Beachhead

It’s 1980 on Florida’s Gulf coast. Sun, drugs, gambling debts, and dirty deals push Navy-prison parolee Scotland Ross deeper into the life of crime he never wanted.

His sister’s life, a potential newfound love, and his own freedom are all on the line as he tangles with a redneck gangster intent on becoming the state’s next governor.

Will Scotland make the right choice or the one that keeps him alive?

Beachhead is dark noir set in the state of sunshine. A story of crime and loyalty, love and hate, and choices made when everything you care about is on the line.

Praise for Beachhead …

“Satisfying, smart, startlingly funny, and always entertaining, Jeff Hess’s wonderful debut novel is squarely in the tradition of the best of Robert Stone and Elmore Leonard. You will love the hero in this, but the villains are also tantalizingly human and engagingly complex. And the prose is, first to last, riveting and artful.” — Fred Leebron, author of Welcome to Christiania and Out West

“Jeffery Hess’ Beachhead comes to ground as Navy prison parolee, Scotland Ross, puts his life on hold, along with his path to an honest life, to lend help to his sister and her struggling family, only to find the hand of help may be more disastrous than no help at all. Hess moors together a compelling story of land grabbing, political aspiration, government graft, and adulterous jealousy that will leave you reeling in its wake.” — Ron Earl Phillips, editor of Shotgun Honey and One Eye Press

“Jeffery Hess’s Beachhead hearkens back to the work of brilliant twentieth century crime writers like John D. McDonald, and his Scotland Ross is a Travis McGee for this millennium: gratifyingly unvarnished, physically tough, and just naive enough to involve himself in the troubles of other people. An admirable debut.” — Pinckney Benedict, author of Dogs of God, Miracle Boy, and The Wrecking Yard