$ea Weed: A novel full of hearsay - Hardcover

The sunny Florida Keys, early 1980s. Catch of the day, square groupers. A true paradise where every hour is happy-until it goes to pot.

A chartered snorkel trip to see the John Pennekamp Park's underwater Christ of the Abyss statue delivers something unexpected-four bales of marijuana. It's potentially a lucrative real upside for the finder.But in fact, it becomes a troubling downside when the monster known as greed takes over. Its nagging companion, mistrust, quickly forms between longtime chums, particularly as they each calculate how the highly valuable pot haul could benefit or change their lives.

What happens when friends with dreams that don't include each other, are forced to confront a local family of bungling drug-running wannabe "cowboys" and a Colombian drug cartel agent with an unusual smile? Could things get out of hand? You'll find the answer in a tangled web of hilarious mishaps and explosive sabotage as farcical events spin ever more wildly out of control.

With a story set within a 113-mile chain of islands, you'll get hooked by a former Irish mafia hit man living his best life, ganja connoisseurs, a Scorpio with a real stinger, a corkboard with questionable Polaroids, troublesome twins, a pet python turned pest controller, a missing Key West fire chief (who's still unaccounted for) and the inevitable pink flamingo.

If you've been to the Keys, you'll find yourself laughing out loud. If you've never been there, you'll find yourself wondering why.