Introduction

Frank Hearn is a down-on-his-luck bootlegger and bruiser, looking for the big score in the heart of the Roaring Twenties. When he loses a shipment of top-quality booze to a double-crossing government 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. Frank thinks he's covered his bases: Along for the ride is a dangerous and curvy blonde named Ginger DeMore. She’s smart, she packs a snub-nose pistol in her purse, and she’s 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 Florida. 1920’s St. Pete is a veritable nest of vipers. Hustlers, gamblers, Yankee fans, and even a sociopath are lurking in the booming burg—not to mention a team of gangsters sent by a prominent Chicago mobster named Al Capone (who’s instructed his boys to scour the town for a curvy dame by the name of Ginger DeMore).

In this taut Roaring Twenties crime novel, filled with colorful characters both real and imagined, Lee Irby takes readers straight into the authentic heart of the era, 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.

Editorial Review

The next best thing to being in Florida this winter is curling up with this lively debut romp through the Sunshine State in the company of a host of colorful characters--a down-on-his luck bootlegger and the upper class college girl who loves him, a sultry lounge singer whose testimony could put Al Capone behind bars for life, a cold-blooded killer on the lam for murdering his wealthy step-mother, and especially Babe Ruth, the hard-living, hard-drinking legend whose $7,000 IOU is the curve ball in this colorful tale of the Roaring Twenties. Frank Hearn lost the shipment of booze that was his ticket to the easy life, but in his pursuit of the perp he found something even betterâ??â??a handwritten gambling marker signed by the Babe. Now all he has to do is cash it. And since the Babe and his teammates have just left for spring training in St. Petersburg, Frank follows their trail, pursued by the legitimate owner of the marker and accompanied by lovely Ginger de More, who's on the lam from a pair of major league hit men who want to make sure she never makes it to the witness stand. You don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy this screwball comedy set in the Roaring Twenties, but youâ??ll be rooting for its well-drawn characters and charmed by their light-hearted love story. --Jane Adams

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