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Barry, Dave : Tricky Business

G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York City, NY, 2002

ISBN 0399149244

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 320 pages. The author's second novel. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Dave Barry's "Tricky Business". Brings together a motley group of South Florida eccentrics on an ill-fated casino boat voyage. "A tropical storm is bearing down on the Florida coast, but the Extravaganza of the Seas, a luxury gambling ship, sets sail on its nightly excursion in spite of the weather. Aboard are Fay Benton, an attractive cocktail waitress trying to make ends meet for her kid; a collection of pot-smoking would-be rockers who make up the ship's band, Johnny and the Contusions; a pair of wise-cracking octogenarians who've escaped an extended-care facility; and some Mafia-connected gangsters who use the ship's nightly voyages to smuggle drugs onto the mainland. Bobby Kemp, the ship's titular owner, insists that the Extravaganza go out in the storm because he has chosen this night to hijack the drug deal. In the background, a local television station plays a role straight from Keystone Kops as its reporters frantically cover the approaching storm with consistently fatal results. Barry once again showcases his gently satiric style, with barbs aimed at overbearing mothers, corrupt officials, inept authorities, and, of course, the American crime novel itself, which he sends up with absurd plotting, astronomical body count, and plenty of gratuitous nudity and sex. Belying self-deprecating disclaimers about his talent for fiction, Barry demonstrates that he can draw some captivating characters and keep a reader's attention in spite of or perhaps because of slapstick antics and a fascination with scatology" (Publishers Weekly). An absolute "must-have" title for Dave Barry collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by Dave Barry. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is now collectible. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. One of the finest humorist/writers and an American national treasure. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DAVE BARRY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0399149244.

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