Dive Bartender: Flowers in the Desert - Paperback

by T. K. O'Neill (Author)

​It's 1977 and Frank Ford is running from his life and for his life.

Following the suspicious suicide of his brother Ray and Frank's own role in the death of twin sisters clearly culpable in Ray's demise, he hits the road for the promised land, California-with a dog-eared paperback copy of Kerouac's On the Road as his roadmap. True to its protagonist's journey, Frank makes a stop in Denver to look up an old friend-in his case high school buddy and former Arizona Amateur Tennis Champion, Larry Richards, now a divorce attorney allegedly raking in the cash, hand over fist.

Larry's seemingly successful life was anything but, and Frank gets caught up in Larry's fraying web of deals and deceit, leading him farther away from California and closer to the same muck he left behind in Minnesota.

Enter the captivating and gifted songwriter Evelyn Raines, lead singer of Evie and the Desert Flowers. The righteous Bill Cross, new roommate, fellow bartender at DJ's and former Arizona Gold Gloves light heavyweight champion. Clayton Cook and Bryce Parker-entitled, corrupt and twisted. Arturo Reynolds, Denver gangster. Javier Raines, Evie's faithful brother and manager. A cast of characters that seems to conspire to keep Frank from his Kerouac dream.