Trout in the Sea of Cortez

In the tradition of Carl Hiaasen, this mirthful debut tracks the mid-life chaos of one man's world as he travels from the winter of North Dakota to the beaches of Mexico

Dennis Pratt doesn't want to go to Mexico. He's a guy knocking on forty, with a dead-end job, a lukewarm marriage, a distant daughter, and an incredible lack of enthusiasm for anything in his life. So little wonder that he's not very enthusiastic about the trip south of the border his wife's got planned. And as he becomes increasingly convinced that his wife is having an affair with a local alpha-male, obsessive thoughts begin to take over his life, and Pratt finds himself putting his job and his marriage at risk. He befriends a shifty father and daughter who live in a camper near the country club where Pratt is trying to learn how to play golf. He meets a mysterious artist and may or may not be falling in love with her. And his imagination runs wild about his wife and daughter. Only when en route to Mexico, and at their villa on the Sea of Cortez, do the pieces start to fall into place, with disastrous results.

A quirky cocktail of obsession, adultery, revenge, hazardous waste, golf, murder, fatherhood, and love, A Trout in the Sea of Cortez is a smart, sarcastic, and riveting mid-life crisis murder mystery.

Author Biography: John Salter's short stories have appeared in the Florida Review, Massachusetts Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Nebraska Review, and Best American Mystery Stories 2001. He is the author of the story collection Alberta Clipper, which was a finalist for the 2003 John Gardner Fiction Book Award. He lives in Moorhead, Minnesota.