"Occupying a space in the great literary tradition of Hiaasen and
Tim Dorsey. Somebody referred to it as, 'Southern grit lit,' I just call it a hoot!"
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—Tom Turner, author of the Charlie Crawford Palm Beach Mystery Series
Fishing on a Florida beach one morning, Zeke Adams makes a horrifying discovery: drowned Haitian migrants washed up in the surf. He is further shocked to learn a half-sister he never knew he had was on their boat. It’s unclear if she survived. And then Zeke’s day gets even worse.
Zeke is a reformed tabloid journalist who used to be a king of sleaze. Now he lands on the receiving end of scandal when flyers appear all over the community warning that he is a pervert. That’s because his name mistakenly ended up on Florida’s sexual offender registry due to criminal identity theft. He needs to clear his reputation before he gets run out of town, as well as rescue his half-sister from the human smugglers before a corrupt ICE agent captures her. Not easy tasks when people are trying to kill him and the cops want him in jail.
Zeke’s only ally is a detective whose cousin was among the drowned migrants. There are also the tenants of the cottages he owns on a former pineapple plantation. But how much help can he expect from a bunch of drunks, kooks, and a 100-year-old lothario who live to fish and party in a subtropical paradise? Find out if Zeke lands in jail, the morgue—or both—in Pariah, a different kind of mystery novel.
Teens lighting firecrackers at front doors, ringing doorbells, and running away. What could go wrong? When one of them is shot and killed by a homeowner, it looks like the shooter will get off under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law. But wouldn’t you know it, the shooter ends up bludgeoned to death with a golf club.
The dead teen’s adoptive father, Jimmy, is arrested for the murder. He’s an old friend of Zeke Adams, former sleazy tabloid journalist and landlord to a menagerie of weird tenants. Zeke promises to save his friend by finding the real murderer. He discovers the dead shooter’s profession involved opposition research on politicians. And that includes scandalous video footage of a U.S. Congressman. If the video goes public, it could throw the upcoming election.
Zeke has to navigate the worlds of kinky furries, animal-rights militants, anti-government militias, horny dolphins, a wayward alligator, and a conspiracy-buff assassin who has Zeke in his sights. Can Zeke stay alive long enough to clear his friend? Find out in this dark, deadly, and diverting Florida-noir thriller. If you enjoy Carl Hiaasen, Tim Dorsey, and Janet Evanovich, you’ll go wild over Fur.
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© 2023 by Ward Parker.