About

From the Publisher
SIXTEEN STORIES, NO PETS is a satirical mystery novel set in the heart of Carl Hiaasen-country.

John Power, the super in a South Florida beach condo sees everything, hears everything but says little, except in his moment-by-moment commentary to the reader, replete with catch phrase observations like "every question deserves a lie". The sudden death of a controversial board member doesn't faze him, but does prompt him to work on solving how she died to get the cops off his tenants' backs. There's a rich cast of characters in the building who each have a good motive for her "accident". The chicken-hawk contractor she hired, her missing husband, the developer (a casino ship operator) who is trying to steal their ocean view and build next door, a pedicab company owner and a bizarre collection of condo inmates.
The mystery propels us along, but it's the unique satiric insights on surviving condo life and the comic situations, that make this book a stand out with both best seller and classic backlist potential. Profanity free, insightful and highly literate, we believe educators will find this book a valuable addition to any curriculum.
Apart from being an NUJ award winner, novelist and professional writer, for the past twelve years Beck has stopped developers including Donald Trump, steal his condo beach view through energetic public activism and hiring a great lawyer.
Having skewered the greedy and corrupt with intelligence and humor in real life, Beck asks his alter ego janitor John Power to share the techniques of condo combat and survival in SIXTEEN STORIES, NO PETS.

From the Author
"If you're a writer living in this bizarre-sublime paradise called south Florida, it'll be only a matter of time before you start channeling John D. MacDonald and Carl Hiaasen. SIXTEEN STORIES, NO PETS is proof."

From the Back Cover
John Power loses his business and savings so settles for a low-paid job as supervisor of a seaside condo until the mysterious death of a controversial condo director shatters the setup. Power's irony and savage insights skewer the pretentious and corrupt in his mission to prevent another fatality and restore his fortunes. Dogging him are tyrannical condo directors, the bank president who stole his business and a bizarre lineup of Florida's usual suspects; the dead woman's missing ex-quarterback husband, the pervert decorator they hired, the drop-dead gorgeous developer planning to build next door, her muscular casino boat blackjack dealers, pop idol pedicab riders, and the condo's screwball inmates.
Fast-paced and ingeniously plotted like Beck's earlier novels SIZZLE and SPIKED - SIXTEEN STORIES, NO PETS is a crime thriller and insider's stealth masterclass in condo survival.

About the Author
As Editor at Leeds University, England, C.J. Beck led a brilliant team that included the present U.K. Justice Minister Jack Straw and Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, to win the National Union of Journalist's Student Newspaper of the Year Award.
For many years Beck wrote a weekly humor column for the Santa Monica Bay City News while turning around closely-held companies and helping U.S. ad agencies like BBDO, McCann Erickson and Chiat/Day win over a billion dollars in new business. While working as a screenplay writer he co-founded the feature film production company Mary Ann-La Glo. These adventures provided the impetus for Beck's first novel SIZZLE.
His contact and interviews with leading politicians in Britain, South Africa, Canada and the United States helped provide insights into the world inside the Pentagon and Downing Street vividly depicted in the adventure thriller SPIKED.

Apart from being an NUJ award winner, novelist and professional writer, for the past twelve years Beck has stopped developers including Donald Trump, steal his condo beach view through energetic public activism and hiring a great lawyer. Daily skewering the greedy and corrupt with intelligence and humor in real life, Beck now asks his alter ego janitor John Power in his new comic crime thriller set in Carl Hiaasen-country SIXTEEN STORIES, NO PETS to share his secrets of condo combat and survival.
C.J. Beck collaborated weekly with the late Hidetaka Nishiyama and co-wrote and edited the ITKF Karate Coach´s Manual published in 1989.

http://blog.timsmith.com/2009/04/26/beach-condo-leader--