Dove Season

by Johnny Shaw

Overview

Twelve years have passed since Jimmy Veeder set foot in the Imperial Valley of southern California. The only person that could bring him back is his father, Jack, who is dying of cancer. Jimmy is prepared to spend Jack’s final days joking and reminiscing, but the old man has other plans. He needs Jimmy to cross the border into Mexico and find a prostitute named Yolanda. It’s a strange final request to be sure, but Jimmy’s not one to argue with a dying man. With his childhood buddy Bobby Maves in tow, he heads south, looking for Yolanda among the seedy bars and neighborhoods along the Calexico/Mexicali border. Their search leads them to Tomás Morales, a rising star in the Mexican underworld. While dangerous to most, his childhood friendship with Jimmy brings out his loyalty and spurs him to help. But just when Jimmy thinks his quest has ended, an unexpected murder sucks him further into the violence and danger of Mexicali. In his fight for survival and search for truth, what he uncovers calls into question everything he thought he knew about his father—and will determine just what kind of man he himself truly is.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935597643
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	09/13/2011
Series:	Jimmy Veeder Fiasco , #1
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Johnny Shaw was born and raised in the Imperial Valley on the Calexico/Mexicali border. He received his Master of Fine Arts in screenwriting from UCLA. In addition to his work as a screenwriter and playwright, he owns a used bookstore and teaches writing. He lives in Portland, Oregon. Dove Season is his first novel.

Editorial Reviews

Think of this title as a coming-of-age novel writ noir. Turning 30 hasn't meant much more for Jimmy Veeder than moving from one low-paying job to another. "I didn't have a dream. I just was," is how he describes himself. Then he gets a call from his dad. Big Jack has cancer, the bad kind. He's dying. Would Jimmy come and stay with him for a few months? So Jimmy returns to Holtville, the hick town where he grew up, deep in the Imperial Valley in Southern California, next to the Mexican border. His dad's got one request: find him a whore he knew in Mexicali, Yolanda, and bring her to see him. Jimmy does. His father dies. So does Yolanda, violently. Jimmy and his old buddies soon find themselves butting heads with the Mexican underworld. But as his troubles continue, Jimmy learns something about himself. At the end, he's on his way to growing up—maybe. VERDICT This is Shaw's first novel, and it's a good one. (It was a finalist for the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.) Aficionados of crime stories will enjoy it thoroughly.—David Keymer, Modesto, CA

Library Journal

[Johnny Shaw] is excellent at creating a sense of place with a few deft strokes…He moves effortlessly between dark comedy and moments that pack a real emotional punch, and he’s got a knack for off-kilter characters who are completely at home in their own personal corners of oddballdom.” —Tana French, author of In the Woods and Faithful Place

“Johnny Shaw calls Dove Season a Jimmy Veeder Fiasco, but I call it a whole new ballgame; I enjoyed this damn book more than anything else I read this year!” —Craig Johnson, author of The Cold Dish and Hell is Empty

“Johnny Shaw’s Dove Season may well be the best debut this year. It has the warm wit of Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard novels, the effortless cool of Elmore Leonard and just a sprinkling of Crumley’s border dust. Here’s to many more Jimmy Veeder fiascoes to come.” —Ray Banks author of Beast of Burden

“Dove Season is dark and funny, graceful and profane, with beating-heart characters and a setting as vivid as a scorpion sting on a dusty wrist. Debut author Johnny Shaw is a welcome new voice. I’m already looking forward to Jimmy Veeder’s next fiasco.” —Sean Doolittle author of The Cleanup and Safer

From the Publisher