Surfland Mysteries Series

A sea lion getting randy with a marine biologist off the coast of Surfland, Oregon, marks only the beginning of Jackson Poe’s strangest week ever. Teaming up with a nudist mascot with a penchant for cooking seafood in exploding butter, Poe takes a break from his freelance writing non-career to find out why a ruthless developer seems hell-bent on making crossing the street unsafe for little old ladies. Following leads throughout the byzantine streets of Surfland, with the top down on his convertible rain or shine, Poe finally puts it all on the line to solve the mystery as everyone in town buckles up or dives for cover. Beach Slapped: It’s wild and weird insanity on America’s wettest edge, where the only thing crazier than the people is the truth. “Move over Carl Hiassen, Tim Dorsey, Steve Berry and all the other Florida humor satire writers. A new voice and a very accomplished one I predict will be around for a long time, Howe does for the Oregon Coast what Hiaasen and the others have done for Florida.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books Barton Grover Howe is an award-winning writer, humor columnist, stand-up comedian and performer who has spends his days finding the humor in life or making it up—sometimes both. When he’s not writing, or joking, he teaches high school, which inspires some of his best jokes. He lives in a small town on the Oregon coast within shouting distance of Surfland with his incredibly patient wife and exasperatingly adorable daughter.

What begins as a morning of non-compensating for Surfland, Oregon’s Jackson Poe ends with a hyper-carnivorous eagle, a non-flying parrot and a mystery for Poe: Why are the coast’s birds of prey suddenly making snacks of Surfland’s pets? Following the trail from the beach to a daycare center for the perpetually hyper, Poe finds the truth: A perverter of the wild kingdom, whose need for greed is mutual with anyone willing to pay. So, Poe works with a beautiful marine biologist and a not-so-beautiful guy named ScubaPoop, to set a trap. But when everything goes wrong, and even the normally unflappable Jackson Poe seems to have gone off the deep-end, it looks like it just might be Parrot Eyes Lost. “I giggled my way from on end of this short book all the way to the other. ... Love it.” —Ionia Martin, Amazon Top 500 Reviewer “Oregon’s answer to Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books “Move over Carl Hiassen, Tim Dorsey, Steve Berry and all the other Florida humor satire writers. A new voice and a very accomplished one I predict will be around for a long time, Howe does for the Oregon Coast what Hiaasen and the others have done for Florida.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books, on Beach Slapped “A non-stop laugh you cannot put down.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books, on The Beach is Back Barton Grover Howe is an award-winning writer, humor columnist, stand-up comedian and performer who has spends his days finding the humor in life or making it up—sometimes both. When he’s not writing, or joking, he teaches high school, which inspires some of his best jokes. He lives in a small town on the Oregon coast within shouting distance of Surfland with his incredibly patient wife and exasperatingly adorable daughter.

After facing a rain of bouncing boulders the size of Volkswagens, an exploding whale forty years in the making, and the worst latte in the history of the world, Jackson Poe no longer believes in coincidence. Someone wants him dead. Taking a break from his free— far more often than he’d like —lance writing career, Poe finds himself on assignment to the Surfland, Oregon, tourism bureau, where the director seems to do everything possible to kill Poe and business. So Poe teams up with a tchotchke-loving cyber geek, a barista with a wicked fastball and a narcoleptic dog in a race against time and escalating explosives as Poe fights to save his town, the coffee shop he loves, and his own skin. The Beach is Back, and so is America’s wettest, weirdest town, as a rain of mystery and hilarity falls once more. “Oregon’s answer to Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books “A non-stop laugh you cannot put down.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books, on The Beach is Back Barton Grover Howe is an award-winning writer, humor columnist, stand-up comedian and performer who has spends his days finding the humor in life or making it up—sometimes both. When he’s not writing, or joking, he teaches high school, which inspires some of his best jokes. He lives in a small town on the Oregon coast within shouting distance of Surfland with his incredibly patient wife and exasperatingly adorable daughter.

When the residents of recently downtrodden and always sodden Surfland, Oregon, gather for the annual Christmas festival, every kid in town shows up, many waiting for the only gift they’ll get this season. It’s been a rough year in town—and it’s about to get rougher. The gifts have disappeared, the tree tilts at a dangerous angle, and as a restaurant full of diners with crab mallets gets angrier and angrier, Sandy Claws, the town mascot, fears he’s about to get whacked. Once again, the town counts on Jackson Poe to save the sleigh. Volunteering to get the gifts, he ends up alone in the dark with a gorgeous supermodel. Trapped on the side of the road with her and a dog whose behind is perpetually at half-staff, Poe and Christmas are running out of time. In Jackson Poe’s first family-friendly adventure, the message is sweeter, but the humor and mystery are still killer: How can a truckload of toilets save the town from a Sandy Claws Slay? “I giggled my way from on end of this short book all the way to the other. ... Love it.” —Ionia Martin, Amazon Top 500 Reviewer, on Parrot Eyes Lost “Oregon’s answer to Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books “Move over Carl Hiassen, Tim Dorsey, Steve Berry and all the other Florida humor satire writers. A new voice and a very accomplished one I predict will be around for a long time, Howe does for the Oregon Coast what Hiaasen and the others have done for Florida.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books, on Beach Slapped “A non-stop laugh you cannot put down.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books, on The Beach is Back Barton Grover Howe is an award-winning writer, humor columnist, stand-up comedian and performer who has spends his days finding the humor in life or making it up—sometimes both. When he’s not writing, or joking, he teaches high school, which inspires some of his best jokes. He lives in a small town on the Oregon coast within shouting distance of Surfland with his incredibly patient wife and exasperatingly adorable daughter.

When Oregon’s most famous weatherman comes to Surfland, Oregon, in the world’s most expensive RV to meet America’s most famous whale, Jackson Poe knows his ability to find a parking space is pretty much shot to hell. But when a psychotic driver perpetually double-parked in an erogenous zone begins stalking one of Poe’s oldest friends, Poe once again throws down his laptop and dives into his latest mystery. Who wants to kill “Stormy” Steele? And why does Stormy’s boss seem so intent on letting them do it? In Poe’s biggest adventure yet, he searches for the answers—along with a science teacher with a MacGod complex, a drag queen with a fluctuating number of breasts and a vomiting dog—and discovers that, once again, life is a Total Beach. “Oregon’s answer to Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books “Move over Carl Hiassen, Tim Dorsey, Steve Berry and all the other Florida humor satire writers. A new voice and a very accomplished one I predict will be around for a long time, Howe does for the Oregon Coast what Hiaasen and the others have done for Florida.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books, on Beach Slapped “A non-stop laugh you cannot put down.” —Sheldon McArthur, North by Northwest Books, on The Beach is Back Barton Grover Howe is an award-winning writer, humor columnist, stand-up comedian and performer who has spends his days finding the humor in life or making it up—sometimes both. When he’s not writing, or joking, he teaches high school, which inspires some of his best jokes. He lives in a small town on the Oregon coast within shouting distance of Surfland with his incredibly patient wife and exasperatingly adorable daughter.