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Jesse Braddock is trapped in a tiny cabin deep in the Everglades with her infant daughter and her ex-boyfriend, a wannabe reality TV star who turned out to be a lot prettier on the outside than on the inside. Broke and desperate for a way out, Jesse stumbles across a long-lost treasure, which could solve all her problems—if she can figure out how to keep it. The problem is some very bad men are also looking for the treasure, and they know Jesse has it.
Meanwhile, Ken Bortle of Bortle Brothers Bait and Beer has hatched a scheme to lure tourists to his failing store by making viral videos of the "Everglades Melon Monster." The Monster is, in fact, an unemployed alcoholic newspaperman named Phil wearing a Dora the Explorer costume head. Incredibly, this plan actually works, inspiring a horde of TikTokers to swarm into the swamp in search of the Monster at the same time villains are on the hunt for Jesse's treasure. Amid this mayhem, a presidential hopeful arrives in the Everglades to start his campaign. Needless to say, it does not go as planned. In fact, nothing in this story goes as planned. This is, after all, Florida.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 2, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781797155005
- File size: 227824 KB
- Duration: 07:54:37
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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There's a range of ways to make a pile of money down in the great swamps of Southern Florida--from finding buried treasure to selling "Bortle Brothers Bait and Beer" T-shirts or creating the perfect viral video for the TikTok generation. In his "just-happy-to-be-here" tone, Pulitzer-Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry delivers the tale of down-on-her-luck Jesse Braddock, who hopes all her problems are solved when she stumbles across a trove of long-lost Confederate gold. But there are a few dozen nitwits standing in the way of that, including her ex-boyfriend, the Russian Mob, the Everglades Melon Monster, and a clueless presidential candidate. Throughout, Barry sounds just as entertained and delighted by his crazy characters and his trademark gentle lunacy as his listeners will be. B.P. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from March 6, 2023
Crime fiction doesn’t come much funnier than this Florida-set caper from Barry (Insane City), in which a lucky find precipitates a cascade of unexpected consequences. Jesse Braddock lives in the Everglades with Willa, her baby daughter, and Slater, Willa’s deadbeat father. She has little hope for a better life until she stumbles on a cache of gold bars, supposedly a buried Confederate Army payroll shipment. But the treasure has already captured the interest of some ex-cons who plotted to find it during their time in prison. Meanwhile, the enterprising owner of a local beer and bait shop concocts a harebrained get-rich-quick scheme: he employs a down-on-his-luck journalist to don a Dora the Explorer costume and pretend to be the mythical Everglades Melon Monster so he can lure tourists to the area in search of it. That scheme results in an influx of visitors at the very moment Braddock hopes to evade the treasure-seekers and make off with her life-changing fortune. Barry conducts the hijinks like a maestro of comic suspense. Carl Hiaasen fans will be in heaven. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House.
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