who told the kefauver crime committee in 1951 about the money
*frank dicilia
*the frosted-blonde thirty-six-year-old real estate woman in boca with whom frank is having an affair
*gretchen...karen's dog...some sort of german/dutch mix
*marta diaz, the maid, sister of jesus diaz
*jesus diaz, former boxer/fighter, seems to work for ed grossi, w/roland at times, other times w/another...pronounced hee-soos
*jesus...from nazareth, mentioned to distinguish the above
*the gardener
*frank stohler, michigan '52...karen's 1st hubby
*daughter, julie, born september, 1956
*julie, married to a film stuntman
*brian, julie's husband, broke his jaw doing a car-chase scene
*karen's parents...a father, died...a mother, died
*ed grossi...dorado management corporation...looks after frank's financial holdings and whatnot, through the corporation...looks after karen, per frank's last will & testament
*grossi's secretary, vivian arzola, cuban
*roland crowe...con, lowlife, punk...six months at lake butler state prison...grossi's man
*howard shaw...a man karen...dated...briefly...very briefly
*arnold rapp...druggie...pot...big loads of pot
*the patterson brothers...roland's brothers-in-crime...although he got off on a technicality...they got 20 years:
*andre patterson
*grover "chochise" patterson
*calvin a maguire, male caucasian, date of birth that made him thirty-six...tattoo on upper left bicep, cal...list of arrests going back eleven years, one in florida, no convictions...from detroit...w/pattersons...gets off, goes to florida
*ordell and louis...buddies of andre patterson, mentioned for effect
*a little guy w/muscles in his arms and shoulders...one of many victims at the country club north of detroit
*two waitresses, bartender at c.c.
*about eighteen members of the detroit police department
*various attorney's prosecuting, defending
*marshall fine...young lawyer
*barry, scott, & kenny...friends of arnold rapp's
*clara...is ed's wife
*jimmy capotorto...ed's 2nd, or perhaps an equal?
*a one-legged ex-marine...out of the hospital after visiting one of is buddies...witness against jimmy c
*the former coral gables discount owner
*a bartender, looks like a guy named tommy laglesia that jesus had fought
*lionel oliva...w/jesus diaz, they pay a visit to calvin macguire
*brad allen, show director, star, working manager of seascape porpoise show
*nate...and somebody named marshall...karen talks to on phone about macguire...possibly at a law office in detroit name of goodman and stern
*aunt leona...thomas, uncle thomas...and guy named herman or harry or something, and she is the manager of the casa loma
*a girl visiting from mitchell, indiana...gives macguire a ride
*various porpoises: bonnie, yvonne, pebbles, penny
*lolly the sea lion...at seascape w/the porpoises
*lesley...aunt leona's niece, and lesley works w/macguire at the porpoise place
*r.d. hooker, chuck, robyn...other workers at the porpoise place
*several gentlemen at the bar, hoping and so forth
*the palm bay waiter
*a newscaster
*a woman by the name of epifania cruz, forty-two
*her daughter, alicia, and her son-in-law...
*the feature writer from the goldcoaster, a pleasant, nice looking but unyielding girl by the name of tina noor
*a girl cooking something for lionel
*two police officers in dark brown uniforms and visored caps
*flight attendants
*number 79...and some other characters to-do w/roland's past that is touched on briefly at one point
*a land developer name of goldman...a hotel owner fell behind on his vig...others in roland's past
a quote or two
a wife's faithful to her husband, subject to him. it's in the bible.
verily, hallelujah & amen.
a bit on the narration
the story is told through the point-of-view of the various characters...i like how it seems to change, the telling, when the story is told through marta's pov, marta, mrs dicilia's maid, is cuban and the back-and-forth w/her brother jesus is nice, told after it happened, or you get the sense that the telling occurs after the fact...marta, struggling w/the idea of...spying on karen, mrs. dicilia...her position as maid, hired help, yet still someone that should have morals...a smaller conflict within the larger conflict that is the story.
a book is mentioned
the kefauver story by jack anderson and fred blumenthal
update, finished, 27 dec 12, thursday morning, 9:08 a.m. e.s.t.
an okay story...wasn't blown away...wasn't bored to tears...all is well and all manner of things are well.
dedicated: for bill leonard
story begins:
one day karen dicilia put a few observations together and realized her husband frank was sleeping with a real estate woman in boca.
karen knew where they were doing it, too. in one of the condominiums frank owned, part of oceana estates.
time & place
*florida...fort lauderdale...miami...miami beach
*karen's present address, 1 isla bahia...the harbor beach section of lauderdale
*detroit
*la gorce, miami beach...golf course
*palm bay club
*may 10. a date to remember
*december 2...frank admitted to hospital...where he dies.
* holy cross hospital
*ed grossi's private office on the 39th floor of the biscayne tower
*deep run country club north of detroit, bloomfield hills
*wayne county jail
*1300 beaubien...police headquarters, detroit
*tall pines trailer court...where lionel oliva resides
*yankee clipper, a kind of restaurant/bar
*alligator pit...porpoise petting pool...shark lagoon
*an old-florida-looking stucco place called the casa loma...where macguire rents a one-room efficiency
*seascape porpoise & sea lion show, s.e. 17th st causeway
*the name of the boat was the salsa...where arnold napp lost the $450,000 worth of pot to the dea...coast guard cutter was the diligence
*arnold rapp's place...balcony...
*the place on the corner of 8th and 42nd that gave spiritual readings and advice
*the pink stucco house on monegro avenue
*500 bay lane where ed grossi's neighbor, richard nixon, had lived
*series 1975...a bunch of money, marked w/that date...the modern era, yay, verily, hallelujah amen
*ed grossi's place, house, on hurricane drive, key biscayne
*cento vasco on southwest 8th street
*the drugstore by the causeway
*house off mulholland drive...where julie lives
*miami international...arnold's jag...arn-268...parked in the delta area
characters
*karen dicilia...married to her second husband, frank dicilia, when the story opens...widowed soon after...has outlived two franks, one an automotive engineer...was karen hill...a nice girl, polite, obedient, a practicing catholic...accepted popular ideas about happiness...too, virginia hauser, or virginia hill hauser...who told the kefauver crime committee in 1951 about the money
*frank dicilia
*the frosted-blonde thirty-six-year-old real estate woman in boca with whom frank is having an affair
*gretchen...karen's dog...some sort of german/dutch mix
*marta diaz, the maid, sister of jesus diaz
*jesus diaz, former boxer/fighter, seems to work for ed grossi, w/roland at times, other times w/another...pronounced hee-soos
*jesus...from nazareth, mentioned to distinguish the above
*the gardener
*frank stohler, michigan '52...karen's 1st hubby
*daughter, julie, born september, 1956
*julie, married to a film stuntman
*brian, julie's husband, broke his jaw doing a car-chase scene
*karen's parents...a father, died...a mother, died
*ed grossi...dorado management corporation...looks after frank's financial holdings and whatnot, through the corporation...looks after karen, per frank's last will & testament
*grossi's secretary, vivian arzola, cuban
*roland crowe...con, lowlife, punk...six months at lake butler state prison...grossi's man
*howard shaw...a man karen...dated...briefly...very briefly
*arnold rapp...druggie...pot...big loads of pot
*the patterson brothers...roland's brothers-in-crime...although he got off on a technicality...they got 20 years:
*andre patterson
*grover "chochise" patterson
*calvin a maguire, male caucasian, date of birth that made him thirty-six...tattoo on upper left bicep, cal...list of arrests going back eleven years, one in florida, no convictions...from detroit...w/pattersons...gets off, goes to florida
*ordell and louis...buddies of andre patterson, mentioned for effect
*a little guy w/muscles in his arms and shoulders...one of many victims at the country club north of detroit
*two waitresses, bartender at c.c.
*about eighteen members of the detroit police department
*various attorney's prosecuting, defending
*marshall fine...young lawyer
*barry, scott, & kenny...friends of arnold rapp's
*clara...is ed's wife
*jimmy capotorto...ed's 2nd, or perhaps an equal?
*a one-legged ex-marine...out of the hospital after visiting one of is buddies...witness against jimmy c
*the former coral gables discount owner
*a bartender, looks like a guy named tommy laglesia that jesus had fought
*lionel oliva...w/jesus diaz, they pay a visit to calvin macguire
*brad allen, show director, star, working manager of seascape porpoise show
*nate...and somebody named marshall...karen talks to on phone about macguire...possibly at a law office in detroit name of goodman and stern
*aunt leona...thomas, uncle thomas...and guy named herman or harry or something, and she is the manager of the casa loma
*a girl visiting from mitchell, indiana...gives macguire a ride
*various porpoises: bonnie, yvonne, pebbles, penny
*lolly the sea lion...at seascape w/the porpoises
*lesley...aunt leona's niece, and lesley works w/macguire at the porpoise place
*r.d. hooker, chuck, robyn...other workers at the porpoise place
*several gentlemen at the bar, hoping and so forth
*the palm bay waiter
*a newscaster
*a woman by the name of epifania cruz, forty-two
*her daughter, alicia, and her son-in-law...
*the feature writer from the goldcoaster, a pleasant, nice looking but unyielding girl by the name of tina noor
*a girl cooking something for lionel
*two police officers in dark brown uniforms and visored caps
*flight attendants
*number 79...and some other characters to-do w/roland's past that is touched on briefly at one point
*a land developer name of goldman...a hotel owner fell behind on his vig...others in roland's past
a quote or two
a wife's faithful to her husband, subject to him. it's in the bible.
verily, hallelujah & amen.
a bit on the narration
the story is told through the point-of-view of the various characters...i like how it seems to change, the telling, when the story is told through marta's pov, marta, mrs dicilia's maid, is cuban and the back-and-forth w/her brother jesus is nice, told after it happened, or you get the sense that the telling occurs after the fact...marta, struggling w/the idea of...spying on karen, mrs. dicilia...her position as maid, hired help, yet still someone that should have morals...a smaller conflict within the larger conflict that is the story.
a book is mentioned
the kefauver story by jack anderson and fred blumenthal
update, finished, 27 dec 12, thursday morning, 9:08 a.m. e.s.t.
an okay story...wasn't blown away...wasn't bored to tears...all is well and all manner of things are well.
August 29, 2012
I was a little disappointed with this one. Leonard is one of my heroes, and I just couldn't get into this one. I was all for Cal's role in the story because he seemed like a decent guy in spite of some of the choices he made, but Karen as a protagonist was just unlikeable. Stick up her ass the entire book, and the ending was both unexpected and a let-down after getting through the rest of the book. I was surprised because I had heard this was one of the really good ones to add to the Elmore Leonard reading list, but unfortunately, I've read enough Leonard to say, no, sorry, it isn't. Pick up City Primeval or Killshot instead.
August 12, 2024
Fast-paced, perceptive, honest, brutal. One bit reads very much like the scene in Pulp Fiction where Vincent and Jules burst in on and torment the dumb kids who crossed Marsellus Wallace. If you like manic and fraught episodes like that one, you will get a lot out of Gold Coast.
March 1, 2019
I’ve read some really harsh reviews of this book here on Goodreads and I just don’t understand. This is Elmore Leonard and this is what he does. He usually has a two-bit shit-bag like Rowland, and Rowland is up there among the best two-bit shit-bags. He’s just aching to rape and kill yet he exercises a bit of restraint to further his bigger plan, which is never really revealed.
I listened to the fantastic audio-book narrated by the late great Frank Muller when I was out riding my bike, and read the eBook when I was at home. If you’ve never had the pleasure of listening to one of Frank Muller’s audio performances you really need to fix that. He’s absolutely wonderful and brings the book alive. I found myself reading in the accents he gave to the various characters between bike rides. I knocked this book out in two days while also reading Redeployment by Phil Klay. I’ve been riding my fanny off these days so this has meant five hours in the saddle in two days.
I listened to the fantastic audio-book narrated by the late great Frank Muller when I was out riding my bike, and read the eBook when I was at home. If you’ve never had the pleasure of listening to one of Frank Muller’s audio performances you really need to fix that. He’s absolutely wonderful and brings the book alive. I found myself reading in the accents he gave to the various characters between bike rides. I knocked this book out in two days while also reading Redeployment by Phil Klay. I’ve been riding my fanny off these days so this has meant five hours in the saddle in two days.
October 9, 2021
This is my first Elmore Leonard, and I must say that I was extremely disappointed. The book started with a storyline, which seemed interesting but went nowhere. There are a number of curious characters, well-fleshed out, but the plot is incredibly thin. It was only when I researched the author and discovered that he was a prolific writer of screenplays that the whole thing clicked. What I was reading was a movie, not a book! Need I say any more.
September 10, 2023
My first Elmore Leonard book, and it did not disappoint. There's so much going on here, with plot twists at every corner. But it's the characters and the dialogue that really shine. Though he's not a character in this one, I was thinking about Raylan Givens and the rest of the Justified crew throughout.
August 19, 2023
3.5 stars
Listened to the audiobook
Listened to the audiobook
June 28, 2019
2018 reread: Another book that I loved even more on a reread. It's a toss up which 1980 Elmore Leonard book I like more, this or City Primeval. I'm trying to avoid recency bias so I won't say it's this one.
A vindictive husband leaves his wife with incredible strictures in his will. Several people are attempting to bilk her out of her money or to save her. It all unravels in Leonard's inimitable style. Just great character and dialog driven noir.
A vindictive husband leaves his wife with incredible strictures in his will. Several people are attempting to bilk her out of her money or to save her. It all unravels in Leonard's inimitable style. Just great character and dialog driven noir.
July 28, 2022
Classic Elmore Leonard entry right down the line. You got Detroit -> Florida transplants like in Pronto or Out of Sight plus boxing like in Out of sight, you got loan sharking like in Get Shorty, you got a guy tasked with guarding a woman who menaces her like in Killshot, you even got a Florida animal based amusement like in Maximum Bob. The main bad guy is part of the extensive Crowe family which will be familiar to all Leonardians. There's a sudden, unstable romance between two middle-aged people who have stalled in their careers and are unsure of how to present themselves. So it's not going to be surprising if you've already read widely in his catalogue. However it's a clean, quick read with a minimum of extra stuff.
Synopsis: Karen DiCilia catches her mafioso husband cheating and threatens to do the same. A heart attack carries him off and she's left with a peculiar inheritance clause: she is not allowed to date ever again, or else she forfeits all her late husband's possessions. A demonic, giant hit man is brought in to administer the surveillance; a drifter working at a Seaworld knockoff gets involved as well. Both of them are interested in Karen, but she's got her own priorities...
Book moves extremely fast and has some great tough dialogue, especially from the menacing hit man Roland who is jolly and sadistic. Maguire, the "good" guy is maybe not that compelling, because he mostly just whines about how Karen is like one of the porpoises he tends at Seaworld. Karen is a great character but she doesn't stack up with other femmes fatales like in LaBrava.
On account of its lean, economical language and relatively high amount of action, this wouldn't make a terrible introductory Leonard book. There's some great humor, particularly with the Italian subtitles thing.
A must for EL fans.
Synopsis: Karen DiCilia catches her mafioso husband cheating and threatens to do the same. A heart attack carries him off and she's left with a peculiar inheritance clause: she is not allowed to date ever again, or else she forfeits all her late husband's possessions. A demonic, giant hit man is brought in to administer the surveillance; a drifter working at a Seaworld knockoff gets involved as well. Both of them are interested in Karen, but she's got her own priorities...
Book moves extremely fast and has some great tough dialogue, especially from the menacing hit man Roland who is jolly and sadistic. Maguire, the "good" guy is maybe not that compelling, because he mostly just whines about how Karen is like one of the porpoises he tends at Seaworld. Karen is a great character but she doesn't stack up with other femmes fatales like in LaBrava.
On account of its lean, economical language and relatively high amount of action, this wouldn't make a terrible introductory Leonard book. There's some great humor, particularly with the Italian subtitles thing.
A must for EL fans.
November 9, 2023
We start with a Wife finding out her rich husband is cheating
Page two she follows him, crashes her car into his and destroys both of their cars in the process
Page two we already have this much.
He buys new cars and they don't mention it.
Next she basically tells him if he continues to cheat then she will fool around too...
He does not like this threat.
F*ck around and find out - the novel
Absolutely incredible
Page two she follows him, crashes her car into his and destroys both of their cars in the process
Page two we already have this much.
He buys new cars and they don't mention it.
Next she basically tells him if he continues to cheat then she will fool around too...
He does not like this threat.
F*ck around and find out - the novel
Absolutely incredible
June 28, 2019
Elmore Leonard was ethically a little slippery; some of his novels show a strong sense of moral principle; others are pretty frankly amoral, even if they acknowledge differing degrees of bad. This is one of the latter. There's not much here that's uplifting, but if you enjoy a glimpse into the way crooks operate, told with detachment and a touch of humor, it's pretty entertaining.
Karen DiCilia is the widow of a mob boss in Florida; her jealous husband left a proviso in his will that strips her of his wealth if she ever gets involved with another man. The lawyer charged with enforcing the ban relies on a ruthless Florida cracker for anything involving muscle. When the cracker gets ideas above his station and makes a play for the widow's affections along with a shot at her money, she knows she needs a plan.
Into this mess walks Maguire, a Detroit ne'er-do-well and sometime stickup man who just wants to collect what the deceased hood owed him for a job. Unlike the cracker, Maguire is basically a decent sort, so he undertakes to help Karen free herself. But motives are mixed (there's all that money) and it's not entirely clear who's using whom... Classic Elmore Leonard, pitfalls of the criminal lifestyle and a jaundiced look at the American social landscape.
Karen DiCilia is the widow of a mob boss in Florida; her jealous husband left a proviso in his will that strips her of his wealth if she ever gets involved with another man. The lawyer charged with enforcing the ban relies on a ruthless Florida cracker for anything involving muscle. When the cracker gets ideas above his station and makes a play for the widow's affections along with a shot at her money, she knows she needs a plan.
Into this mess walks Maguire, a Detroit ne'er-do-well and sometime stickup man who just wants to collect what the deceased hood owed him for a job. Unlike the cracker, Maguire is basically a decent sort, so he undertakes to help Karen free herself. But motives are mixed (there's all that money) and it's not entirely clear who's using whom... Classic Elmore Leonard, pitfalls of the criminal lifestyle and a jaundiced look at the American social landscape.
July 4, 2020
As with most Leonard books, the ride is so much more satisfying than the end. Elmore Leonard could literally end this book after any chapter and I wouldn't care. It was a great story and the characters spew out wonderful lines page after page. He is a poet of street language. Really enjoyed it.
August 25, 2023
Elmore Leonard: America's foremost chronicler of women in Florida named Karen
January 3, 2024
Pretty good modern crime noir. Sex, greed, gangsters and double crossing. Classic Elmore Leonard.
March 7, 2025
Not his best, but still very engaging.
January 24, 2015
I first read this book years ago, and then tossed it aside, not realizing its important place in the Leonard canon: It's the first one he set in Florida, a state he'd been visiting for years and a place where he'd bought his mother a hotel to run. Leonard's quirky tale of a swamp-bred psychopath, a robber-turned-dolphin-trainer and a Mafia widow with an odd problem also marked a bridge between Charles Willeford's offbeat Hoke Mosely thrillers and the wackier Carl Hiaasen crime novels that began in the mid-1980s.
So why the low rating? I just finished re-reading the book today, and it matched up with my memory of it: Strong start, interesting characters and scenes -- but then the ending went sour, as if Leonard got tired of the characters or had written himself into a corner and didn't care enough to get himself out.
Still, it's got flashes of brilliance. I particularly liked Cal Maguire -- the dolphin trainer -- and his little rant about how they were training the dolphins to do things they wouldn't do in the wild and so the entire experience was phony and demeaned both the dolphins and the humans (and the foxy but dim co-worker he's telling this to completely misses the point).
But here's the problem: The main driver of the plot disappears about three-fourths of the way through, and then at some point the main relationship of the novel, between Cal and mob widow Karen DiCicilia, cools considerably. Leonard doesn't really explain this, and then (SPOILER) at the end of the book she gives him a big brush-off. The whole thing is kind of a letdown.
Let me give this Leonard novel one big thumbs-up, though, for being one of the few in which he didn't make the bad guy a black guy (nor, for that matter, did he use the term "colored" anywhere). In fact, I can't recall any of the characters being African-American at all -- they're all either white or Hispanic. Hmmm, maybe Leonard didn't know Florida as well as I thought.
So why the low rating? I just finished re-reading the book today, and it matched up with my memory of it: Strong start, interesting characters and scenes -- but then the ending went sour, as if Leonard got tired of the characters or had written himself into a corner and didn't care enough to get himself out.
Still, it's got flashes of brilliance. I particularly liked Cal Maguire -- the dolphin trainer -- and his little rant about how they were training the dolphins to do things they wouldn't do in the wild and so the entire experience was phony and demeaned both the dolphins and the humans (and the foxy but dim co-worker he's telling this to completely misses the point).
But here's the problem: The main driver of the plot disappears about three-fourths of the way through, and then at some point the main relationship of the novel, between Cal and mob widow Karen DiCicilia, cools considerably. Leonard doesn't really explain this, and then (SPOILER) at the end of the book she gives him a big brush-off. The whole thing is kind of a letdown.
Let me give this Leonard novel one big thumbs-up, though, for being one of the few in which he didn't make the bad guy a black guy (nor, for that matter, did he use the term "colored" anywhere). In fact, I can't recall any of the characters being African-American at all -- they're all either white or Hispanic. Hmmm, maybe Leonard didn't know Florida as well as I thought.
April 18, 2016
Funny dialogue, break-neck pacing, interesting characters, bla bla bla... I'm having problems finding new ways to describe "good Elmore Leonard books" which is very ironic cuz Leonard himself had, at this point, found a good way to capitalize on his strengths on and churn out roughly the same book every year but making it a damn good time with every outing.
Special note to the appearance of Roland Crowe, first appearance of a member of the Florida Crowes, those delightful screw-ups from Justified.
Special special note to a tweest ending, a pretty new thing in Leonard Lore.
Special note to the appearance of Roland Crowe, first appearance of a member of the Florida Crowes, those delightful screw-ups from Justified.
Special special note to a tweest ending, a pretty new thing in Leonard Lore.
April 19, 2012
An interesting premise: A mob boss's wife is left a fortune after he suddenly keels over. The catch is she can't ever be with another man, and he has his wiseguys around to make sure she remains faithful. Of course it's not long before the wiseguys start sniffing around the pile of dough. Leonard's good characters and dialog keep the story moving, but the plot unravels a little bit, and the end was unsatisfying for me.
January 27, 2010
Eh, this book was okay. Nothing spectacular. Very stereotypical characters, and the dead guy forcing his wife to be celibate for the rest of her life was rather strange. Oh, the trials of being a mob boss' wife. After a while, I was getting very tired of Roland using the word "dink." Hadn't heard that in a long time, and it was VERY much overused at the end.
January 8, 2014
What a good read, I couldn't put the book down - unless forced to by work!
It is easy to read, characters are either like able or you want to have a shower to remove the creepiness of them.
The revenge of a dead husband putting a chastity belt on his 44 year old wife and the story that unfolds.
Read it, enjoy all the way to the very last page!
It is easy to read, characters are either like able or you want to have a shower to remove the creepiness of them.
The revenge of a dead husband putting a chastity belt on his 44 year old wife and the story that unfolds.
Read it, enjoy all the way to the very last page!
Read
December 9, 2018Unsatisfying. This has put me off Leonard for a while - can't be bothered reading the next two I had lined up, I'll have to wait till the bad taste this one left in my mouth has dissipated - there were no likable characters in this and it seemed to end with no definitive resolution. In fact, I hated it.
October 12, 2009
not his best work. I'm a big fan of Elmore Leonard's snappy dialogue and no-nonsense style, but this one is rather choppy and disjointed, to the point where I am rereading a paragraph a couple times to figure out the meaning.
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