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Swain uses four basic acts in most of his novels. His older book series run from the low 300 to the low 400 pages while the newer series run at 400 pages. His beat format for the older series is consistent with older crime novels. His recent series seem to use a 15 beat format that is consistent with
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Swain has created two ex-police characters that have run in a series of mystery and crime related novels. The Tony
Valentine character seem to face daily some type of cheater or scammer that involves gambling. The second character, Jack Carpenter, faces the dirtier side of life involving child
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The character Tony
Valentine is a retired cop from New Jersey and more importantly from the beat of the casinos in Atlantic City. After settling in Florida he is lured to Las Vegas and makes an impact with his consultant skills against casino cheaters.
133:. These are Tony Valentine, a private eye and Jack Carpenter, an ex-cop turned child rescuer. Swain is lesser known for his "Magic" non-fiction books which are self-published. Swain's recent books have been declared "Mysteries of the Year" by
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in 2009 and the team of hustlers he found agreed to let him write a series of novels based on their experiences after a five-year delay, leading to the "Billy
Cunningham" series.
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Jack
Carpenter is an ex-cop from South Florida who was terminated because of using excessive force to a criminal. He turns to private eye work with a soft touch for children.
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and recruits his own team of cheaters to scam casinos. He's unusually moral for a conman and frequently refers to the "cheaters code" about helping other cheaters.
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The "Tony
Valentine" rights were purchased in 2009 by Langley Films for theatrical purposes. An agreement allows Swain to write the first screenplay adaptation.
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for best
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books. Many have been translated into twelve languages. He has used two main characters in most of his
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Archived: The official web site of the Tony
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Swain was researching a story about poker hustling for
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183:with his wife, Laura. One of his hobbies is
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633:Don't Blink: The Magic of James Swain
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787:The official web site of James Swain
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228:The Man Who Walked Through Walls
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838:20th-century American novelists
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248:The Man Who Cheated Death
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747:"About James Swain"
646:Miracles with Cards
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213:current standards.
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151:Barry Award
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105:James Swain
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