Daniel Pyne

Twentynine Palms

A Novel

Cracking in the desert heat, the sleepy town of Twentynine Palms sits outside the bright blankness that is the sprawl of Los Angeles. For someone on the run like Jack Baylor, who needs a quick exit out of L.A. after a steamy affair with his best friend's wife, Twentynine Palms is the perfect refuge.

Standing on the balcony of room 203 at Rancho del Dorotea, Jack plans to lay low for a few days, relax, and enjoy the high desert and the pool. But Jack's best friend, Tory, is already following his trail up Highway 61, and he wants nothing but revenge.

Before Jack has a chance to plan his next move, a family disappears from the motel, leaving behind the signs of a gruesome struggle. In the eyes of the Twentynine Palms police, Jack is the only logical suspect. Now Jack has to clear his name and escape his angry best friend. With the unexpected help of a 14–year–old girl, Jack desperately works to evade the police and Tory before his world comes entirely unhinged.

With feverish Southern California as the backdrop, Twentynine Palms is a sun–soaked, skittering race toward a surprising truth.

A Hole in the Ground Owned by a Liar

Lee, a high school shop teacher in Evergreen, Colorado, managed to survive his messy divorce only to hurtle into what some might call a full–on midlife crisis. Looking for a way to spend his weekends and the now painfully long summer vacation, Lee buys a gold mine off the internet—a real, honest–to–God mine, complete with tall tales of riches, a history of disappointment, and a couple of Pakistani–by–the–way–of–Jackson–Hole prospectors willing to kill for its contents.

With the frequently unwanted help of a band of locals, Lee becomes a weekend warrior, attempting to work the mine and keep himself distracted from his other midlife disturbances. There are the Pakistanis, of course, along with his mercurial brother Grant, just released from prison, who is trying in his typically perilous way to pull Lee from his midlife funk. There is his ex–wife Lorraine and her slick boyfriend, Stan Beachum, and the lovely yet mysterious Rayna, the first woman Lee's wanted to date since his divorce.

In Daniel Pyne's sharp, fun, and raucous style, A Hole in the Ground Owned by a Liar is part mystery and part gold–infused tall tale with a cast of refreshingly quirky characters and one highly unexpected payout.