{"id":43016,"date":"2021-06-14T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T15:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43016"},"modified":"2026-04-19T14:45:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T21:45:51","slug":"the-serape-notebook-a-love-story-by-raul-hernandez-on-sale-july-4th-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43016","title":{"rendered":"For Sale: Books, Art and Other Stuff \u2014 Free Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Notes, Thoughts, Art, Books and Poetry:<\/b><\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

STEPPING ON THE DEVIL’S TAIL \u2014 A CRIME NOVEL<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\r\n

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Raul Hernandez is a former newspaper reporter who spent more than three decades at the El Paso Herald-Post<\/em>, El Paso Times<\/em>, the Press-Enterprise<\/em> in Riverside County, and the Ventura County Star<\/em>, chasing real headlines before turning to crime fiction and dark comedy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

He brings newsroom grit and streetwise bite to every page. When he\u2019s not writing, he runs his federal courthouse website and rows like a man trying to outrun his own deadlines.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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SERAPE NOTEBOOK NOVEL CLICK HERE\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

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The Dead Sea Bar and Grill comedy novel is about tough guys trying to hide tender hearts and painful pasts who get involved in an elaborate scheme to con Arab and other oil barons during the height of the 1977 oil embargo.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

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BOOK INTRODUCTION:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

New York City \u2014 1977.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

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Oil is tight. Disco thumps through the night. The New York Yankees<\/span><\/span> are fighting their way back to the top.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Frankie \u201cFrankenstein\u201d Finch used to be a contender\u2014until a crooked cop\u2019s bullet shut that dream down. Now he\u2019s mopping floors in a rotting church basement, setting rat traps and dodging the slow collapse of everything around him.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Then Butch Badovich blows in\u2014a pint-size pimp with a loud mouth and a hustler\u2019s instinct\u2014offering Frankie a job as collector and enforcer. It\u2019s not pride. It\u2019s a paycheck.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

When a long-shot horse comes in, Butch stumbles into real money\u2014just enough to chase something bigger. Enter Vincent Primello, fresh out of prison with a slick plan to bleed oil-rich marks for nearly a million dollars.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Three desperate men. A 12-year-old shoe-shine kid. A New York model with her own angle.<\/span><\/strong>
All in on a con that\u2019s ready to explode.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Too bad two crooked detectives are already circling.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

In a city that chews up the weak and spits them out, loyalty comes cheap, greed runs deep, and nobody walks away clean.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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Excerpt from the Dead Sea Bar and Grill Novel:<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

\u201cAll this God-given talent is being pissed away in this shit hole with Pastor Houdini,\u201d said Butch. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cErasmus. His name is Pastor Erasmus,” said Frankie.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhatever. Does the parole board know he opened up another religious crazy house? They shut one down in Jersey, I heard. What a con.\u201d Butch pointed at the tattered poster of Joe Louis that Frank duct-taped on the wall. <\/strong><\/span>\u201cI\u2019m offering you better than what Joe ended up with. What do you say?\u201d <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to kill anybody unless it\u2019s for a good cause,\u201d Frankie said. \u201cAlmost killed Vinnie the Viking. \u201d <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cYeah, I heard about that. Look, just ease up a little.\u201d <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cMaybe I could.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

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The Dead Sea Bar and Grill novel: Click Here<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The Dead Sea Bar and Grill Screenplay:\u00a0 Click Here<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n