The Chairman's Toys

by Graham Reed

Overview

"Jake, whose philosophy is 'life is often less about making good decisions than figuring out how to live with bad ones,' takes the reader on a fast, furious, and often hilarious tour. Watching him zigzag through the twisting plot is pure pleasure." —Publishers Weekly

Vancouver, British Columbia—land of psychotically expensive real estate, high-grade cannabis, and Jake Constable. A man adrift.

After Jake quits the drug business, his realtor/ex-wife, Nina, gets him a job as a housesitter for her wealthy clients. Jake celebrates by throwing a party in the mansion he was hired to look after. Unfortunately, the guest list gets out of hand, leaving Jake to contend with a hallucinogenic-vitamin-dispensing yogi, a dead guy in the bathroom, and The Norwegian—a criminal force of nature with a grudge against Jake.

When the owner of the multimillion dollar crime-scene returns home prematurely, only Jake's inadvertent discovery of the man's business history in Mao Tse Thong underwear saves him from having to clean up after the party. But he still has to come clean with his ex-wife. The situation threatens to become an international incident when Nina's powerbroker uncle and two secret agents from China show up to turn the screws on Jake. Soon after that his friends start disappearing. With the Chinese government leaning on him and The Norwegian out to settle an old score, Jake comes up with a desperate plan to dupe a pair of secret agents, fund the uncle's secret venture, save his friends, and (why not?) solve the murder.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781464210068
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	07/03/2018
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Graham Reed is an award-winning author of crime fiction. He lives on a small island in the Salish Sea with his wife and two children.

Editorial Reviews

04/09/2018
Set in Vancouver, B.C., Canadian author Reed’s quirky first novel introduces Jake Constable, whom his ex-wife, Nina, describes as “a semi-employed, semi-reformed drug dealer coming up fast on his forties.” A party that Jake is hosting at the $20-million mansion belonging to Chinese entrepreneur Mickey Wu, for whom he’s housesitting, comes to an abrupt end when he receives a text from his pal Richard telling him “there’s a dead guy in the bathroom.” Soon Jake is chasing and being chased by his former marijuana distributor (known as the Norwegian), Mickey and his minions, agents from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, and the deputy director of the Department of Infrastructure Development in the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, who happens to be Nina’s uncle and business partner in her real estate firm. Jake, whose philosophy is “life is often less about making good decisions than figuring out how to live with bad ones,” takes the reader on a fast, furious, and often hilarious tour. Watching him zigzag through the twisting plot is pure pleasure. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"Constable is a likable loser, tight with his friends and still flirting with his ex-wife, and he definitely belongs on your short list of amiable stoner sleuths, along with Bart Schneider's Augie Boyer and Hal Ackerman's Harry Stein. The dark-comedy aspect of this debut will also appeal to fans of Chris Knopf, David Freed, and Tim Cockey."

Booklist - Karen Keefe

2018-04-16
In Vancouver, an ex-drug dealer's plan to clean up his act is complicated by a vengeful former partner, a corpse in the bathroom, and other outrageous obstacles.Jake Constable's housesitting gig for wealthy Mickey Wu, "the Underwear King of Beijing," is a good move in support of Jake's resolve to leave his criminal past behind. But when his friend Richard, who co-owns Buff, a cleaning business, with Dante, his partner in love and business, convinces Jake to throw a party, that's a bad move, because Jake's former criminal crony, "The Norwegian," shows up uninvited. Matters go from bad to worse when Richard finds an anonymous corpse in the bathroom. Arriving home unexpectedly, Wu throws the duo out, and Jake's ex-wife, Nina, a realtor who got him the housesitting job, offers no help. To top it all off, when Jake gets home, he finds that his place has been ransacked. The next day, The Norwegian shows up with a vague but not idle threat. The whole incident shines an unfortunate light on Wu, the chairman of the title, whose possibly less-than-legitimate business operations occasion a surprise visit from two officious Chinese men in suits. Then Dante goes missing. With such a long investigative to-do list, including identifying the corpse, it's hard to know where to begin. Is the addition of Dante's bubbly upstairs neighbor and bestie Wendy a help or a distraction?Reed's lively mystery debut may be overloaded with colorful characters and tricky subplots, but too much of a good thing is still a good thing.

Kirkus Reviews

"Graham Reed's first novel introduces us - through his wry, urbane and witty writing style - to Jake, a naive young man who is up to his neck in trouble....Jake is such a beguiling character with a penchant for mayhem that we hope to see more of him. He turns out to be good at crime solving, so he could become a detective - or will he return to his old habits? In either case, he seems to know where a lot of bodies are buried."

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