The Chairman's Toys
"Jake, whose philosophy is 'life is often less about making good decisions than figuring out how to live with bad ones, ' takes the reader on a fast, furious, and often hilarious tour. Watching him zigzag through the twisting plot is pure pleasure." --Publishers Weekly
Vancouver, British Columbia--land of psychotically expensive real estate, high-grade cannabis, and Jake Constable. A man adrift.
After Jake quits the drug business, his realtor/ex-wife, Nina, gets him a job as a housesitter for her wealthy clients. Jake celebrates by throwing a party in the mansion he was hired to look after. Unfortunately, the guest list gets out of hand, leaving Jake to contend with a hallucinogenic-vitamin-dispensing yogi, a dead guy in the bathroom, and The Norwegian--a criminal force of nature with a grudge against Jake.
When the owner of the multimillion dollar crime-scene returns home prematurely, only Jake's inadvertent discovery of the man's business history in Mao Tse Thong underwear saves him from having to clean up after the party. But he still has to come clean with his ex-wife. The situation threatens to become an international incident when Nina's powerbroker uncle and two secret agents from China show up to turn the screws on Jake. Soon after that his friends start disappearing. With the Chinese government leaning on him and The Norwegian out to settle an old score, Jake comes up with a desperate plan to dupe a pair of secret agents, fund the uncle's secret venture, save his friends, and (why not?) solve the murder.
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Graham Reed is an award-winning author of crime fiction. He lives on a small island in the Salish Sea with his wife and two children.
Set in Vancouver, B.C., Canadian author Reed's quirky first novel introduces Jake Constable, whom his ex-wife, Nina, describes as 'a semi-employed, semi-reformed drug dealer coming up fast on his forties.'...Jake, whose philosophy is 'life is often less about making good decisions than figuring out how to live with bad ones, ' takes the reader on a fast, furious, and often hilarious tour. Watching him zigzag through the twisting plot is pure pleasure.-- "Publishers Weekly"
Constable is a likable loser, tight with his friends and still flirting with his ex-wife, and he definitely belongs on your short list of amiable stoner sleuths, along with Bart Schneider's Augie Boyer and Hal Ackerman's Harry Stein. The dark-comedy aspect of this debut will also appeal to fans of Chris Knopf, David Freed, and Tim Cockey.--Karen Keefe "Booklist"
Graham Reed's first novel introduces us - through his wry, urbane and witty writing style - to Jake, a naive young man who is up to his neck in trouble....Jake is such a beguiling character with a penchant for mayhem that we hope to see more of him. He turns out to be good at crime solving, so he could become a detective - or will he return to his old habits? In either case, he seems to know where a lot of bodies are buried.-- "bookreporter"
