Small-time pickpocket and his daughter, also a pickpocket, get involved with a hardened thief and a washed-up actor in a scheme to steal eight stamps worth a million dollars. There's not too much predictable about this yarn as Chase spins his usual tangled web. The characters are more sharply drawn than usual, with the actor being a particular highlight, and the Florida setting doesn't come across as artificial as many of his other American locations. But as always, it's the story that is front and center, and there are some nice twists along the way. In most ways, this book comes across as a little more normal than the other Chase novels I have read. It isn't filled with outrageous and awkward similes, for instance. But it does feature its share of ridiculousness, such as the author's description of how the story's narrator cuts up and eats a hamburger. You get the feeling Chase had never seen an actual hamburger.... ( )