[Joe Crow 01] • Drawing Dead

Joe Crow thinks he's one hell of a poker player. An ex-cop who dresses halfway between a slob and a nerd and looks a little like Wayne Newton when he's surprised, Crow has almost forgotten what it feels like to lose. But then he lets Laura Debrowski - a spike-haired, leather-clad burst of rock'n'roll in a Muzak world - play a few hands with his stack. The next thing he knows, a drug-addled stockbroker named Dickie Wicky is holding an IOU with Crow's name - followed by too many zeros. Crow figures he can pay off the marker eventually, but Dickie has another idea. He wants Crow to tail his sexy wife, Catfish, find out who she's been shacking up with, and then get rid of him. That is, pay the guy to go away - not kill him. But some other people have different ideas. Freddy Wisnesky, a mildly retarded, oversized thug with a face like a pot roast and a passion for floral neckties, is also looking for Catfish's lover. Two con artists named Tom Jefferson and Ben Franklin - or is it Tom Paine and Ben Cartwright? Thomas Aquinas and Benjamin Disraeli? - also find their way into Crow's neighborhood, peddling shares in a $12 million rare comic book collection that just might not exist. A small-time Mafioso/car dealer/poker player, who calls himself Joey Cadillac ("new or used, cash or stash"), is on Tom and Ben's trail, looking for revenge. And when Catfish shows up one night and invites herself into Crow's bed, Crow finds himself sucked into the underbelly of Minneapolis, where card hustlers, con men, comic books, and cocaine combine in a crazy comic caper. Crow thinks he can rise above all this, live right, and leave all these unpleasant people behind. But then he has a better idea. Drawing Deadis a zany, fast-paced thriller by a wickedly clever first novelist who combines the outrageous wit of Donald E. Westlake and the comic suspense of Elmore Leonard.