The paradise in this entertaining novel is the area around San Diego, California -- Coronado, California, to be exact. The fools are John Ray Mooney, a jinxed felon just out of Folsom prison; a struggling businesswoman; a hapless fire-fighter; a cop-turned-bank guard; and Billy Ho, a con man who has the locals believing he is the Prince of the Sultanate of Yip, a small nation in the South Pacific. Mooney targets one of the local banks for a robbery -- it always seems to have plenty of cash to pay Navy salaries. While planning the robbery, he meets the Prince and decides he would make a better, and easier, mark. When Mooney discovers the Prince is an impostor, they join forces to plan the bank heist. The daring twosome welcome the businesswoman, fire-fighter, and bank guard to help them -- until they realise loot split two ways is better than dividing it five ways. This is a humorous look at crooks and the illusions that lead them to seek something for nothing. Steve Brewer is the author of nine previous crime novels and has a talent for combining felons and comedy. If you like Carl Hiassen, Donald Westlake, or Elmore Leonard, you will enjoy Fool's Paradise.
- ISBN10 0826331246
- ISBN13 9780826331243
- Publish Date 21 January 2004
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 24 April 2009
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of New Mexico Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 182
- Language English