L. A. Outlaws

Table of Contents

 

 

“T. Jefferson Parker’s terrific
L.A. Outlaws
introduces one of the most enticing heroines in recent American crime fiction. Her name is Suzanne Jones, and she leads a double life. Most of the time, thirty-two-year-old Suzanne is an eighth-grade history teacher and loving mother. Now and then, however, she dons a mask and a wig and is reborn as Allison Murrieta, a sexy, sassy armed robber who has become a Los Angeles media sensation. All [Parker’s] skills are on display here: vivid writing, strong characters, clockwork plotting, agonizing suspense, and, finally, an ending that manages to be just right.
L.A. Outlaws
is popular entertainment at its most delicious.”

—
The Washington Post

 

“
L.A. Outlaws
may be my favorite of T. Jefferson Parker’s thrillers, and that’s saying something about this gifted writer. With its propulsive prose, tightly wound plot, and vivid leading players, it’s a keeper. Front and center is an appealingly wicked bad girl: mild-mannered history teacher Suzanne Jones by day, high-end car thief Allison Murrieta by night. Think of Elmore Leonard’s
Out of Sight
with a gender twist . . . totally compulsive reading.”

—
The Seattle Times

 

“
L.A. Outlaws
is hard, fast, and etched with characters so sharp they’ll leave you bleeding. This is the best T. Jefferson Parker novel yet.”

—Robert Crais

 

“
Out of Sight
meets
Gone in 60 Seconds
. Bottom Line: Parker can write a tense action sequence—and there’s a peach of a showdown.”

—
Entertainment Weekly

 

“Terrific. . . . Parker continues to lay claim to literary ownership of all things Southern California. But [his] story and themes . . . stretch way beyond that.
L.A. Outlaws
is the best book of its kind since
No Country for Old Men
, and Lupercio rivals Anton Chigurh as psychopath of the century. Simply stated, once again Parker has penned the best mystery of the year.”

—
The Providence Journal-Bulletin

 

“At once a noir thriller and a Western ballad of desperadoes and doomed lovers. The book is both hard-boiled and heart-breaking, Ross Macdonald as sung by Marty Robbins. Parker also manages something rare in the noir genre. He writes a powerful woman . . . neither a man-eating sexual profligate nor an old-school femme fatale. She is another creature entirely, fierce and fallible. Like the laconic lawmen who populate his fiction, Parker rides easy in the saddle. His concise prose, at once low-key and lyrical, plays almost like cowboy poetry. . . . Casting Parker as a mere mystery writer is a little like writing off Graham Greene’s work as espionage fiction.”

—
Los Angeles Times

 

“[A] marvelous love story wrapped around a rip-roaring plot. The characters make this novel even more exciting than the chase, and Allison Murietta is poised to become a pop hero. In
L.A. Outlaws
, Parker’s best work to date, you’ll enjoy mulling which actress to cast as Allison in the movie.”

—
The Cleveland Plain Dealer

 

“T. Jefferson Parker evokes the spirit of outlaw heroes like Jesse James with his latest thriller,
L.A. Outlaws
. Parker’s protagonist this time is something different: a self-styled Robin Hood for the twenty-first century . . . a bandit for the media age, performing for the cell phone cameras of her victims. A suspenseful and original story,
L.A. Outlaws
. . . is a fun one to read.”

—
Chicago Sun-Times

 

“Two-time Edgar winner Parker may find himself picking up more awards with
L .A. Outlaws
, a tightly plotted tale that surprises at each turn and excels with strong characters. [He] continues to be one of the genre’s most original authors, proven by his fresh approach with
L .A. Outlaws
.”

—
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

 

“No one does tough like T. Jefferson Parker, and this time ‘tough’ equates to one Allison Murrieta, a combination of Robin Hood, Zorro, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Gloria Steinem. An amazing read.”

—Elizabeth George

 

“Two-time Edgar winner Parker . . . once again displays his knack for creating captivating characters and his unabashed passion for California lore. Only two other authors—Dick Francis and James Lee Burke—have won the Edgar for best novel twice. Don’t be surprised if Parker is on his way to a third.”

—
Booklist

 

“[A] brilliant new thriller. . . . In a city full of gritty Los Angeles literati, Parker takes a seat at the head of the class next to Michael Connelly with
L.A. Outlaws
, a novel that just might garner him his third Edgar, which is street cred even Connelly can’t claim.”

—
The Sunday Oregonian

 

“Compulsively readable. Parker operates at a high level of audacity. . . . He takes huge chances in characterization and plotting. He handles potential prose land mines with such assurance that he seems barely to acknowledge the presence of risk. In
L.A. Outlaws
, he sets up three principal characters—good guy, very bad guy, and . . . a woman who is somewhere in between—and turns them loose.”

—
The Toronto Star

 

“[An] irresistible antihero . . . [an] outstanding thriller. This tour de force of plotting and characterization may well be Parker’s best book.”

—
Publishers Weekly

Also by T. Jefferson Parker

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Published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Previously published in a Dutton edition.

 

First Signet Printing, February 2009

Copyright © T. Jefferson Parker, 2008

Excerpt from
The Renegades
copyright © T. Jefferson Parker, 2009
All rights reserved

eISBN : 978-1-101-05249-5

 

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1

H
ere’s the deal: I am a direct descendant of the outlaw Joaquin Murrieta. He was a kick-ass horseman, gambler and marksman. He stole the best horses and robbed rich Anglos at gunpoint. He loved women and seduced more than a few during his twenty-three years. Some of his money he gave to the poor, but to be truthful most of it he spent on whiskey, guns, expensive tailored clothes and on the women and children he left behind.

I got Joaquin Murrieta’s good looks. I got his courage and sense of justice for the poor. I got his contempt for the rich and powerful. I got his love of seduction. Like Joaquin used to, I love a good, clean armed robbery. I steal beautiful cars instead of beautiful horses.