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MudCat Moon
Billy Ray Kincaid is in the catbird seat. He has his own sports network, Cissy, a sexy young sideline reporter and the best college football games on TV. But the self-proclaimed turnaround artist went cheap and BTSN is about to go under. When Cissy is stalked and harassed the news cameras come running and Billy Ray welcomes the free publicity. Enter Jake Eliam, a lifetime baseball man who now struggles to pay the bills making baseball bats on the edge of a train yard known as ChickenBone. If money runs low his best friend Catfish steps in with pulled pork, cold cash and work as a Private Investigator. When Alabama faces Georgia in the showdown of the year, Catfish summons Jake to play bodyguard to Cissy. The easy payday soon turns into a blocked punt of greed and deception. As the trail winds to an old pickle factory in the mountains, Jake looks for help from his friends, along with a drunken former Bulldog named Dumptruck and a reclusive ex-con they call Boobytrap. On fourth and long his rag-tag team has one last play to run to stay alive or end up permanently benched.
MudCat Moon is the 3rd book in the Jake Eliam ChickenBone Mystery Series
Check out the 1st in RABBIT SHINE--Followed by HOOCHY KOOCHY
Named the 2016 GEORGIA AUTHOR OF THE YEAR Silver Medal Finalist
Find out more and follow the series @ cliffyeargin.com
MudCat Moon is the 3rd book in the Jake Eliam ChickenBone Mystery Series
Check out the 1st in RABBIT SHINE--Followed by HOOCHY KOOCHY
Named the 2016 GEORGIA AUTHOR OF THE YEAR Silver Medal Finalist
Find out more and follow the series @ cliffyeargin.com
332 pages, Paperback
Published February 13, 2018
3 people want to read
About the author
Cliff Yeargin
11 books46 followersABOUT Cliff Yeargin
Cliff Yeargin has spent his life as a ‘Storyteller, traveling the U.S. as a Writer/Producer/Photographer and Editor in Broadcast journalism.
He began his career in the mountains of Western North Carolina where he worked with two college buddies, both who went on to become Sports Broadcasting Legends. Yeargin did not, but he did shoot the only video of the first 3-Point goal in the history of NCAA College Basketball. This is NOT fiction…you can look it up!
His travels as a broadcaster have taken him to dozens of Major League ballparks, World Series, Super Bowls, Final Fours, NASCAR, National Championships and he managed to convince his bosses for many, many years that staying at a Baseball Spring Training camp for two months was hard work and sacrifice.
He has written stories in more places than you can count. In dugouts with rats under his feet, smelly locker rooms, planes, trains, hotel bars, buses at 4AM outside Detroit, or maybe it was Milwaukee. And even at a beachside open bar in the Dominican Republic, while sipping on an El Presidente beer. All while submitting a staggering number of falsified expense reports.
He grew up on a rural cattle farm in Georgia, which taught him many valuable life lessons, such as never poke a big bull in the rear with a big stick.
A proud Bulldog graduate of the University of Georgia, he has now returned to his native state and lives in a downtown Atlanta neighborhood.
There is no Atlanta neighborhood known as ChickenBone…but there should be.
Cliff Yeargin has spent his life as a ‘Storyteller, traveling the U.S. as a Writer/Producer/Photographer and Editor in Broadcast journalism.
He began his career in the mountains of Western North Carolina where he worked with two college buddies, both who went on to become Sports Broadcasting Legends. Yeargin did not, but he did shoot the only video of the first 3-Point goal in the history of NCAA College Basketball. This is NOT fiction…you can look it up!
His travels as a broadcaster have taken him to dozens of Major League ballparks, World Series, Super Bowls, Final Fours, NASCAR, National Championships and he managed to convince his bosses for many, many years that staying at a Baseball Spring Training camp for two months was hard work and sacrifice.
He has written stories in more places than you can count. In dugouts with rats under his feet, smelly locker rooms, planes, trains, hotel bars, buses at 4AM outside Detroit, or maybe it was Milwaukee. And even at a beachside open bar in the Dominican Republic, while sipping on an El Presidente beer. All while submitting a staggering number of falsified expense reports.
He grew up on a rural cattle farm in Georgia, which taught him many valuable life lessons, such as never poke a big bull in the rear with a big stick.
A proud Bulldog graduate of the University of Georgia, he has now returned to his native state and lives in a downtown Atlanta neighborhood.
There is no Atlanta neighborhood known as ChickenBone…but there should be.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 5, 2018
‘My place is over one hundred years old. A two-story brick building in the heart of a working train yard on the top end of ChickenBone.’
Georgia author Cliff Yeargin with a strong history of Broadcast Journalism as a Writer/Producer/Photographer and Editor, primarily in the sports arena in North Carolina, in Baltimore, Maryland and now in Atlanta, Georgia where is an Editor/Producer for CNN. Those career experiences add immensely to the credibility of his stories – The Jake Eliam ChickenBone Mysteries of which this is Book 3.
First Time readers of Cliff’s may wonder about the title of the series, so ChickenBone is a trainyard and tends to be the focal point for the stories. The name also hints at eh terrifically authentic good ol’ Southern mysteries that have just that right balance of off the cuff humor mixed well with Southern drawl dialogue that could only blossom this well in the South.
Some flavor is noted right from the opening words – ‘My name is Jake Eliam and I am a creature of habit. I am comfortable in my routine. I do not like change and I am not much interested in the new. When I need something, I resort to the familiar. Then I wait around until my routine circles back around and bites me. “You need new tires,” June Bug said as he strolled bowlegged around my old truck. “I need the clutch fixed,” I said. He didn’t answer me. He just rubbed his bony fingers across the worn tread. He wiped his hands on his greasy overalls. They were rolled and hiked up a good six inches above a pair of red floppy socks. He stopped and bent down to look at my front left tire. “Yep, you need new tires,” he repeated. “The clutch is bad.” “Yep, clutch is bad, too,” he ran a hand across the white stubs of hair on his head. “But you need new tires.” June Bug was one my routines. There had to be at least five other mechanics within a few miles and maybe a dozen places nearby to get tires without an argument. Yet here I was fighting with a stubborn old man next to his dirty blue concrete building on the south end of John Bell Hood Avenue. I knew why. A decade ago I was an unemployed minor league baseball coach on my way to Florida to look for a new job. A busted water pump sent me off the interstate at the edge of downtown Atlanta. Through a mist of steam my headlights landed on June Bug as he sat on an upside down grease bucket eating fried chicken. He sold tires but agreed to fix my water pump while I waited. His dinner advice that night sent me north, up the street a mile to the brightly lit 3 Pigs BBQ. An untimely incident that night involving my 34-inch baseball bat and the left knee of a would-be robber led to a sit down with the owner, a man everybody just called Catfish. In that moment, my life took a sharp left turn and ground to a slow halt in this hidden but oddly likeable place called ChickenBone. “You a ball man, right?” June Bug stared up at me. “I am, I suppose.”etc.
Cliff offers a fine plot summary – ‘Billy Ray Kincaid is in the catbird seat. He owns a TV Sports Network that showcases Cissy, a sexy young sideline reporter and televises the top college football game each week. But the self-proclaimed turnaround artist went cheap and now BTSN is about to go bust. Enter Jake Eliam, a lifetime baseball man, who scrapes by making baseball bats on the edge of a train yard known as ChickenBone. When cash runs low his best friend Catfish, the owner of the 3 PIGS BBQ, steps in with hot pulled pork, cold cash and work as a private investigator. When Alabama faces Georgia in the biggest game of the year, Catfish wrangles Jake to play bodyguard to Cissy who is the subject of an unusual stalker. The easy payday soon turns into a blocked punt of greed and deception. As the trail winds to the old Dixie Dew Pickle Factory in the North Georgia mountains, Jake rounds up his friends and a team of misfits including a drunken former Bulldog they call Dumptruck and a reclusive ex-con named Boobytrap. His ragtag team has time to run one last play on 4th and long or end up permanently benched.’
If you love mystery/sports/Southern food and spicy humor, this is a book to cherish. Cliff Yeargin is becoming a significant voice in American writing.
Georgia author Cliff Yeargin with a strong history of Broadcast Journalism as a Writer/Producer/Photographer and Editor, primarily in the sports arena in North Carolina, in Baltimore, Maryland and now in Atlanta, Georgia where is an Editor/Producer for CNN. Those career experiences add immensely to the credibility of his stories – The Jake Eliam ChickenBone Mysteries of which this is Book 3.
First Time readers of Cliff’s may wonder about the title of the series, so ChickenBone is a trainyard and tends to be the focal point for the stories. The name also hints at eh terrifically authentic good ol’ Southern mysteries that have just that right balance of off the cuff humor mixed well with Southern drawl dialogue that could only blossom this well in the South.
Some flavor is noted right from the opening words – ‘My name is Jake Eliam and I am a creature of habit. I am comfortable in my routine. I do not like change and I am not much interested in the new. When I need something, I resort to the familiar. Then I wait around until my routine circles back around and bites me. “You need new tires,” June Bug said as he strolled bowlegged around my old truck. “I need the clutch fixed,” I said. He didn’t answer me. He just rubbed his bony fingers across the worn tread. He wiped his hands on his greasy overalls. They were rolled and hiked up a good six inches above a pair of red floppy socks. He stopped and bent down to look at my front left tire. “Yep, you need new tires,” he repeated. “The clutch is bad.” “Yep, clutch is bad, too,” he ran a hand across the white stubs of hair on his head. “But you need new tires.” June Bug was one my routines. There had to be at least five other mechanics within a few miles and maybe a dozen places nearby to get tires without an argument. Yet here I was fighting with a stubborn old man next to his dirty blue concrete building on the south end of John Bell Hood Avenue. I knew why. A decade ago I was an unemployed minor league baseball coach on my way to Florida to look for a new job. A busted water pump sent me off the interstate at the edge of downtown Atlanta. Through a mist of steam my headlights landed on June Bug as he sat on an upside down grease bucket eating fried chicken. He sold tires but agreed to fix my water pump while I waited. His dinner advice that night sent me north, up the street a mile to the brightly lit 3 Pigs BBQ. An untimely incident that night involving my 34-inch baseball bat and the left knee of a would-be robber led to a sit down with the owner, a man everybody just called Catfish. In that moment, my life took a sharp left turn and ground to a slow halt in this hidden but oddly likeable place called ChickenBone. “You a ball man, right?” June Bug stared up at me. “I am, I suppose.”etc.
Cliff offers a fine plot summary – ‘Billy Ray Kincaid is in the catbird seat. He owns a TV Sports Network that showcases Cissy, a sexy young sideline reporter and televises the top college football game each week. But the self-proclaimed turnaround artist went cheap and now BTSN is about to go bust. Enter Jake Eliam, a lifetime baseball man, who scrapes by making baseball bats on the edge of a train yard known as ChickenBone. When cash runs low his best friend Catfish, the owner of the 3 PIGS BBQ, steps in with hot pulled pork, cold cash and work as a private investigator. When Alabama faces Georgia in the biggest game of the year, Catfish wrangles Jake to play bodyguard to Cissy who is the subject of an unusual stalker. The easy payday soon turns into a blocked punt of greed and deception. As the trail winds to the old Dixie Dew Pickle Factory in the North Georgia mountains, Jake rounds up his friends and a team of misfits including a drunken former Bulldog they call Dumptruck and a reclusive ex-con named Boobytrap. His ragtag team has time to run one last play on 4th and long or end up permanently benched.’
If you love mystery/sports/Southern food and spicy humor, this is a book to cherish. Cliff Yeargin is becoming a significant voice in American writing.
April 24, 2018
MudCat Moon: A Jake Eliam ChickenBone Mystery (Jake Eliam ChickenBone Mystery Series Book 3) written by Cliff Yeargin is a humorous mystery novel that will captivate any reader who enjoys a good, light read. This book is not only well written but the humour throughout is what sold me the most. The author includes it through description, names and the banter between characters. Baseball and football are the main aspects of the book as the book opens with the story of the main character who has a background in baseball and enjoys watching the games, but when opportunity arises of gainful employment working at a big football match, the main character, Jake Eliam, can’t turn it down. This mystery book is based in a southern town and is an evident point through the speech of the characters who originally reside in the small town. The description and writing style of Cliff Yeargin makes this book an easy, but entertaining read. I highly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone looking for a light and entertaining read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2018
I really liked this book, it just came short of giving it five stars, but it was really, really close. There isn't really anything missing, but I needed something very original and distinct that can set it apart from other mystery books to grade it higher. The setting is really cool and very atmospheric, the southern vibe is very much present and you can almost feel it. Characters are also very well done, interesting and memorable. I liked the whole sports angle on the plot, that was pretty refreshing, I didn't really see it that often outside a pure sport themed novels or books. If I take it as a whole, the book doesn't have some glaring flaw – characters are very well done, plot is interesting, always something going on, never boring, setting is great, writing purposeful… But I am missing something extra, a spice that would elevate it to another level. Don't get me wrong, the book is still absolutely worth anyone's time and money, no doubt about that.
April 12, 2018
What wonderful details this book has. The author Cliff Yeargin, does a wonderful job of giving this story life with some fantastic details and information. You can feel the characters love for baseball and football in this one. The story moves quickly and it doesn’t take the reader long to find they have been swept away by the telling of this story. I really enjoyed the main characters and the atmosphere of the book. I really liked how realistic the characters are and how well detailed the locations where. I could easily see the diner and warehouse that Jake was describing in the beginning of the book. I really felt like I was part of the story and I wanted to know how it would end. I found this to be a difficult book to put down once I started to read it. This was a must read book for me.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews