Mortal Nuts

Pete Hautman, the acclaimed author of Drawing Dead and Short Money, returns with his funniest, fastest, most irresistible thriller yet with the story of seventy-three-year-old Axel Speeter and his final winner-takes-all gamble with a pair of crooks after his life savings.

With his cross-country poker-playing days closing, Axel Speeter has his affairs in order and is ready to settle down. He owns a taco concession at the Minnesota State Fair, and keeps his sometimes lover, Sophie Roman, and her spectacularly endowed daughter, Carmen, on the payroll. He's made a nice home for himself at the Motel 6 six, where he holds his stash of $260,000 in seven coffee cans scattered around the room.

But when Carmen gets a new guy in her life, a skinhead ex-convict named James Dean, the two of them decide they want a piece of Axel's stash. They may not be the smartest couple around, but how tough can it be to take a few coffee cans away from an old guy?

Carmen and James are in for a surprise, though, as they learn Axel's got one more hand to play—and the loser pays with his life.