Mortal Nuts: A Novel

Pete Hautman the acclaimed author of Drawing Dead and Short Money returns with his funniest fastest most irresistible thriller yet with the story of seventy-three-year-old Axel Speeter and his final winner-takes-all gamble with a pair of crooks after his life savings. . With his cross-country poker-playing days closing Axel Speeter has his affairs in order and is ready to settle down. He owns a taco concession at the Minnesota State Fair and keeps his sometimes lover Sophie Roman and her spectacularly endowed daughter Carmen on the payroll. He’s made a nice home for himself at the Motel 6 six where he holds his stash of $260000 in seven coffee cans scattered around the room. But when Carmen gets a new guy in her life a skinhead ex-convict named James Dean the two of them decide they want a piece of Axel’s stash. They may not be the smartest couple around but how tough can it be to take a few coffee cans away from an old guy? Carmen and James are in for a surprise though as they learn Axel’s got one more hand to play—and the loser pays with his life.