Geoff Holter

The Palm Springs Tales: Book Two: Down Mexico Way (Volume 2) Geoff Holter

"The Palm Springs Tales: Book Two: Down Mexico Way" is the second volume of a planned trilogy. Book One is a murder mystery and black comedy and Book Two begins a year after the climactic events that ended Book One. In the first chapter Beverly Pickle who is the narrator and principal character in Book One, awakes to find a gunny sack containing a decomposing head on his patio. Book Two is populated by many of the characters from Book One but also introduces some new ones. They include "Coco", an eighty five year old post operative transgendered showgirl who began life as "Bernie"; "Vivien", a drag queen from Mississippi; "Nigel", an overweight and over wrought Englishman with a speech impediment; "Pablo" or "el Loco", a very nasty Mexican drug lord; Tony, the very handsome half brother of Pablo and "Max", the gay head of a DEA unit. While the main plot ultimately relates back to Beverly's gruesome discovery and concerns a war between drug cartels, the story includes digressions involving different characters including a difficult and embarrassing side effect from Viagra, a disastrous finale at a performance of geriatric showgirls and a poolside barbeque gone terribly wrong. This is a funny romp with a dark side. It shows the lives and travails of some of Palm Springs more eccentric residents and follows in the footsteps of Armistead Maupin, Del Shores and Joe Keenan.