In Roughhouse, Jeffery Hess returns to the unforgettable world of good-natured badass Scotland Ross-hero of his critically acclaimed Beachhead and Tushhog-to tell the powerful story of people stretched to extremes. It's August 1986. The Cold War rages and Yuppies make all the money. Fresh off a three-year stretch at Starke for keeping Pearce family secrets, Scotland has a new place to call home on Fort Myers Beach. All should be perfect except Scotland's wife is going to die unless he comes up with $100,000. He enlists a trusted friend to help him rob a Tampa casino to pay for her unconventional treatment. While freely risking life in prison if he's caught, he never thought his trusted accomplice could go rogue and turn against him. On top of that, his long-lost nieces come to him in need of help only he can provide, while a mysterious female former Marine has her own surprise plan for him. Scotland hurtles through his new-found freedom right back into a storm of violence and pain with strong women and treacherous men gusting in all directions. Without him, the women would be doomed; without them, he would be. Yet, success and failure are put to the biggest challenge by an unsettled score from the past that threatens to bury them all in the surf. Praise for ROUGHHOUSE: "Rounding out a trilogy is never easy, especially one with as memorable an anti-hero as Scotland Ross, the on-again/off-again criminal-with-a-heart-of-gold who managed to shoot his way out of Jeffery Hess's Beachhead and Tushhog. Yet Hess's finale to cap the series not only delivers, it firmly sets Hess up with the masters of Florida rough-and-tumble crime fiction. Roughhouse pummels Scotland Ross as he fights his way through heartache, betrayal, shifting family loyalties and unbreakable family bonds, all set against a backdrop of bullets and cash, salt and sun, the best that Florida has to offer." -Steph Post, author of Miraculum, Lightwood, Walk in the Fire, Holding Smoke, and A Tree Born Crooked "A bruised and bloodied hero punching destiny's jaw one last time. Tense, gritty, emotional. Roughhouse carves a fitting end for the unbreakable Scotland, who, like the 80s itself, ain't accepting fate easy." -James R. Duncan, author of Blood Republic "What a wild ride! I really dig that this book is noir through and through yet has this emotional beating heart at its center. I could read about these characters and their wacky Floridian lives all day. Well done, sir!" -Chris Rhatigan, author of Squeeze and Race to the Bottom "Scotland Ross is a good man running in a merciless world. It's a good thing he's built for the battle. This book reminded me of early Elmore Leonard books. I'm embarrassed to say this is my first Scotland Ross novel. But I'm fired up that I can devour the other two." -Jonathan Brown, author of the Lou Crasher Mysteries "Edgy, rich and excessively smart, Roughhouse might be that rare third element of the trilogy, even better than its predecessors. Regardless, it is constantly entertaining and, even better, always artful." - Fred G. Leebron, author of Six Figures, Out West, and Welcome to Christiania

Roughhouse

Hess, Jeffery

Literature & Fiction

Down & Out Books

Jimmy Buffett is one of the great contemporary singer/songwriters, and it's hard to imagine a citizen of Planet Earth unfamiliar with such classic hits as "Margaritaville." Jimmy has also written novels, children's books, memoirs, and a stage musical based on Herman Wouk's Don't Stop the Carnival, and his family-friendly concerts almost always sell out to audiences comprised of a mix of dedicated Parrotheads, casual fans, and newbies. In The Great Filling Station Holdup, editor Josh Pachter presents sixteen short crime stories by sixteen popular and up-and-coming crime writers, each story based on a song from one of the twenty-nine studio albums Jimmy has released over the last half century, from Leigh Lundin's take on "Truckstop Salvation" (which appeared on Jimmy's first LP, 1970's Down to Earth) to M.E. Browning's interpretation of "Einstein Was a Surfer" (from 2013's Songs from St. Somewhere). If you love Jimmy's music or crime fiction or both, you'll love The Great Filling Station Holdup. Mix yourself a boat drink, ask Alexa to put on a buffet of Buffett tunes, kick back, and enjoy Table of Contents Introduction by Josh Pachter Down to Earth (1970) "Truckstop Salvation" by Leigh Lundin A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean (1973) "The Great Filling Station Holdup" by Josh Pachter A1A (1974) "A Pirate Looks at Forty" by Rick Ollerman Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes (1977) "Tampico Trauma" by Michael Bracken Son of a Son of a Sailor (1978) "Cheeseburger in Paradise" by Don Bruns Volcano (1979) "Volcano" by Alison McMahan Coconut Telegraph (1981) "Incommunicado" by Bruce Robert Coffin Somewhere Over China (1981) "If I Could Just Get It On Paper" by Lissa Marie Redmond One Particular Harbour (1983) "We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About" by Elaine Viets Riddles in the Sand (1984) "Who's the Blonde Stranger?" by Robert J. Randisi Last Mango in Paris (1985) "Everybody's on the Run" by Laura Oles Hot Water (1988) "Smart Woman (in a Real Short Skirt)" by Isabella Maldonado Off to See the Lizard (1989) "The Pascagoula Run" by Jeffery Hess Don't Stop the Carnival (1998) "Public Relations" by Neil Plakcy Beach House on the Moon (1999) "Spending Money" by John M. Floyd Songs From St. Somewhere (2013) "Einstein Was a Surfer" by M.E. Browning

The Great Filling Station Holdup: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Jimmy Buffett

Bruns, Don

Viets, Elaine

Maldonado, Isabella

Randisi, Robert J.

Bracken, Michael

Floyd, John M.

Coffin, Bruce Robert

Pachter, Josh

Browning, M.E.

Short Stories & Anthologies

Product Description A forty-year-old self-cutting workaholic abandons everything she knows for a stripper with a death wish. Both lives change, only one ends. Scar Tissue is a psychological noir novel that stunningly brings to life a world others dare not dream of. This is a vivid and memorable portrayal of desire as seen through the eyes of two women with dark hearts and very different goals who cross paths at critical moments in their lives. The power of their hopes and despair, their weaknesses and strengths is a testament to the yearning that resides inside all of us. Praise for Scar Tissue: “This persuasive and dizzying novel grabs you and doesn’t let go. It is sexy, disturbing and relentless. What it says about human nature will keep you up at night. It’s also constantly entertaining and unnervingly passionate. Scar Tissue is amazing and weird in all the best ways.” —Fred Leebron, author of Six Figures, Out West, and Welcome to Christiania “Scar Tissue has all that we’ve come to expect from Jeff Hess’s crime fiction—sweat-soaked Florida settings, uncompromising authenticity, and wild plots with hairpin turns—but adds yet another layer of ground-in grit. Hess’s new protagonists, Dylan and Abby, are damaged goods—selfish, yet sympathetic, slick cons, but also lost souls—and, most importantly, complicated women who are written and treated by Hess as such. In his latest, Hess spills just as much blood as in his previous novels, but it’s in the scars still healing where the real story lies.” —Steph Post, author of Miraculum, Lightwood, Walk in the Fire, and Holding Smoke “This gritty novel is the redheaded stepchild of Martyrs mated with Thelma and Louise—layers of darkness, vengeance, and chaos wrapped tightly together into a ball of sinuous fury.” —Richard Thomas, author of Disintegration and Breaker (Thriller Award nominee) “Scar Tissue is a relentless, twisty, tightly drawn novel about two women who can’t live together—or apart. Abby and Dylan’s nihilistic pursuit of connection and freedom will have you questioning what it means to be human. Simultaneously terrifying and hopeful, their story will stay with you long after you finish that last page.” —Wendy Tyson, author of A Dark Homage and Sowing Malice Review "A heady blend of fast-paced romance and psychological suspense." -- Kirkus

Scar Tissue

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Thrillers & Suspense

Pascagoula Run and Other Stories

It’s 1980 on Florida’s Gulf coast. Sun, drugs, gambling debts, and dirty deals push Navy-prison parolee, Scotland Ross, deeper into the life of crime he never wanted. His sister’s life, a potential newfound love, and his own freedom are all on the line as he tangles with a redneck gangster intent on becoming the state’s next governor. Will Scotland make the right choice or the one that keeps him alive? Beachhead is dark noir set in the state of sunshine. A story of crime and loyalty, love and hate, and choices made when everything you care about is on the line.

Beachhead

"With his finger firmly placed on sailors' wartime experiences, Hess delivers a potent, thrilling collection of sharply drawn tales." —Kirkus Reviews The stories in Cold War Canoe Club are like vertical launch missiles that explode to reveal a darker side of the US Navy in a time when most of the action took place away from the headlines. Welcome to the period between World War II and the Desert Storm, when enemies were just as likely to be seen on radar as aboard the same ship. The characters who populate the stories Hess has written face their own doom through dangers—foreign and domestic, including shipmates, spouses, secrets, lies, greed, lust, and bad decisions. As Cold War Canoe Club unfolds, we witness the darkest recesses of war ships and the men who sail aboard them as well as the women who wait for them in port and at home. There’s a submarine sinking in frigid waters, a pregnant Navy wife distraught over the Cuban Missile Crisis, a race riot aboard an air craft carrier, fist fights, loose women, bad luck, and bad decisions. Hess’s sailors and veterans haunt deeply with the authentic sense of people being on ships at sea or at the ends of their ropes as civilians. These stories bristle with noir intrigue and energy, while transporting readers to worlds few have ever seen. A dark exploration of service men, officers, gentlemen, lowlifes, and those trying to navigate troubled waters across oceans and on land. Praise for Cold War Canoe Club… “Jeffery Hess combines a flair for gripping storytelling with a powerful lyrical sensibility to produce that rarest of birds: a book full of page-turners that read like literary fiction. Like Tim O’Brien and Kevin Powers, Hess writes with absolute authority about the military men whose lives he sees with utter clarity and intimacy.” —Pinckney Benedict, author of Miracle Boy, The Wrecking Yard and Town Smokes. “Eerily timely and rendered with gritty realism, Cold War Canoe Club beckons us to recall a time when actions and attitudes appeared motivated by an entire world perpetually hovering along the brink of utter destruction. Each tightly woven gem of a short story represents a microcosm of the Cold War macrocosm, and dares to expose Hess as a genius for his artful juxtaposition of humanity’s brash boldness with humanity’s amnesic naiveté.” —Tracy Crow, author of Eyes Right: Confessions from a Woman Marine and editor of Red, White, &amp; True: Stories from Veterans and Families, WWII to Present. “Hess is one of those rare talents who tells a great story with compelling characters, pacing and action.” —Terrence McCauley, author of Sympathy for the Devil and The Devil Dogs of Belleau Wood. “Cold War Canoe Club presents an eclectic array of situations and stories all tied together by Hess’s hard-edged prose style and deeply-developed characters. In the smart, snappy tradition of Elmore Leonard and James Lee Burke, Hess is a writer who pulls no punches and delivers authenticity in rapid-fire doses.” —Steph Post, author of Lightwood and A Tree Born Crooked. “Smart, poignant, often slyly funny, these are stories that will both take your breath away and take you places you’ve never been before. A true and honest salute to much more than those who serve in the Navy, rich with history real and imagined.” —Fred Leebron, author of Welcome to Christiania and Out West. “Jeffery Hess reminds of the glory days or noir: wayward women, brawling sailors, and shadow-lurking heroes who were too hung over when redemption dawned. If you want a quick literary jab to your heart, any of Hess’s short fiction will do. Just finish burying that body, pal, and read.” —James R. Duncan, author of Blood Republic.

Cold War Canoe Club: Stories

It’s 1981 in Fort Myers, Florida. Scotland Ross hasn’t given up drinking, but he has sworn off of trouble. At a waterside tavern the day the Pope got shot, Scotland drank to cloud the memories of his dead infant son on an anniversary such as this. Distraction comes when the bar owner needs his help. Despite his vow of living within the law, Scotland soon finds himself tangling with a redneck clan, a Cuban gang, a connected crew from New York, and the very friend he set out to help. Crimes of violence, drugs, and theft pale in comparison to the failure of self-restraint in this humid town on the Gulf coast. When Scotland’s activities involve his girlfriend, he kicks himself into a higher gear. He didn’t know until it was too late that she’d been involved long before they even met. He’s not fully prepared for the ramifications of that, but there is no time to waste. Can Scotland save his girlfriend, clear his name, get justice for being screwed over, and stay out of jail? Tushhog is dark noir set in the state of sunshine. A story of crime and compulsion and the depths to which people rise or sink. Praise for TUSHHOG: “In Tushhog, Jeffery Hess has created a wicked lean follow-up to Beachhead. The remarkable Scotland Ross is back for another go-round, sadder maybe but no wiser, which means that he gets himself into all sorts of entertaining trouble. An excellent sophomore entry in what promises to be a long-running series of bruising, bare-knuckle crime novels.” —Pinckney Benedict, author of Miracle Boy, The Wrecking Yard and Town Smokes “Anti-hero Scotland Ross is back and Jeffery Hess’s prose is better than ever in this Sunshine Noir follow-up to last year’s unputdownable Beachhead. With tight pacing, snappy dialogue, a grungy edge and a whole lot of attitude, Tushhog brings us another classic crime caper complete with our hard-nosed protagonist, still trying to walk the razor’s edge between right and wrong, and a colorful cast of troublemakers and rabble-rousers, each intent on stretching Scotland Ross to his limits. In the tradition of Elmore Leonard, Tushhog is a no-holds-barred noir you won’t soon forget.” —Steph Post, author of Walk in the Fire

Tushhog (Scotland Ross)

Clowns are like politics; everyone has an opinion on them. In this collection of short stories you’ll find numerous takes on the world of the painted harlequin entertainer. Often maligned in today’s day and age, the institution of the clown means something to everyone. And sure, most of these clowns are armed. They’re less than concerned about the moral ramifications of their actions. Hell, they might be demonic. We’ve got it all. Clown cars, rodeos, adultery, robbery, mayhem, balloon animals, self-immolation, big red noses, cremation chambers, a funeral and kids’ TV shows, just to name some. But for a dad who dresses as the most infamous clown ever to sneak into his son’s party or a woman who uses her costume as a ruse to rob and cheat to a man who’s lifelong companion is a clown apparition, the hair and make-up are just a means to an end. An untimely end. Edited by Ryan Sayles and featuring stories by Patricia Abbott, J.L. Abramo, Jen Conley, Jeffery Hess, Grant Jerkins, David James Keaton, Ed Kurtz, R. Daniel Lester, Marietta Miles, Warren Moore, Chuck Regan, Scotch Rutherford, Liam Sweeney, Richard Thomas, James R. Tuck, and Lono Waiwaiole.

Greasepaint and 45s

Humor & Entertainment

Sayles, Ryan

Keaton, David James

Kurtz, Ed

Jerkins, Grant

Abbott, Patricia

Conley, Jen

Abramo, J.L.

Lester, R. Daniel

Miles, Marietta

Humor

Inspired by actual events, No Salvation features the USS Salvation as it sails for months on end in the South China Sea in the violent closing days of the Vietnam War. Exhaustion, drugs and discontent run rampant aboard ship and crew morale is at an all-time low. These conditions affect four thousand men being sequestered for months on end without port visits has everyone on edge. This is 1972, a time when inequality and racial tension permeated ships fleet-wide. As a way to mitigate racial unrest, the ship’s captain brings in Commander Robert Porter as his Executive Officer. Commander Porter isn’t sure if he’s been selected for the job because of his skills or for the color of his skin, but the black crew doesn’t accept him. Amid rampant drug use and various forms of sabotage, the biggest challenge to the ship’s performance and the crew’s safety is a series of violent attacks made by planes launching from the flight deck, but more perilous are the racial tensions boiling below. Porter is uniquely positioned to save them all, but can he? If so, at what cost? Praise for NO SALVATION: “Truth, as they say, may be stranger than fiction, but novelist and award-winning editor Jeffery Hess manages to masterfully blend both in No Salvation. Based on actual events from another era, Hess’s novel with page-turning cinematic appeal sizzles with gritty realism and uncomfortable truths regarding racial tensions aboard a U.S. Navy carrier. I dare readers to walk away unchanged—in how they see others, and how they see themselves in the world.” —Tracy Crow, author of Eyes Right: Confessions of a Woman Marine “In a skillful fictionalization of the racial discord aboard the USS Kitty Hawk in 1972, Mr. Hess has created an unflinching picture of life aboard a Navy carrier forty-seven years ago, in a work that builds in tension with each chapter to a decisive climax, bloody, but prescient with hope.” —Raymond Hutson, author of Finding Sgt. Kent “From the opening chapter Hess plunges you deep within a Navy aircraft carrier where a brutal black vs. white event has occurred, with characters rich enough to have stand-alone stories of their own. Powerful is not only the first word that comes to mind when describing No Salvation, it’s the best word.” —Jonathan Brown, author of the Lou Crasher series “Hess, himself a Navy veteran, knows exactly what he's doing, and has given us a riveting and compelling story firmly based on real events from the closing days of the Vietnam war.” — Tim Bazzett, author of the Cold War memoir Soldier Boy: At Play in the ASA

No Salvation

United States

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