Most Popular Books by Richard Condon

The classic thriller about a hostile foreign power infiltrating American politics: “Brilliant . . . wild and exhilarating.” —The New Yorker A war hero and the recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Sgt. Raymond Shaw is keeping a deadly secret—even from himself. During his time as a prisoner of war in North Korea, he was brainwashed by his Communist captors and transformed into a deadly weapon—a sleeper assassin, programmed to kill without question or mercy at his captors’ signal. Now he’s been returned to the United States with a covert mission: to kill a candidate running for US president . . . This “shocking, tense” and sharply satirical novel has become a modern classic, and was the basis for two film adaptations (San Francisco Chronicle). “Crammed with suspense.” —Chicago Tribune “Condon is wickedly skillful.” —Time

For the sake of vengeance, a woman plots to destroy the US government It’s June 1976, and a bullet has shattered Agatha Teel’s shoulder. The gunman has fled, gushing blood from a bullet wound of his own, and Teel has just a few minutes to save her own life. She marches herself to the bathroom—the most lavish room she has ever owned—strips, and does what she can to dress the wound. A needle of morphine dulls the pain enough for her to walk, and she wraps a sable coat around her nude body and presses for the elevator. She can’t die tonight. She has a coup to stage. Six months earlier, Teel set her plot to overthrow the government of the United States in motion. On July 4, 1976, she will crush America beneath her heel. For Teel, it’s not about ideology, nor politics. This is strictly personal: It’s revenge.

A whistleblower looks too deeply into a president’s assassination in this darkly satiric conspiracy thriller from the author of The Manchurian Candidate. It has been more than a decade since the assassination of US President Timothy Kegan, who was gunned down while riding in a motorcade through the streets of Philadelphia. The “lone gunman” responsible was arrested and convicted, and the country has moved on. President Kegan’s half-brother Nick tries to move on as well—until he overhears the deathbed confession of a man who claims to have been a second shooter. Suddenly Nick’s embroiled in a Kafkaesque conspiracy that stretches from Washington DC to Cuba and all the way into England’s Court of St. James. He’s surrounded by mobsters, oil magnates, crooked cops, religious leaders, CIA “spooks,” Hollywood celebrities, and international power brokers—including the renowned Washington hostess, fixer, and femme fatale, Lola Camonte—all of whom seem intent upon doing him in. And the closer Nick comes to the startling truth about the assassination, the less he really wants to know. Winter Kills is an outrageously dark and funny take on the John F. Kennedy assassination and the conspiracy furor that followed it, from the master storyteller who brought you The Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi’s Honor.

In this prequel to Prizzi’s Honor, the mafia hitman finds himself in more trouble than even he can handle—“earthy, quirky, fast-moving entertainment” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Charley Partanna sits in his office, quietly rigging an election. As the chief executioner for the Prizzi family, he has taken time out of his busy schedule of cold-blooded murder to ensure that New York reelects its mayor, and that dirty money continues to flow his way. When he isn’t killing snitches or stealing votes, Partanna goes to night school, but tonight, his homework will have to wait. The Prizzis are going to war. For Partanna, a mob war is nothing but an inconvenience. The streetwise underboss can make a hit completely undetected. But when he makes the mistake of falling in love with the don’s granddaughter, Partanna will see just what kind of trouble the Prizzi family can cause. Prizzi’s Family is the 2nd book in the Prizzi series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

A Jewish woman in love with a Prussian officer moves to Hitler’s Berlin in this ominous, “spectacular” novel by the New York Times–bestselling author (Kirkus Reviews). Every afternoon, Paule tends to her father’s newspaper clippings and listens to his stories. An actor, Paul-Alain Bernheim has a sexual appetite and a lust for life that have made him a legend of the Paris stage. He is also a fiercely proud Jew, and he has imbued his daughter with an unshakeable pride in the history of her people. So why, she wonders, has she fallen in love with a German? From the moment Paule spots Wilhelm von Rhode at an embassy reception, she can’t take her eyes off him. So after a whirlwind Paris romance, when von Rhode is recalled to Berlin, Paule follows as his wife. But as the Nazis tighten their stranglehold on Germany and the world prepares for war, their love may not survive what is to come. “Fascinating.” —Life

When a nuclear bomb destroys the White House and devastates Washington, D.C, Army colonel Caesare Appleton becomes the Emperor of the United States in this political satire from the author of Prizzi’s Honor. In the aftermath of an assumed nuclear accident that destroys Washington, D.C., an Army colonel steps up to assume command of the nation. Or, so he thinks. At the same time, the Royalist Party and the National Rifle Association take responsibility for the accidental atomic explosion, but that doesn’t reveal itself to be the case, leaving the citizens of the United States confused and lost in the midst of a tragedy. As the nation begins to crumble in the wake of the nuclear attack, including bank failures, crumbling airlines, and the threat of disasters across the world, Caesare Appleton is not so sure he has the power to control the country as he once thought he did. This bestselling international tale of politics has it all from cocaine, the mafia, and abortion to sibling rivalry and momism. Condon has penned a tale of the American scene and presidency with “humor that is wild enough to work” (The New York Times).

An international art thief meets his match in this clever thriller that’s “witty in style, dramatic in plot” from the author of The Manchurian Candidate (Kirkus Reviews). There are only two people on earth who know that James Bourne is a criminal: his wife and his partner. Although he may be the most distinguished crook in Europe, Bourne has never been arrested. The thieves of London don’t know his name, nor do the dons of Sicily or the police of Paris. A master thief, he’s patient, careful, and utterly discreet—but he’s about to meet his match. A handful of masterpieces adorn the walls of the palace belonging to the richest woman in Spain, and although she’s a friend of Bourne’s, he has never let a personal relationship get in the way of business. He plans to steal a few of the paintings, replacing them with impeccable forgeries made by his Parisian partner. But even the craftiest crook can be outsmarted, and this heist is about to turn deadly.

A Prohibition-era bootlegger builds a savage empire in this “whiplash entertainment” by the author of Prizzi’s Honor and The Manchurian Candidate (Kirkus Reviews). Millions of acres of forest separate Edward Courance West from the outside world. In his remote Adirondack retreat, he is tended by servants dressed in black and green, the color of West’s empire—and of money. The son of an Irish powerbroker of the rough-and-tumble Lower East Side, West has been forging his kingdom since the day his father died, leaving him with a small fortune, a few bordellos, and a burning hunger to escape New York and make his mark upon the world—a mark he will leave in blood. The moment Congress passes Prohibition, West sets about building a one-man monopoly of bootlegging, smuggling, and murder. Clawing ruthlessly to the top in hopes of forgetting his father, West won’t stop until he becomes the greatest criminal the world has ever seen.

A crime family goes legit—sort of—and enters politics, in this “razor-sharp satire on the American dream” (Publishers Weekly). If Charley Partanna is lucky, he can go a few months without falling in love. During these stretches, he’s able to focus on his job as chief executioner for the Prizzi family. But once romance strikes, Partanna—a criminal manager who still commits the odd murder for old time’s sake—is lost to the world. So he knows there will be trouble when he meets his latest infatuation at an orgy. She’s clothed from neck to ankles, but she’s the sexiest woman Partanna has ever seen, and she hits his heart hard. His latest affair may be consuming Partanna body and soul, but he’ll have to make sure it doesn’t interfere with the Prizzi family’s latest venture: politics. And with the Prizzis’ sights set on the White House, Partanna will discover the campaign trail is a bloody one indeed. Prizzi’s Glory is the 3rd book in the Prizzi series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

From the bestselling author of The Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi''s Honor comes a hilarious new novel about a nice hot-dog salesman who, while looking for his long-lost mother, becomes involved with a scheming billionaire who is trying to get her idiotic husband elected president. Martin''s.

Julia is married to one of the most powerful men in the world, but he''s broke. So the pair comes up with a scheme. A few double-crosses later, Julia is a widow on the run--with a billion of the Prizzis'' money. Charlie is out to get it back. When Charlie catches up with Julia, he discovers he can''t zotz her after all. From the author of Prizzi''s Honor.

A darkly funny novel of mobsters, murder, and marriage: “The surprise ending will knock your reading glasses off.” —The New York Times Charley Partanna works as a hitman for the Prizzis, New York’s most dangerous crime family. When he meets Irene Walker, an LA-based tax consultant, it’s pretty much love at first sight. But Irene also moonlights as a hit woman—and had a hand in a big-money heist in Vegas. Now Charley has been told that she’s got to go. Faced with divided loyalties, he must make a choice—between the only family he’s ever known and the woman he loves. A New York Times Notable Book and made into an award-winning film, Prizzi’s Honor is a dark, rollicking read from an “old pro at mixing satire with suspense” (The New York Times).

Lives of gods and mortals become entangled to prove that money is love.

SUSPENSE: The chicanery of modern politics becomes evident with the death of an ex-vice president.

As the story begins...It is the early 1970s, when every American man, woman, and child is fighting the threat of Communist invasion. Leila Aluja, an Iraqi-American lawyer, becomes a film star as part of her job with the government''s top counter-espionage unit, in an effort to track down a ring of Sino-Albanian spies operating out of Hollywood''s most powerful talent agency. Leila accomplishes her mission, but not before she falls in love with Albanian spymaster Josef Shqitonja, and compromises her organization by allowing him to escape, bringing an end to her budding undercover career. Leila bounces back to become a partner of Washington''s largest lobbying firm, representing the National Gun Carriers Association, C.A.N.C.E.R. (Center for American National Cigarette Education and Research), and Barkers Hill Enterprises, investment arm of organized crime. From her law practice, Leila moves onto public relations, and then to the head of the world''s largest fast-food conglomerate, all the while separated from her true love, Shqitonja, as he scours Albania for a secret, life-prolonging yogurt formula. Despite the occasional, not to say habitual, affairs, daliances, and marriages, Leila and Shqitonja cling to their love for each other - until the secret of the yogurt finally reunites them. More than just a love story, The Venerable Bead is a saga of love for self, money, unassailable corruption, and power. All just kidding, of course.

The story of Caroline of Brunswick, who in 1795 married George, Prince of Wales, in a tragic marriage. She became the only Queen of England to be tried for adultery.