The Great American (DM) Novel

A direct mail scam is an unlikely backdrop for a novel. By all rights the action should be limited to setting up shop, placing ads, opening envelopes, cashing checks and fleeing to Antigua when the feds close in.

In his third novel, “God Doesn't Shoot Craps,” veteran DM copywriter Richard Armstrong stands this formula on its head. Protagonist Danny Pellegrino is a well-to-do flimflam artist who owes his fortune more to his copywriting skills than the legitimacy of his merchandise. Pellegrino keeps himself out of jail by never quite going over the top with what his ads promise, along with a little help from a very expensive lawyer.

Pellegrino's gets his comeuppance when he promotes a pamphlet on a can't-lose system for craps. But when Pellegrino — who doesn't mind a turn with the dice himself now and then — tests the system, it appears to be everything his copy quasi-promises.

Unfortunately, Pellegrino realizes this only after he's put a million-piece effort in the mail, setting off a race to undermine his own campaign before his system gets into the hands of thousands of players.

Beyond the first third or so of the book, direct mail takes a back seat to Pellegrino's other interests, such as private airplanes and the inner workings of casinos. As befits a copywriting pro, Armstrong makes the technical aspects of these topics read easily.

If there is a flaw in his writing style, it's when his copywriter's instincts trump his inclinations as novelist. While his prose is engaging, he occasionally allows an omniscient narrator to pontificate on characteristics that should come out through storytelling.

But this is a small quibble with a book that for the most part zips along nicely. When direct mail returns to the tale's forefront, it does so with style: A scene in which Pellegrino's copy is worked over by a Mafia don will be unsettlingly familiar, and very funny, to anyone who has ever written a DM solicitation for a difficult client.