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Short Money (1995)

by Pete Hautman

Series: Joe Crow (2)

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432580,169 (3.58)2
Desperate for cash, small town cop Joe Crow takes a security job that could cost him his life Joe Crow celebrates his thirty-third birthday in his patrol car, watching for speeders and sniffing fat lines of cocaine. A depressed cop with a faltering marriage, a rotten stomach, and an increasingly expensive drug habit, Crow is just looking for a drink and a poker game when he steps into Birdy's. Instead, he meets a man who might be able to save his life--or destroy it.   He first notices Dr. Nelson Bellwether when the liposuction expert has a chair smashed over his head. A surgeon with a big mouth, a gambler's personality, and some serious debt to the IRS, he's on his way to deep trouble, and he's going to bring Crow along for the ride. Dr. Bellwether needs a bodyguard, and Crow is his man. Pretty soon, this small town cop will wish he had a bodyguard of his own.… (more)
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Joe Crow just isn't doing it for me. He's just not a terribly likable protagonist. And the plot involving canned hunts kind of makes me sick. It just didn't do it for me. ( )
  AliceAnna | Aug 31, 2014 |
A prequil to Hauptman's "Drawing Dead" with ex cop, Joe Crow as the central character.
Joe has managed to get himself fired from policework and his brother-in-law, Davie Getter, gets him a job as bodyguard to Dr. Nelson Bellweather (Nellie Bellie), who is a trophy hunter with stuffed animals hung on his wall.

Nellie has enraged George and Ricky Murphy by something George's son, Shawn, tells them. The Murphy's want revenge on this slap to the family pride.

Part of the stroy involves Talking Lake Ranch, owned by the Murphys and where they invite hunters to go after game that they have primed (made ready) for an easy kill.
George's son kills Georges prized Elk and George had wanted to offer that Elk as a kill for $20,000. Now he wants to figure a way to make up for the loss.

This dialogue driven story is reminiscent of some of Elmore Leonard's best and I had fun thinking of John Travolta in his role in Leonard's "Get Shorty" when I read about Joe Crow's exploits.
Well written with humor and believable, if absurd, characters.
Perfect for a rainey weekend. ( )
  mikedraper | Jul 31, 2009 |
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For my brothers, who hunt, and for my sisters, who don't
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The open-top Hummer climbed out of the dry creekbed onto the bank, turned its blocky nose to the north, and growled up the steep side of the coulee, seeking gaps between the larger trees, rolling over the smaller saplings and herbaceous plants, flattening the mat of autumn leaves.
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Desperate for cash, small town cop Joe Crow takes a security job that could cost him his life Joe Crow celebrates his thirty-third birthday in his patrol car, watching for speeders and sniffing fat lines of cocaine. A depressed cop with a faltering marriage, a rotten stomach, and an increasingly expensive drug habit, Crow is just looking for a drink and a poker game when he steps into Birdy's. Instead, he meets a man who might be able to save his life--or destroy it.   He first notices Dr. Nelson Bellwether when the liposuction expert has a chair smashed over his head. A surgeon with a big mouth, a gambler's personality, and some serious debt to the IRS, he's on his way to deep trouble, and he's going to bring Crow along for the ride. Dr. Bellwether needs a bodyguard, and Crow is his man. Pretty soon, this small town cop will wish he had a bodyguard of his own.

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Joe Crow is fired from his job as a cop.
He takes a job as a bodyguard for Nelson Bellweather, a plastic surgeon and trophy hunter.
Bellweather has done something to make George and Ricky Murphy, owners of Talking Lake Ranch, extremely upset and they want revenge.
The ranch is a place where the Murphy's invite hunters to shoot animals who have been set up to be easy kills. George's son Sean shoots his father's prize elk and then runs away to Dr. Bellweather's home.
The novel explores the search to find Sean, the Murphy's scheme to make the elk look alive so a hunter will pay to shoot it and Joe Crow's effort to keep people safe and go on with his life.

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