Les Standiford

Describes the remarkable and challenging efforts of ambitious entrepreneur Henry Flagler to construct a railway that would connect Key West to the mainland, following the design and engineering of the project, the thousands of workers who brought Flagler's vision to life, and the 1935 hurricane that destroyed the railway. Reprint. 75,000 first printing.

Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad That Crossed an Ocean

Last Train to Paradise

Examines the relationship between two of the founding fathers of American industry--Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick--and the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892, which led to the dissolution of their partnership.

Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America

Meet You in Hell

A New York Times bestselling author writes the untold story of three Golden Age titans and the confrontations, cutthroat business strategies, and eccentric personalities that built the Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus. Millions have sat under the "big top," watching as trapeze artists glide and clowns entertain, but few know the captivating stories behind the men who shaped the circus. Battle for the Big Top is the untold story of the battles of the three circus kings--James Bailey, P.T. Barnum, and John Ringling-all vying for control of the vastly profitable and widely influential American Circus. New York Times bestselling author Les Standiford recreates a remarkable era when a community-without regard for gender, creed, or nationality--would be captivated by the spectacle created by three diversely talented individuals who transcended the ordinary. Ultimately, the rivalry of these three men resulted in the creation of an institution that would surpass all intentions and, for 147 years, hold a nation spellbound. Filled with details of their ever-evolving showmanship, business strategies, and personal magnetism, this Ragtime-like narrative will delight and enchant circus-lovers everywhere.

P. T. Barnum, James Bailey, John Ringling and the Death-Defying Saga of the American Circus

Battle for the Big Top

The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the story of the largest public water project ever created—William Mulholland’s Los Angeles aqueduct—a story of Gilded Age ambition, hubris, greed, and one determined man who's vision shaped the future and continues to impact us today. In 1907, Irish immigrant William Mulholland conceived and built one of the greatest civil engineering feats in history: the aqueduct that carried water 223 miles from the Sierra Nevada mountains to Los Angeles—allowing this small, resource-challenged desert city to grow into a modern global metropolis. Drawing on new research, Les Standiford vividly captures the larger-then-life engineer and the breathtaking scope of his six-year, $23 million project that would transform a region, a state, and a nation at the dawn of its greatest century. With energy and colorful detail, Water to the Angels brings to life the personalities, politics, and power—including bribery, deception, force, and bicoastal financial warfare—behind this dramatic event. At a time when the importance of water is being recognized as never before—considered by many experts to be the essential resource of the twenty-first century—Water to the Angels brings into focus the vigor of a fabled era, the might of a larger than life individual, and the scale of a priceless construction project, and sheds critical light on a past that offers insights for our future. Water to the Angels includes 8 pages of photographs.

William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles

Water to the Angels

An uplifting study of the story behind Dickens's most beloved work, A Christmas Carol, describes how the author, at a low point in his career, self-published the holiday classic, revitalizing Dickens's failing literary career and reviving the celebration of Christmas amid the struggles of the Industrial Revolution. 40,000 first printing.

How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits

The Man who Invented Christmas

Joe Matthews

The Abduction That Changed America

Bringing Adam Home

“Les Standiford’s account of the decades-long attempt to solve the murder of Adam Walsh is chilling, heartbreaking, hopeful, and as relentlessly suspenseful as anything I’ve ever read. A triumph in every way.” —Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River “The most significant missing child case since the Lindbergh’s….A taut, compelling and often touching book about a long march to justice.” —Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent The abduction that changed America forever, the 1981 kidnapping and murder of six-year-old Adam Walsh—son of John Walsh, host of the Fox TV series America’s Most Wanted—in Hollywood, Florida, was a crime that went unsolved for a quarter of a century. Bringing Adam Home by author Les Standiford is a harrowing account of the terrible crime and its dramatic consequences, the emotional story of a father and mother’s efforts to seek justice and resolve the loss of their child, and a compelling portrait of Miami Beach Homicide Detective Joe Matthews, whose unwavering dedication brought the Adam Walsh case to its resolution.

the secret band of radicals who led the colonies to war

Desperate sons

Done Deal is the first in the series featuring reluctant sleuth John Deal, a South Florida building contractor who has a penchant for stepping into the path of the wrong people. Here, Deal is struggling to rebuild the once formidable DealCo, a development company once headed by his flamboyant father Barton Deal--but little does he know that the piece of land upon which he plans to build a small apartment complex is coveted by a ruthless businessman intent on making a fortune off Major League Baseball's arrival in South Florida.

A John Deal Mystery

Done Deal

A study of the story behind "A Christmas Carol" describes how Charles Dickens self-published the holiday classic, revitalizing his failing literary career and reviving the celebration of Christmas amid the struggles of the Industrial Revolution.

How Charles Dickens's a Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits

how Charles Dickens's A Christmas carol rescued his career and revived our holiday spirits

The man who invented Christmas

Includes reader's guide and the text of A Christmas carol.

The Man Who Invented Christmas (Movie Tie-In): Includes Charles Dickens's Classic a Christmas Carol

Its tough being a small-time hustler in Key West, FL. When this hustler is being beaten by a cop, John Deal steps in to stop it, but it is only a temporary rescue: the hustler turns up dead only two days later. The cops are claiming ignorance and the locals arent saying a word. Could the dead man be somehow connected to a seventy-year-old tale of piracy, murder, and greed? No one knows what really happened on that storm-swept night. But something about the legend and the recent murder are haunting John Deal to the bone.

Bone Key

Jaded transit cop Richard Corrigan didn't expect to find himself trekking through the Wyoming wilderness -- with the governor of New York no less. Corrigan can't understand why the governor is more concerned about his public image than his personal safety. And what's more disturbing is the danger that's lurking at every twist and turn in the rugged mountain trails.

Black Mountain

“For such a sun-stoked place, Miami sure is shady . . . this batch of dirty deep South Florida fiction might just send you packing . . . your own heat.” —SunPost Don’t let the fabulous weather, the beach bodies, and the high-end boutiques fool you. There is a darkness to Miami that can hit just as hard as a hurricane. If by day, the streets are lined with tourists, at night the gangsters, drug dealers, and desperate come out to play. It’s this Miami that has captured the imagination of some of the city’s best writers. Miami Noir includes stories by James W. Hall, Barbara Parker, John Dufresne, Paul Levine, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, Tom Corcoran, Christine Kling, George Tucker, Kevin Allen, Anthony Dale Gagliano, David Beaty, Vicki Hendricks, John Bond, Preston Allen, Lynne Barrett, and Jeffrey Wehr. “For different reasons these stories cultivate a little something special, a radiance, a humanity, even a grace, In the midst of the noir gloom, and thereby set themselves apart. Variety, familiarity, mood and tone, and the occasional gem of a story make Miami Noir a collection to savor.” —The Miami Herald “Murder is nothing new in Miami—or any other big city, for that matter. But seldom has it been so entertaining as it is in the 16 short stories included in Miami Noir.” —Palm Beach Daily News “This well-chosen short story collection isn’t just a thoughtful compilation of work by some of South Florida’s best and upcoming writers. Each Miami Noir story also is a window on a different part of Miami-Dade and its melting pot of cultures.” —South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Miami Noir

"John Deal is such a rich creation, full of anger, courage and doubt, that you may have to remind yourself that you're reading fiction."—Chicago Tribune John Deal's life is finally coming together—he is reunited with his lovely wife, they have a beautiful baby, and DealCo, his Miami construction business, is booming with post-Hurricane Andrew contracts rolling in. The future looks bright...until the night that his house is engulfed by an arsonist's flames and his wife is terribly burned. Unbeknownst to him, Deal has stumbled into the path of the sickly sweet plans of sugar cane magnate and Cuban imigri power broker, Vicente Luis Torreno, a man obsessed by his dreams of a repatriated Cuba and the juicy profits of the sugar monopoly he is sure will come with it. Torreno's sugar-coated influence reaches to the highest levels of the U.S. Government, a fact that more than complicates Deal's efforts to find out who is responsible for this latest tragedy and to avoid joining the string of bodies that litter the South Florida landscape, all the way from the vast cane fields of Lake Okeechobee to the shores of Biscayne Bay.

Raw Deal

Done Deal is the first in the series featuring reluctant sleuth John Deal, a South Florida building contractor who has a penchant for stepping into the path of the wrong people. Here, Deal is struggling to rebuild the once formidable DealCo, a development company once headed by his flamboyant father Barton Deal - but little does he know that the piece of land upon which he plans to build a small apartment complex is coveted by a ruthless businessman intent on making a fortune off Major League Baseball's arrival in South Florida.

Henry Morrison Flagler

Describes the efforts of ambitious entrepreneur Henry Flagler to construct a railway that would connect Key West to the mainland, from the design and engineering of the project to the 1935 hurricane that destroyed the railway.

Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean

The fast-paced and gripping true account of the extraordinary construction and spectacular demise of the Key West Railroad—one of the greatest engineering feats ever undertaken, destroyed in one fell swoop by the strongest storm ever to hit U.S. shores. In 1904, the brilliant and driven entrepreneur Henry Flagler, partner to John D. Rockefeller, dreamed of a railway connecting the island of Key West to the Florida mainland, crossing a staggering 153 miles of open ocean—an engineering challenge beyond even that of the Panama Canal. Many considered the project impossible, but build it they did. The railroad stood as a magnificent achievement for more than twenty-two years, heralded as “the Eighth Wonder of the World,” until its total destruction in 1935's deadly storm of the century. In Last Train to Paradise, Standiford celebrates this crowning achievement of Gilded Age ambition, bringing to life a sweeping tale of the powerful forces of human ingenuity colliding with the even greater forces of nature’s wrath.

John Deal's old friend, bookstore owner Arch Dolan is assassinated one day after the announcement that a bookselling conglomerate is opening a superstore across from his shop. Seeing Arch's killer, Deal finds himself pitted against a murderous mob of right-wingers and a plot to take over the mass media.

Les Standiford

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