Mack Green has a million-dollar idea for his next novel: A burned-out writer with woman troubles and money woes agrees to commit suicide for a huge book advance. Mack's editor thinks it's a surefire idea too - but only as nonfiction. Which is where the troubles begin in The Bookmakers.

The Bookmakers demonstrates Chafets's comic inventiveness and uncanny ability to hold readers in suspense while making them laugh out loud. This is a caper that takes wicked aim at the book industry, the pro-suicide crowd, high school heroes, and a too-hip-for-its-own-good contemporary Cosa Nostra that aspires to become an equal-opportunity employer.

Filled with memorable characters - from a dwarf hitman named Afterbirth to a Catholic priest who believes tithing extends to his sideline as a literary agent, to a publisher who commits to publishing his wife's short stories so she'll sleep with him - The Bookmakers is that special sort of novel that is as unforgettable as it is entertaining.