Wicked Break
Hardcover, July 2006
Dutton Adult
ISBN: 0525949542
When Peter Pluto shows up at P.I. Noah Braddock’s apartment asking him to look for his missing younger brother, Linc, Noah is reluctant to take the case. After all, the last time he got involved in a disappearance case, his best friend, Carter, was shot and two other people died. But Peter describes Linc as a serious college student, so Noah reluctantly agrees.
As the investigation unfolds, Noah realizes there’s a lot more to Linc than academia—unless your average undergrad also happens to have skinheads beating down his door and a cache of semiautomatic guns stored in his apartment. Aided by Carter, Noah discovers that Linc stole some money from the white supremacist group National Nation, an offshoot of the Aryan Nation. The skinheads will stop at nothing to find Linc—and when Noah wakes up at the bottom of a canyon, beaten and bruised, with Peter Pluto’s corpse lying next to him, he realizes he’s next on their list.
Killer Swell
Hardcover, June 2005
Paperback, June 2006
Dutton Adult
ISBN: 0525948805
Set in sun-drenched San Diego, Killer Swell introduces P.I. Noah Braddock, who is not your typical angst-ridden, liquor swilling, grizzled private investigator. In fact he's fairly young -- just shy of 30 -- and his job as a P.I. gives him plenty of time to surf and makes him enough money to keep his beachfront apartment. His life gets a lot more complicated however when Marilyn Crier (the mother of Kate, his old high school girlfriend) calls him out of the blue one day and tells him that Kate is missing -- and that she wants Noah to find her. Taking on drug lords, the DEA, and an unfaithful husband, Noah covers the coast of San Diego down to the slums of Tijuana. The deeper he gets involved, the more he realizes that not only had Kate's life veered off in a bizarre and unfamiliar direction, but that the answers to her death may be hidden deep in his own past.
A LOS ANGELES TIMES AND DENVER POST BESTSELLER!
"Snappy dialogue and descriptions give the book a bad-boy edge…"
- The Washington Post
"While the mystery contains surprising twists and turns, the real joy in this book is the characters. Like Harlan Coben did so well in his Myron Bolitar series, putting together two friends whose sarcastic banter is a hoot to follow, Shelby has done here."
-The Denver Post
"A terrific debut mystery…Shelby writes like a pro, with realistic characters, terrific plotting and a setting that makes you want to jump into your jams and wax up your board."
- The Kansas City Star
"…Shelby has written a serious detective story with a generous helping of humor that comes from the characters…and that makes everything feel just right, like a day at the beach."
- The Detroit Free Press
"Shelby writes crisply, cleanly and ... praise be! ... economically, a virtue seldom found in first novels…fans will welcome this latest addition to the private eye pantheon."
- The San Diego Union-Tribune
"An exceptional debut mystery…this promises to be a righteous mystery series."
- Pages Magazine (Recommended Selection)
"An easy-to-read narrative, California backdrops, an engaging, in-your-face, surfer-vs.-the-establishment attitude, and former-relationship complications make this a strongly recommended new series start."
-Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)
"Sharp dialogue and splashy local color make Shelby's first outing more fun than a day at the beach."
-Kirkus Reviews
"Shelby handles the surf scene with finesse, avoiding high drama while providing entertaining background. Good action and a surprise plot twist…"
-Publishers Weekly
"…reminiscent in tone and style to Robert Crais's The Monkey's Raincoat… a well-done throwback."
-Sarah Weinman, Confessions of An Idiosyncratic Mind
"Cowabunga, Dude! Jeff Shelby's KILLER SWELL is an outstanding debut. Mystery fans should love the San Diego setting as well as the smart-ass, but all-too-human surfer-turned-P.I. Noah Braddock."
-C. J. Box, author of Out of Range
"Primo action with a lot of heart. Jeff Shelby with his clean, precise prose and gripping story is clearly a writer to watch."
-Clint McKinzie, author of Crossing the Line
"KILLER SWELL is taut and energetic, with a twisting plot and well-wrought characters built to go the distance. An impressive debut that will leave you thirsting for more."
-Jack Kerley, author of The Death Collectors
"This is a terrific, fast-paced, totally entertaining mystery novel. In Noah Braddock, his surfer dude detective, Jeff Shelby has created a Travis McGee for the new millennium. The book manages to be both charming and laid-back and genuinely suspenseful. It has a great title, too."
-Laurence Klavan, author of The Shooting Script
and The Cutting Room
"KILLER SWELL kicks ass! Shelby has rejuvenated the P.I. novel, and not a moment too soon. Move over Spenser, Travis, and Elvis Cole-Noah Braddock is here for his piece of the pie."
-J. A. Konrath, author of Bloody Mary
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