Some Dead Genius: Novel - Paperback

by Lenny Kleinfeld (Author)

CHOSEN FOR: NPR'S BEST BOOKS OF 2014--Smart, edgy and profane, a rollicking caper you constantly think you've got figured out until you don't. This book is fun. Loads of fun. Clever, well-paced plot and terrifically real characters... A sharp insider's look at the urban art scene, and an especially addictive narrative voice... There's one thing more to point out while recommending the hell out of this book: The humanity of it. And that is so refreshing in a Gritty Urban Detective Yarn. (Wayne Alan Brenner, The Austin Chronicle)Thriller of the Month/July 2014--There are cops, a psychotically brilliant business plan, dead artists, living artists, mobsters, an upstart FBI agent, corrupt officials walking City Hall, and an art dealer with skin a curiously Dorian shade of Gray. Set in modern-day Chicago, Kleinfeld's style is slick and playful. The comedy is black and funny, the pace fast. His writing is cinematically visual. He captures in print what the Coen brothers do so brilliantly with their heightened realities on screen. Think plot-driven Tarantino, or The Godfather with wit. (Sophie Scott, e-Thriller.Com) Let me tell you about Lenny Kleinfeld's wild and witty Some Dead Genius. Kleinfeld's fast-paced books are likely to appeal to fans of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen. This hardboiled black comedy involves a series of artists' murders investigated by the pair of smart, cynical cops. Chicago locations are put to good use; at one point, the cops pursue the killers through the Art Institute in an extended cinematic scene that could have been choreographed by Quentin Tarantino, had he channeled the Marx Brothers. (Georgette Spelvin, Read Me Deadly.com)"Some Dead Genius continues Lenny Kleinfeld's romp through Chicago's dark side that began in Shooters and Chasers. Again Kleinfeld takes readers to the edge of believability-this time through the art world- but manages to deliver the one-two punch of dark humor and beautiful prose that only an exceptional crime novel set in Chicago can manage. And SDG is exceptional. I recommend it highly."-Libby Fischer Hellman, author of Havana Lost and Set The Night On Fire"With his hardboiled black comedy Some Dead Genius, Lenny Kleinfeld has now written two of the funniest mysteries I've ever read. But more than funny, both books are tight, fast-paced, well-crafted crime fiction."-Jeffrey Siger, author of the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mysteries"Kleinfeld is one of the most original and thrilling crime writers working. Some Dead Genius is a hilarious caper with more layers than a Jackson Pollock canvas. It's Damon Runyon meets de Kooning."-Jacki Lyden, NPR Host & Correspondent, and author of the international bestseller, Daughter Of The Queen Of Sheba

Author Biography

Lenny Kleinfeld's first novel, Shooters And Chasers, was described in a starred Kirkus review as "a spellbinding debut." Back before he was spellbinding he was a playwright in Chicago, where he was also a columnist for Chicago magazine. His fiction, articles, humor and reviews have appeared in Playboy, Galaxy, Oui, the Chicago Reader, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. In 1986 he sold a screenplay and is currently three decades into a business trip to Los Angeles.