Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature's Bounty

by Craig Welch

Overview

A unique blend of natural history and crime drama, Shell Games by Craig Welch is a riveting tale of rogues, scoundrels, and the hunt for nature’s bounty in the tradition of The Orchid Thief. A stranger-than-fiction true story centered around a larger-than-life character who pursued a larger-than-life clam—the Geoduck—and then led wildlife police on a two-year-long chase, Shell Games is enthralling and remarkable from page one on.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061537141
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/12/2011
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Craig Welch is the environmental writer for the Seattle Times, a fellow at Harvard University's Nieman Foundation for Journalism, and a two-time winner of the Society of Environmental Journalists' top prize for beat reporting.

Table of Contents

Author's Note ix

Prologue The Hunt 1

1 Snitches 9

2 Larger than Life 27

3 Clam Kings 44

4 The Fed 63

5 Metamorphosis: Life Undercover 75

6 Kingpin 97

7 "It's Just a Business Thing" 116

8 An Incredible Virus 137

9 A Sea of Abundance 159

10 Crab Men 176

11 The Hunt, Redux 199

12 The Whole West Coast 212

Epilogue 230

Notes on Sources 241

Sources 245

Acknowledgments 273

What People are Saying About This

Mark Obmascik

“With hit men, snitches, and midnight smuggling runs, this book has all the adventure of a Miami Vice episode. That it reads like a detective novel - with the quarry being millions of dollars of freakishly large clams - is testament to the formidable writing and reporting talents of Craig Welch.”

Editorial Reviews

Endlessly fascinating.

Seattle Times

[A]n engrossing tale of both human excesses and the attempts of a few brave souls’ to curb them. Everyone, not just the denizens of Puget Sound, has a stake in this battle’s outcome.

Washington Post

Riveting...Ed Volz and Doug Tobin are perfect antagonists.

Wall Street Journal

Welch brings us into the underworld of shellfish smuggling from multiple angles...Shell Games is an eye-opener, exposing a murky world operating just below the surface.

Oregonian

With hit men, snitches, and midnight smuggling runs, this book has all the adventure of a Miami Vice episode. That it reads like a detective novel - with the quarry being millions of dollars of freakishly large clams - is testament to the formidable writing and reporting talents of Craig Welch.

Mark Obmascik

Riveting...Ed Volz and Doug Tobin are perfect antagonists.

Wall Street Journal

[A]n engrossing tale of both human excesses and the attempts of a few brave souls’ to curb them. Everyone, not just the denizens of Puget Sound, has a stake in this battle’s outcome.

Washington Post

Craig Welch's Shell Games has the most unlikely of central characters: the massive geoduck clam, a tasty creature that resides in the waters of Puget Sound and resembles the raciest part of the male anatomy. Pronounced "gooey-duck," the valuable shellfish and the humans who cannot resist plundering it make for a compelling tale that is at once ridiculous and tragic…Welch has clearly done his homework, which has allowed him to write an engrossing tale of both human excesses and the attempts of a few brave souls' to curb them. Everyone, not just the denizens of Puget Sound, has a stake in this battle's outcome.
—The Washington Post

Juliet Eilperin

[A]n engrossing tale of both human excesses and the attempts of a few brave souls’ to curb them. Everyone, not just the denizens of Puget Sound, has a stake in this battle’s outcome.” — Washington Post

“Riveting...Ed Volz and Doug Tobin are perfect antagonists.” — Wall Street Journal

“Endlessly fascinating.” — Seattle Times

“Welch brings us into the underworld of shellfish smuggling from multiple angles...Shell Games is an eye-opener, exposing a murky world operating just below the surface.” — Oregonian

“With hit men, snitches, and midnight smuggling runs, this book has all the adventure of a Miami Vice episode. That it reads like a detective novel - with the quarry being millions of dollars of freakishly large clams - is testament to the formidable writing and reporting talents of Craig Welch.” — Mark Obmascik, author of The Big Year and 2009 National Outdoor Book Award winner for Halfway to Heaven: My White-knuckled - and Knuckleheaded - Quest for the Rocky Mountain High

From the Publisher

Welch brings us into the underworld of shellfish smuggling from multiple angles...Shell Games is an eye-opener, exposing a murky world operating just below the surface.

Oregonian