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Joe Crow #1
Drawing Dead
Unexpectedly losing a crucial poker game, ex-cop Joe Crow is forced to pay his marker by identifying a drug-addicted stockbroker's wife's lover before the man's enemies murder him. Reprint.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
6 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Pete Hautman
60 books357 followersPeter Murray Hautman is an American author best known for his novels for young adults. One of them, Godless, won the 2004 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The National Book Foundation summary is, "A teenage boy decides to invent a new religion with a new god."
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 15, 2018
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.0 of 5
Poker. Comic books. Minnesota. Yeah, this mystery is targeted toward me.
Joey Cadillac is used car dealer in Chicago with a former Miss Minnesota (Chrissy Swenson) for a girlfriend. Joey feels pretty good about the deal he just made - he traded a beat-up Cadillac (on which he had rolled back the mileage) for some vintage Batman comic books. When Crissy insists on reading one of the comics, they discover that the 'valuable' old comics are blank inside. Now Joey is out for revenge. He knows the drivers of the Cadillac are headed to Minneapolis and he sends his muscle, Freddy, to deal with them.
In Minneapolis is Joe Crowe, a former cop and cocaine addict private investigator who loves to play cards. He's hired by Rich Wicky to find out who his wife is having an affair with. Dickie's and Cadillac's paths will cross as each tries to get the upper hand in a high stakes game of poker for some valuable comic books.
Author Pete Hautman has created a delightful mystery with some very memorable, lovable characters. Characters drive a novel for me and I really didn't expect to like this group of lowlifes as much as I did. But these are affable characters, not nearly as dangerous as they would like to be, which really works in their favor.
But affable characters then need a strong story to keep the reading moving and here we have a little problem. Comic books, poker, and revenge is some great motivation, but maybe just a little too thin to really sustain the entire book. At one point I thought to myself, "Are we still reading about this one story-line?"
What is there, in terms of plot and character is really well done, I'm definitely interested in reading more Hautman, but the book was decidedly missing something - some hook to keep me really engaged throughout.
Looking for a good book? Drawing Dead by Pete Hautman is a fun, lighthearted mystery with great characters but a little thin on story.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Poker. Comic books. Minnesota. Yeah, this mystery is targeted toward me.
Joey Cadillac is used car dealer in Chicago with a former Miss Minnesota (Chrissy Swenson) for a girlfriend. Joey feels pretty good about the deal he just made - he traded a beat-up Cadillac (on which he had rolled back the mileage) for some vintage Batman comic books. When Crissy insists on reading one of the comics, they discover that the 'valuable' old comics are blank inside. Now Joey is out for revenge. He knows the drivers of the Cadillac are headed to Minneapolis and he sends his muscle, Freddy, to deal with them.
In Minneapolis is Joe Crowe, a former cop and cocaine addict private investigator who loves to play cards. He's hired by Rich Wicky to find out who his wife is having an affair with. Dickie's and Cadillac's paths will cross as each tries to get the upper hand in a high stakes game of poker for some valuable comic books.
Author Pete Hautman has created a delightful mystery with some very memorable, lovable characters. Characters drive a novel for me and I really didn't expect to like this group of lowlifes as much as I did. But these are affable characters, not nearly as dangerous as they would like to be, which really works in their favor.
But affable characters then need a strong story to keep the reading moving and here we have a little problem. Comic books, poker, and revenge is some great motivation, but maybe just a little too thin to really sustain the entire book. At one point I thought to myself, "Are we still reading about this one story-line?"
What is there, in terms of plot and character is really well done, I'm definitely interested in reading more Hautman, but the book was decidedly missing something - some hook to keep me really engaged throughout.
Looking for a good book? Drawing Dead by Pete Hautman is a fun, lighthearted mystery with great characters but a little thin on story.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
May 13, 2018
Joe Crow is an ex-cop and a recovering cocaine addict. During a poker game he lets a friend bet his money and ends up owing money to unscrupulous stockbroker Dicky Wicky. Dicky wants Joe to trail his wife Catfish and pay off whoever she's sleeping with and he'll forgive Joe's debt. There's also a pair selling a fictional comic book collection and a mob connected Cadillac dealer in the mix. It was a bit hard to follow who was who at first. The action and fun really picks up in the second half of the book. I don't know that I'll continue with the series but this book was enjoyable overall as long as you don't take it seriously.
February 26, 2024
Easily 5 stars for me but I’m the ideal reader for this novel. The main character is a poker player who is in recovery so ….
I get why so many reviewers compare Hautman to Elmore Leonard but I put him with Tom Kakonis. All three are excellent. But if you like a little poker with your scams, this novel and Kakonis’s Michigan Roll are highly recommended.
I get why so many reviewers compare Hautman to Elmore Leonard but I put him with Tom Kakonis. All three are excellent. But if you like a little poker with your scams, this novel and Kakonis’s Michigan Roll are highly recommended.
February 18, 2018
Very good. My first Pete Hautman book and I really enjoyed it. Reminded me a bit of Carl Hiassen's stuff. I wasn't totally enamored with the lead character, Joe Crow, but maybe he'll grow on me. I hope so because because I have more to read.
March 27, 2020
This was a fun read. Definitely different and transports back to an era of mobsters and people getting “whacked.” Great characters on the book to develop the story as well!
Read
November 28, 2021An entertaining crime caper for his first novel. I will be reading ex-cop Joe Crow's next witty adventure.
May 19, 2013
You want people to do what you want, you give them two choices: They do what you want or else.” (Joey Cadillac)
I’m not going to pretend that I know anything about poker, but I will explain that the term Drawing Dead, the title of Pete Hautmann’s caper novel, is also a poker term:
If an opponent has a made hand that will beat the player’s draw, then the player is drawing dead, so even if they make their desired hand, they will lose.
It’s an appropriate title as poker appears prominently in this entertaining, fast-paced, witty novel that should appeal to fans of Elmore Leonard. Author Pete Hautmann isn’t shy about creating his characters, and as a result they are a stand-out bunch of sleazy low-lifes with a range of bad habits, addictions and atrocious behaviors. The story begins with Chicago car dealer Joey Cadillac, “Joey C to his friends and customers, Mister C. to his employees, Joe Chicago to his Las Vegas investors, and occasionally referred to as ‘Stallion’ by Chrissy Swenson, his twenty-two-year-old side-squeeze, former Miss Minnesota, recently imported from the frozen wastelands of the north).” Chrissy isn’t the brightest bulb in the pack, but she knows how to work her middle-aged, boring lover, and when the book opens she’s cooing over Joey’s latest acquisition–vintage Batman comics that Joey exchanged for a beat-up Cadillac. Joey thinks he’s made a smart move by trading a 10,000 demo, “spun back to ten K on the speedometer,” for 30,000 K in rare comics notarized by Ben Disraeli and Tom Paine. Obviously Joey didn’t listen when his mother told him that if something looks too good to be true then you’re about to get screwed.
Joey C sets Freddy, his pea-brained 300lb henchman, a man with the deranged loyalty of a lobotomized Rottweiler on the heels of The Tom and Ben Show–a couple of cheap, slick con artists now heading for Minnesota in Joey C’s Cadillac. After dumping the fake Batman comics, they have a new con called The Galactic Guardians which involves a supposedly huge, rare comic collection worth millions. Tom decides to look up his former squeeze, sexually rapacious Catherine, Cat or Catfish who’s now married to the extremely wealthy, coke-addicted Richard Wicky (Dickie to everyone who can’t stand him). Wicky is sure that Cat is cheating on him, and he hires down-on-his-luck, former cop, Jim Crow to discover the identity of her lover & pay him to go away.
Paying a woman’s lover money to go away is, of course, a stupid idea, but since it’s Wicky’s money, Crow doesn’t argue. Crow loathes Wicky–a man about to celebrate his 27th birthday but who is so blasted out by coke & alcohol that he looks more like a well-worn 50. Crow doesn’t like the sounds of the job, but he’s in no position to refuse–he owes the IRS, his precious jaguar XJS is at the mechanics generating an enormous repair bill, and he’s got the bug to buy an island cabin. Crow takes the job and the games begin….
Most of the characters in the novel become part of the circle-jerk of con artists, and with everyone trying to screw over the next person in the chain, the action, loaded with cheap hustlers is fast, furious, and funny. Poker, comic books, and a legendary porn collection all have a role to play in this story in which greed and lust overcome common sense. Everyone seems to have some sort of expensive costly bad habit–cocaine, women, alcohol, you name it, and on the others side of the bad habit divide is our hero, Jim Crow along with his neighbor, music booking agent/promoter, Debrowski –both graduates of Cocaine Anonymous who’ve both managed to stay clean in spite of constant temptation.
Catfish Wicky, the book’s femme fatale, is a bad habit that belongs in a category all of her own. Completely amoral, and totally self-interested, sex to catfish has about the same importance as brushing her teeth–it should be done several times a day, you just get it over with, and it’s no big deal.
While Drawing Dead is a light, fast-paced and entertaining read, the book contains some basic truths about human behavior. Hautmann’s characters, who indulge in various vices, are easily led by confidence tricksters with the promise of quick, vast wealth, and the author shows repeatedly how suckers buy ridiculous stories and get-rich-quick-schemes simply because they need so badly to believe that these stories, and their dreams, will come truth. In Drawing Dead, lust trumps common sense, greed overcomes caution, but a poker face goes a long way in winning the game.
I’m not going to pretend that I know anything about poker, but I will explain that the term Drawing Dead, the title of Pete Hautmann’s caper novel, is also a poker term:
If an opponent has a made hand that will beat the player’s draw, then the player is drawing dead, so even if they make their desired hand, they will lose.
It’s an appropriate title as poker appears prominently in this entertaining, fast-paced, witty novel that should appeal to fans of Elmore Leonard. Author Pete Hautmann isn’t shy about creating his characters, and as a result they are a stand-out bunch of sleazy low-lifes with a range of bad habits, addictions and atrocious behaviors. The story begins with Chicago car dealer Joey Cadillac, “Joey C to his friends and customers, Mister C. to his employees, Joe Chicago to his Las Vegas investors, and occasionally referred to as ‘Stallion’ by Chrissy Swenson, his twenty-two-year-old side-squeeze, former Miss Minnesota, recently imported from the frozen wastelands of the north).” Chrissy isn’t the brightest bulb in the pack, but she knows how to work her middle-aged, boring lover, and when the book opens she’s cooing over Joey’s latest acquisition–vintage Batman comics that Joey exchanged for a beat-up Cadillac. Joey thinks he’s made a smart move by trading a 10,000 demo, “spun back to ten K on the speedometer,” for 30,000 K in rare comics notarized by Ben Disraeli and Tom Paine. Obviously Joey didn’t listen when his mother told him that if something looks too good to be true then you’re about to get screwed.
Joey C sets Freddy, his pea-brained 300lb henchman, a man with the deranged loyalty of a lobotomized Rottweiler on the heels of The Tom and Ben Show–a couple of cheap, slick con artists now heading for Minnesota in Joey C’s Cadillac. After dumping the fake Batman comics, they have a new con called The Galactic Guardians which involves a supposedly huge, rare comic collection worth millions. Tom decides to look up his former squeeze, sexually rapacious Catherine, Cat or Catfish who’s now married to the extremely wealthy, coke-addicted Richard Wicky (Dickie to everyone who can’t stand him). Wicky is sure that Cat is cheating on him, and he hires down-on-his-luck, former cop, Jim Crow to discover the identity of her lover & pay him to go away.
Paying a woman’s lover money to go away is, of course, a stupid idea, but since it’s Wicky’s money, Crow doesn’t argue. Crow loathes Wicky–a man about to celebrate his 27th birthday but who is so blasted out by coke & alcohol that he looks more like a well-worn 50. Crow doesn’t like the sounds of the job, but he’s in no position to refuse–he owes the IRS, his precious jaguar XJS is at the mechanics generating an enormous repair bill, and he’s got the bug to buy an island cabin. Crow takes the job and the games begin….
Most of the characters in the novel become part of the circle-jerk of con artists, and with everyone trying to screw over the next person in the chain, the action, loaded with cheap hustlers is fast, furious, and funny. Poker, comic books, and a legendary porn collection all have a role to play in this story in which greed and lust overcome common sense. Everyone seems to have some sort of expensive costly bad habit–cocaine, women, alcohol, you name it, and on the others side of the bad habit divide is our hero, Jim Crow along with his neighbor, music booking agent/promoter, Debrowski –both graduates of Cocaine Anonymous who’ve both managed to stay clean in spite of constant temptation.
Catfish Wicky, the book’s femme fatale, is a bad habit that belongs in a category all of her own. Completely amoral, and totally self-interested, sex to catfish has about the same importance as brushing her teeth–it should be done several times a day, you just get it over with, and it’s no big deal.
While Drawing Dead is a light, fast-paced and entertaining read, the book contains some basic truths about human behavior. Hautmann’s characters, who indulge in various vices, are easily led by confidence tricksters with the promise of quick, vast wealth, and the author shows repeatedly how suckers buy ridiculous stories and get-rich-quick-schemes simply because they need so badly to believe that these stories, and their dreams, will come truth. In Drawing Dead, lust trumps common sense, greed overcomes caution, but a poker face goes a long way in winning the game.
May 24, 2013
Fans of Elmore Leonard's "Get Shorty" will enjoy "Drawing Dead." Con men Tommy Campo and Ben Fink operate the "Tom and Ben Show" specializing in comic books. They profess to sell collectible comics with one buyer mobster Joey C. (Joseph Battagno). The comics are enclosed in a Stasis Shield and aren't supposed to be opened since it would diminish their value.
However, Joey C. has a 22 year old girlfriend who wants to read one and Joey relents. They find empty pages inside the cover.
Joey sends his henchman, Freddy Wisnesky after the con men for retribution. Freddy finds that they are in Minnesota where Tom's old girlfriend Catfish lives.
Joe Crowe is a former cop, living in Minnesota. He's a former cocaine addict and enjoys his privacy and loves playing cards. He's hired by stockbroker, Rich, "Dickie" Wicky, to find out who Dickie's wife is having an affair with and buy that person off.
Dickie is conned into a scheme to sell comic books. He buys a number of bogus comics in a collection called Galactic Gardens, a limited partnership formed to sell these comics.
Hautman does a fine job describing characters and making them believable. Crow and his girlfriend Laura Debrowski are unique characters. They met at cocaine anonymous. He describes Debrowski as "a breath of rock and roll in a Muzak world."
With so many tragic stories of people becoming addicted to cocaine and destroying their lives, it is enlightening to read of someone overcoming their dependency and going on with life.
There is a similarity in style with Leonard's "Get Shorty" and "Smart Money" and Dickie Wicky is easily pictured as Danny DeVito. In addition, with the humor throughout the book, I see a similarity in the wit of Mark Twain.
Well written and a fun read.
However, Joey C. has a 22 year old girlfriend who wants to read one and Joey relents. They find empty pages inside the cover.
Joey sends his henchman, Freddy Wisnesky after the con men for retribution. Freddy finds that they are in Minnesota where Tom's old girlfriend Catfish lives.
Joe Crowe is a former cop, living in Minnesota. He's a former cocaine addict and enjoys his privacy and loves playing cards. He's hired by stockbroker, Rich, "Dickie" Wicky, to find out who Dickie's wife is having an affair with and buy that person off.
Dickie is conned into a scheme to sell comic books. He buys a number of bogus comics in a collection called Galactic Gardens, a limited partnership formed to sell these comics.
Hautman does a fine job describing characters and making them believable. Crow and his girlfriend Laura Debrowski are unique characters. They met at cocaine anonymous. He describes Debrowski as "a breath of rock and roll in a Muzak world."
With so many tragic stories of people becoming addicted to cocaine and destroying their lives, it is enlightening to read of someone overcoming their dependency and going on with life.
There is a similarity in style with Leonard's "Get Shorty" and "Smart Money" and Dickie Wicky is easily pictured as Danny DeVito. In addition, with the humor throughout the book, I see a similarity in the wit of Mark Twain.
Well written and a fun read.
May 22, 2012
This is an early (in fact the first) novel by a favorite author that for some reason I had skipped past.
Glad I dug into it now as it is a perfect "let's scam the scammers" caper with tons of quirky, memorable characters.
Joe Crow is an ex-cop and ex-drug addict now making ends meet on poker winnings and odd jobs. He is hired by a sleazeball stockbroker to tail Mrs. Stockbroker and scare off the "friend" she's hooking up with. Complications ensue.
There is a lot that can go wrong in putting all the balls up in the air, but Hautman perfectly executes a fully satisfying result.
Good use of Minneapolis and the land of 10,000 lakes.
Now we have to get Hautman back from his foray into children's/YA.
Glad I dug into it now as it is a perfect "let's scam the scammers" caper with tons of quirky, memorable characters.
Joe Crow is an ex-cop and ex-drug addict now making ends meet on poker winnings and odd jobs. He is hired by a sleazeball stockbroker to tail Mrs. Stockbroker and scare off the "friend" she's hooking up with. Complications ensue.
There is a lot that can go wrong in putting all the balls up in the air, but Hautman perfectly executes a fully satisfying result.
Good use of Minneapolis and the land of 10,000 lakes.
Now we have to get Hautman back from his foray into children's/YA.
Read
July 29, 2021When Lawrence Block, the grand poobah of American crime fiction, praises you in a blurb for your book jacket, you know you've done something right, as Pete Hautman has here. A hell of a story, very well written. What more can a reader ask for?
April 29, 2017
The audiobook narrator made this book for me. He read the book in such a humorous way where I might have read it blandly and I just really liked that. So this noir con men get conned book starts slow, but gets fun by the end. I was, at first, put off by one of the characters using y'all as a singular, but I mostly got over it because the character is such a phony all around. There are also lots of detailed descriptions of card games, which may have lost it some stars for me because I'm not that into poker, but might be great if that's your thing! Anyway, the author is coming to Red Wing in June so I'll probably read more of his stuff now...interested to see character progression so I'll probably start the next one of this series!
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