The Dealmaker

Viola Sykes is an unlikely heroine. Her son Harold, a shell-shocked veteran of World War II, has been murdered for threatening to expose key figures in a bootlegging and political conspiracy. Poorly educated and with few resources, Viola must match wits with the suspected culprit, Loather Parrish, a notorious political boss whose intelligence is equaled only by his capacity for evil. In her efforts at retribution, Viola struggles to prevent her daughter from becoming another pawn in Loather Parrish's political machinations. To secure their freedom, Viola pursues a daring tactic: she commits herself to an infamous mental hospital. The Dealmaker, set in 1940s and 1950s Appalachia, presents an unusual cast of characters who aid Viola as she seeks to avenge her son's death: Isabel Williams, playwright Tennessee Williams' aunt, another inmate at the asylum; Nadine, an idiot savant, who has memorized all the telephone numbers and addresses in the Knoxville, Tennessee, phone directory; and Burdette Webb, a courageous reporter who risks his life to obtain crucial evidence. In Mr. Francisco's fast-paced narrative, these characters draw the reader into an intriguing tale of murder, rampant ambition, prefontal lobotomies, and a mother's unflappable courage.