Showing results by author "Jim Yoakum" in All Categories

Meet Carter Kovac disgraced art dealer turned reluctant, bumbling private detective. After inheriting his famous father's detective agency, he immediately becomes entangled in a mysterious web of intrigue and murder--and the police think he's the culprit. Or they'd at least like to pin it on him, as that'd save a lot of time.

Set in Depression-era Savannah, Georgia, THE FRENCH STRANGER tells the story of Fred Dumas—a woman's pleasure specialist—who unknowingly kills Bunny Meyers, and is being hunted by two hit men set on him by her husband, a wealthy man who is running for mayor. This culminates into a cascade of dizzying absurdities that touch on a wide range of topics including: quantum and time theory, reincarnation, parallel universes, nirvana, baseball, World War I, chicken boxing, voodoo, Chick-O-Sticks, Ragnarök, and it answers the age-old question: if man made the chicken, did the chicken also make man?

A recently discovered manuscript, brittle and yellowed, written by Uncle Remus in 1886, suggests that he was the actual author of the story that's come to be known as "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."

1984, New York City. Through a series of bad life decisions, a former big time mobster has been reduced to a low-level hood, and he has to find a way to repay the family $100,000 in a week, or else face the consequences. This sets off a chain reaction of ever-increasingly absurd and comic events that culminate in one of the largest heists in mob history. 

A federal agent goes rogue in 1970s-era Detroit and becomes its number one heroin distributor. But also among his crimes are extortion, illegal gun sales and explosives to gangs and the Detroit Mafia, fraud, blackmail, attempt to rob an armored car, threat to bomb the airport, and more. He was a dirty fed who operated under the noses of both his agency and the police for years, but a simple mistake brought his attention to his superiors, and it took two cunning and relentless internal affairs agents to hunt him down and bring him and his gang to justice.

1923: Faced with impending personal and political scandals (corrupt cabinet members, drinking, gambling, failing health made worse by a quack physician, blackmailers attempting to exploit his numerous affairs and bastard children, murders, and suicides), President Warren G. Harding embarks on a cross-country train trip, from Washington D.C. to Alaska, in an effort to rehabilitate his chances for re-election - something he is unsure he even wants. But the GOP have lost faith in Warren.

This audiobook, unlike any other about the team or series, was created with full access to Graham Chapman's private papers, scripts, and letters, thus allowing the author to explore some age-old myths, clear up some age-old debates, and give a rare insight into the making of a team and a series. This audiobook gives the reader knowledge about previously unknown information and trivia - much of which didn't appear in even Python's own book of the troupe - as well as the ability to hear actual unseen letters sent to the team by the BBC, and others.  

True tales from - and about - rock 'n' roll, including the outrageously true, never-before-told event that accidentally sparked the greatest rock rumor of all time: "Paul Is Dead."

A playboy gets mixed-up with a depraved gambling club. He soon finds himself in over his head with debt. In order to save himself, he's talked into committing a heinous murder that goes askew.

Set in 1919, The Greatest Living Englishman tells the comedic adventures of "England's Worst Poet" Colin Gilfeather Millaney: an egotistical - though loveable - rhymer who is wholly untouched with even the faintest speck of talent. He is so awful that people throw rotten produce at him on the streets. They buy his books, just to throw at him. But that does not stop him from penning his doggerel, or inflicting it upon what he claims is the "misguided" public.

Customer service manager Bob Thomassoulo gets more than he bargained for when he decides to go to Mexico and take revenge on the man who took his job. Accompanying him to Tijuana are his two best friends, Bacho and Doyle, who become entangled in a separate tale about digging for gold. This is an absurd tale of revenge, gold lust, friendship, darts, love, and political revolution. Oh, it's also about what makes a rock classic a classic.

Set during the Great Depression, The Christians tells the story of two psychopathic Bible salesmen who murder in the name of God. Hot on their trail is a former Texas Ranger, and US Bureau of Investigation (pre-FBI) agent, John Stoddard Pyle, a man who knows no mercy, and who does not know exactly whom he is chasing, as there is no apparent motive, and virtually no clues.

Wilt Fusarium, a clueless American ad executive, unwittingly finds himself in the middle of political intrigue and revolution on the tiny island of Costa San Rica, while trying to save the ad agency's Choad Banana account. Complications and misunderstandings abound, as the island's despot leader thinks Wilt is a revolutionary, the revolutionaries think he's a government agent, the banana company thinks he's CIA, and the CIA, well, they don't know what to think.

A teenage boy runs away from a small Alabama town to Manhattan in order to live out his dad's rock 'n' roll dreams - and then he discovers a few of his own.

A very influential New York City pop culture guru finds himself running for his life after his review of a mob-owned restaurant makes it the most popular, hippest place in town.

When a gold coin heist turns out badly, a pair of idiotic crooks hook-up with some moronic thieves (and a movie star) in order to steal the secret KFC chicken recipe. Along the way they reveal (among many other things) the connection between Gilligan's Island and the devil, what Salman Rushdie and Elvis have in common with Col. Sanders, why Betty was never a vitamin, and what Bootsy Collins does in his spare time. It also deals with the whole "why did the chicken cross the road" conundrum.

The time? Tomorrow. Can the president of the United Red States of America and the president of the United Blue States of America come together to stop a giant asteroid before it destroys Earth in one month's time? Who is the mysterious Doctor Apophis? What is the "S.U.R.", and why is the president of the USA determined to defend it at all costs? What the hell is the Canadian army doing in North Dakota, and why does HRH Queen Kate of England want to wage war with the USA? And what is...The Myoshi Effect?

A mild-mannered, small town barber steals a valuable necklace on a whim, and then undergoes intense psychological turmoil as an insurance investigator turns the heat up on him. He ends up on the run, and with the blood of multiple murder victims on his hands - or does he? Every piece may not fit as you might expect in this story-puzzle.

The slightly ridiculous tragicomic odyssey of Joe Perk, a young Jewish man who doesn't know it; a man alone: inarticulate, simple-hearted and naive. Joe is "a coffee-whisperer" whose amazing talent for pulling the perfect cup of java propels him from small town Oklahoma to New York City to realize his dream: to become a world champion coffee barista.

One night, in a London pub in the 1990's, I ran into a man who claimed to be the actor Michael Caine. The man said (in a thick Cockney accent): "'ere mate, if yer buy me a beer I will recite the bloomin' 'oole of Franz Kafka's classic tale of alienation, 'Metamorphosis,' also known as 'Die Verwandlung.' If, however, yer chose not ter ffen I shall kick yer in the bleedin' balls."