Shell Games: A John Marquez Crime Novel [Hardcover]

Kirk Russell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

The discovery of thousands of empty abalone shells and two murdered divers sends Lieutenant John Marquez's poaching investigation in a newand very riskydirection. Former DEA agent and now head of a special operations unit of the California Department of Fish and Game, Marquez learns he himself has been targeted as the next victim. Stalking him is Kline, a vicious drug smuggler turned abalone poacher who has a vendetta against Marquez. John Marquez is supposed to protect wildlife, not solve murders, but the only way he can break the multi-million-dollar abalone-smuggling ring, as well as save his own life, is to find and stop Kline. A fast-paced crime novel set along the majestic Northern California coastline, Shell Games introduces a tough, complex, and appealing hero and a masterful new series.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In recent years, mystery writers seem to have entered a secret contest to see who could come up with the best variant on the traditional detective heroes: cops or ex-cops (usually wounded or traumatized) turned private eyes. Russell should walk off with the award for far and away the most inventive new detective hero--an ex-DEA agent who now heads a covert special operations unit of the California Department of Fish and Game. Lieutenant Marquez's job is to protect wildlife, but two discoveries--a slew of empty abalone shells and the bodies of two murdered divers--propel Marquez back into his narc-fighting days. Behind the empty shells and the slain divers is a drug runner making big money smuggling abalone. The plot moves, credibly and intriguingly, from Marquez's bewildering discovery to a fight for his own life as the drug lord hunts him down. A first-rate start to a projected series. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

In an era of global terrorism, saving California's endangered abalone might not seem like the highest of priorities, and Lt. John Marquez -- head of a special operations unit of the state's Department of Fish and Game -- knows it.

"A faction of the public had grown weary of trying to save species, of competing with animals for space and the right to make a living," he thinks as he prepares to confront a bereaved Vietnamese poacher whose teenage son has drowned and who has a freezer full of illegal abalone.

But Marquez also knows that the particular band of abalone poachers he's after now -- people who have already killed a couple of times and will continue to escalate the body count -- are not just a "handful of former commercial divers disgruntled with DFG regulations, scheming to get rich."

These villains are more like the vicious band, headed by a vindictive Irish psychopath named Kline, that wiped out Marquez's team when he was with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration a few years back.

A large part of the considerable strength of Kirk Russell's first mystery novel (along with his clear and pungent writing, especially about the primal weirdness of life along the Mendocino coast) comes from the way he makes us quickly believe in Marquez and his cause -- mostly by letting us watch as the Fish and Gamers get frustrated, pushed around and generally shut out by the FBI and local police agencies. One of Marquez's bosses points out that the country's "post 9/11 gear-up" is a lot like the way the FBI responded to the Cold War communist threat of the 1950s: "They spent a lot of money and threw a lot of agents at the problem and our enemies just adapted."

Marquez, of course, isn't about to sit back and suck up the punishment, but he has to be extra careful -- especially with a newly pregnant team partner, a wife wondering whether to go on with their shaky marriage, and the scary Kline floating around out there, holding on tight to an old grudge. -Chicago Tribune

"You know as you read this one that you are on to something good. Kirk Russell comes out of the gate with a story brimming with fresh characters and artful prose. Shell Games announces the start of what I think will be a great career." -Michael Connelly

"Excellent...a compelling plot, fully realized characters, white-knuckle suspense, and unusual yet accessible settings. What truly sets it apart, though, is Kirk Russell's vigorous, lovely, unadorned prose. Shell Games marks the debut of a substantial new talent in crime fiction." -John Lescroart

"Shell Games integrates spellbinding suspense into a wonderfully unpredictable plot that holds the reader hostage to the very last page." -Ridley Pearson

"Compelling characters, unrelenting suspense, and vivid settings all add up to a great read. Kirk Russell's Shell Games is so well-crafted, it's hard to believe it's a first novel." -Jan Burke

In recent years, mystery writers seem to have entered a secret contest to see who could come up with the best variant on the traditional detective heroes: cops or ex-cops (usually wounded or traumatized) turned private eyes. Russell should walk off with the award for far and away the most inventive new detective hero-an ex-DEA agent who now heads a covert special operations unit of the California Department of Fish and Game. Lieutenant Marquez's job is to protect wildlife, but two discoveries-a slew of empty abalone shells and the bodies of two murdered divers--propel Marquez back into his narc-fighting days. Behind the empty shells and the slain divers is a drug runner making big money smuggling abalone. The plot moves, credibly and intriguingly, from Marquez's bewildering discovery to a fight for his own life as the drug lord hunts him down. A first-rate start to a projected series. -Booklist

A special squad of undercover endangered-species investigators goes after poachers and ends up taking on a nightmarish int

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition edition (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811841863
• ISBN-13: 978-0811841863
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,631,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kirk Russell is the author of five crime fiction novels. Shell Games (2003), Night Game (2004), Deadgame (2005), and Redback(2011), feature John Marquez, head of a California Fish and Game undercover team and a character Booklist described as, "far and away the most inventive new detective hero." His fifth novel, A Killing in China Basin, launches a new series with San Francisco homicide inspector, Ben Raveneau. Russell has two children, Kate and Olivia. He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife Judy Rodgers, chef and co-owner of San Francisco's Zuni Café. For more visit kirkrussellbooks.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shell Games, February 7, 2004

By 

Patty Owens (El Paso, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shell Games: A John Marquez Crime Novel (Hardcover)

My book club selected this book for last months meeting. It was quite a different topic than we are used to, but since we have two biologists and all of us enjoy cooking exotic foods we thought it might be of interest. One of our members saw the author at a book signing, and came back raving. I generally do not read hard boiled detective stories, but prefer the Janet Evanovitch variety, those fun, fast reads. This is quite different. It took me a few chapters to get into the story, and get the characters straight, but after that, I was hooked! This is far more satisfying. I was introduced to a field, the Fish and Game Department, which was new to me, and learned something about animal poaching in the US. I previously thought that was a problem in Africa or Asia, but not here. John Marquez, a Fish and Game warden, becomes involved in an abalone smuggling ring that evolves into a drugs, and murder. The female wardens are real career women juggling pregnancy with undercover work. We all liked the fact that the female characters were strong, and not just fluff on the edge of the plot, and that the family situation, with a troubled teenage step-child, anorexia issues, etc. all seemed very realistic. The writing is excellent, and face paced. There are few books we read as a book club that our husbands will read, but this is the exception. I am looking forward to the next book. It's great to find a new series that my husband and I can both be excited about.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mystery, and a novel, April 7, 2004

By 

Constant Reader (Coastal Massachusetts, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shell Games: A John Marquez Crime Novel (Hardcover)

I liked it not just as a suspense/crime novel, but also as a "Novel Novel". Solid character with believable interior life and family problems (but not some bizarre Neurotic Impediment or cutesy Attribute), nice observations, interesting setting, and not much bloated detail, which sometimes infects novels by first time authors. (I've seen too many sentences like "She gingerly withdrew a pale pink facial tissue from the box imprinted with a pattern of violets and daisies." So for whom did the detail matter?) The hero's professional and personal relationships are not chummy, but there's an arms-length respect that rings true to the rest of his character.

I also appreciate that the chief villain is basically bad but believable, a hardened professional criminal and not a "psychopath" or serial killer; far too many mysteries, even by experienced and talented writers, fall back on that to excuse a lack of interior character development. (Maybe they should look at Simenon's crime novels, or maybe Elmore Leonard's.)

Nice job all around. I'll be looking for his next novel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dive in!, January 26, 2004

By 

E. Momsen (Coos Bay Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shell Games: A John Marquez Crime Novel (Hardcover)

What a great book! I began reading it on an airplane, and had to stay in the airport after I landed just to finish those last incredible pages! Living on the Oregon coast, I am interested in books that take place in this environment. The author captures the beauty and wildness of the Northern California coast, and I especially enjoyed learning more about the poaching problem. It is a rare thing to read an exciting mystery, and also learn about current issues. California Department of Fish and Game Lieutenant Marquez begins a search for abalone poachers which leads to former drug smugglers. I had no idea that abalones were such a high cash item. My confession: after reading this book, I am dying to actually taste an abalone!