A tale that’s compelling at every turn and surprisingly emotionally complex, Merritt has managed his own alchemy – Publishers Weekly
A fascinating portrait of Oregon and a rollicking, frequently hilarious true-crime caper, and Merritt’s forthright and funny self-deprecation makes it the rarest sort of story: the kind where you root for the lawyer. And with its world-class cast of eccentrics, Merritt’s Oregon makes Carl Hiaasen’s Florida look mundane – Booklist
Absolutely delightful . . . reads like highly engrossing fiction – Amazon Review
A blast to read. [Merritt] paints a fascinating and fun cast of characters, and the narrative really makes you wonder what the heck has been going on on the Oregon coast for the past few hundred years! – Jo W, Amazon Review
Overview
Recently out of law school, Bill Merritt takes a job with the shady but charismatic Thaddeus Silk. After a few months, Thaddeus drops dead and Bill is left to pick up the pieces of his ill-managed practice. Before Bill can even start to make sense of the mess that was Thaddeus’s legal life, the police are knocking at the door and Bill is accused of fencing stolen treasure.
Along with the boxes of papers and empty bourbon bottles that litter the office, Bill inherits his first real clients, Abby Birdsong and Grady Jackson. Abby is a middle-aged, overweight, hippie ex-logger who has been caught with several tons of the oldest, foulest, marijuana imaginable. Grady is the Crazy Man of Neahkahnie Mountain who, for ten years, has been suing the State of Oregon for permission to dig for treasure on a state-owned beach. As legal matters heat up and Bill hears there’s a warrant for his arrest waiting for a judge’s signature, the cases of the skunky pot and the mythical Spanish treasure begin to collide.
