Watch Your Back! (2005) – Mysterious Press

A Dortmunder Heist (#12)

___Many years ago, I made a mighty vow that I would never write two novels about John Dortmunder in a row, but would always write at least two books about other people and other things in between. The reason was, I didn’t want to overwork John, me or the reader. So far, I think the system has worked pretty well.
___So what happened? After The Road to Ruin, clearly, I was supposed to write two non-John novels, and yet, Watch Your Back! is absolutely about Dortmunder, Kelp and all the rest of them. And what happened was, this was the only story I could think about. I resisted, I tried to come up with something else, but the brain refused to move until I had cleared it of this idea. So I hope it’s gonna be all right. I leave it to the reader to judge.
___A word about that exclamation point. Generally speaking, I don’t much hold with exclamation points, and certainly not in titles, but some time after I decided this book was called Watch Your Back!, it occurred to me that there are two meanings for that phrase, the American meaning and the New York meaning (America and New York are always at odds, so why not here?), and it was the New York meaning I meant. In America, “watch your back” means be careful, someone means to do you harm. In New York, it means, “Comin’ through!” Move over, in other words, or get hurt. I added the exclamation point in an attempt to juke the reader toward the New York meaning. But whatever you think the title means, I hope you like the story. ~DEW

John Dortmunder hasn’t gotten where he is today by turning a blind eye to an easy heist. So when his friend and fence Arnie Albright discovers that Manhattan billionaire Preston Fareweather has left a treasure-filled Fifth Avenue penthouse practically unguarded, Dortmunder & Co. spring into action. But into the life of a crook a little rain must fall…and sometimes it’s a deluge. The one place that Dortmunder’s crew can always count on, their shrine and hangout–the O.J. Bar & Grill–is under siege from some real criminals: the Jersey Mob. Now Dortmunder and his team must liberate Fareweather’s treasure and fight off a would-be Tony Soprano at the same time. And in a duel of brains, brawn and dumb luck on two fronts, Dortmunder has better hope somebody’s got his back!

~ From the back cover of the 2006 Grand Central paperback edition