Richard E Peck Books In Order

Novels

Final Solution (1973)
Something for Joey (1978)
Philly Amateurs (2006)
Schmidt’s Mill (2011)
Vintage Science Fiction (2012)
One Jim West (2012)
Dead Pawn (2013)
Spit-shined (2016)

Novels Book Covers

Richard E Peck Books Overview

Something for Joey

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Depicts the courageous and loving relationship between outstanding running back and Heisman Trophy winner John Cappelletti and his younger brother Joey, dying from leukemia.

Philly Amateurs

In Philadelphia, Mike Bradley starts a training program at an insurance company for his first job, ever. During lunch break he celebrates his job by picking up his newly purchased Honda Prelude. Then he walks out of a deli to watch the car being hoisted into a moving van and driven away. Stolen. With the help of Paulie Klein, free lance wallpaper designer and street smart hustler, he traces the theft to Lester the thief, a New Jersey entrepreneur, who steals cars, to order. And Lester’s operation inspires Bradley to steal twenty new Cadillacs, spotless luxury cars he delivers to Lester the thief, with clean titles. But, he stole them from a dealership owned by a Philly mob boss; the cars are too hot even for Lester. So Bradley and his girlfriend Lee are stuck with twenty hot cars, wanted by the police and the mob. That’s when the complications begin. Written in Peck’s buoyant, crisp style, Philly Amateurs is whimsical and tough at the same time. Filled with unique and memorable characters, the story races to a surprising climax.

Dead Pawn

Bob Wince, an Albuquerque building contractor, is sentenced to the New Mexico State Penitentiary for a crime he didn t commit. He is mysteriously granted an early release and declares he is fed up with accidents, or fate, running his life. Associating himself with the minor crooks and major scammers who gather at his father’s restaurant, Dimmie s Half Off, Wince vows to re establish his life and exact revenge on those who set him up originally. This means working the system, and, according to Richard Peck s Dead Pawn, that s what New Mexico is all about. From Albuquerque to Gallup, to the Navajo reservation and beyond, Peck introduces sleazy operators and hustlers in every line of work. It s a rich cast of characters Anglos, Hispanics, Native Americans who populate New Mexico s tangled sub cultures. The priciest antique turquoise jewelry could have been made last week in Mahmad Khalil s Gallup factory; Maria Morales may be named Hispanic Businesswoman of the Year, but she s still Maria Losinsky, Hispanic only through a brief marriage to Ernie Morales. From the moment you begin Dead Pawn, its mordant humor and crisp language will change the way you see New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. Richard Peck s Dead Pawn is a suspense filled mystery that is hard to put down. The story is replete with Elmore Leonard like characters whose quirky personalities make Peck s novel a real page turner. Dead Pawn takes the reader deep into the New Mexico criminal and power broker sub cultures, leaving the impression that the good guys have no way out of a hopeless quagmire until the very end. I can t wait for the sequel. Joseph Badal, author of The Pythagorean Solution