7,000 Clams
by Lee Irby
U.S. Publisher: Doubleday (July 2004)
Frank Hearn is a down-on-his-luck bootlegger and bruiser looking for the big score in 1920's America. When he loses a shipment of top-quality booze to a double-crossing thief, Frank hunts him down, roughs him up, and finds something that catches his eye. What at first appears to be a scrap of paper is actually a handwritten and unmistakably authentic IOU for $7,000, signed by Babe Ruth.
Seven thousand clams is a lot of money – and when Frank gets a tip that the Yankees are about to begin spring training in St. Petersburg, Florida, he wastes no time leaving New Jersey to track down the Babe. Along for the ride is a dangerous and curvy blonde named Ginger DeMore. She’s smart, pistol-packing, and the perfect accomplice to help convince the Babe to cough up the dough. It seems like the perfect plan, but Frank and Ginger aren’t the only ones seeking their fortunes in St. Pete’s this spring. There are hustlers, gamblers, Yankee fans, and even a sociopath lurking in the booming burg – not to mention a team of gangsters (looking all over town for the curvy dame by the name of Ginger DeMore) sent by a prominent Chicago mobster named Al Capone.
In this taught adventure story, filled with colorful characters both real and imagined, Lee Irby takes readers straight into the authentic heart of the Roaring ‘20s, bringing to life all the sizzling style – from the slang and the fashions to the smell of bathtub gin. Worthy of a place at Elmore Leonard’s table, 7,000 CLAMS is an enormously entertaining tale and a superb fiction debut.
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