Lucky Supreme: A Darby Holland Crime Novel (#1) (Darby Holland Crime Novel Series) - Hardcover

"Jeff Johnson's Lucky Supreme is a pulp elegy that offers escape from the monotony of workaday life. It's meant to be read in low light, preferably at night, so that the protagonist's sawtoothed warble might be heard in the proper context. The protagonist, Darby Holland, is a tattoo shop owner who's carved out a hardscrabble niche from a destitute background. The plot arises from the tattoo artist's ethos: do not let others take a bite out of you lest you want to be eaten whole. Necessary revenge and bloody affairs follow Holland from the seedy underbelly of Old Town Portland to the zombieland of southern Oregon to San Francisco's decrepit industrial warehouses and back home again. Indigent paupers under the Burnside Bridge stand defiant against two encroaching worlds: the insatiable appetites of kingpins and the ineffable seep of gentrifying urbanites. In the tumbledown setting, Johnson draws a sentimental context--a neon fever dream, a decrepit labyrinth that only the down and out know profoundly; the only place that they can call home. In Holland, Johnson carves a compassionate character -- damaged yet caring, gentle yet vicious about protecting the kin that populate his world. Johnson wields the lurid pen of twentieth century crime novelists like Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane and stands with contemporaries like Michael Connelly and Walter Mosley to grace the grit of dark streets. Whether readers can relate or not, they won't be able to resist rooting for the charismatic Holland and empathizing with a man fighting to save his own hide and the singular denizens of a grimy world." -- Matthew Denis, Eugene Weekly

"Johnson launches the first of a noir trilogy with this highly original caper novel. Darby Holland is the proprietor of the Lucky Supreme, a tattoo parlor in the Old Town neighborhood of Portland, Ore., where he and his artists, a gang of societal misfits, have created their own niche within this gentrifying community. Johnson, a veteran tattoo artist, captures the conflict between the two cultures perfectly without any false sentiment. A phone call from a friend alerts Darby that Jason Bling, a former employee who quit without notice some months ago, has surfaced in Santa Cruz, Calif. Bling has stolen valuable original "flash" (tattoo designs) by pioneer designer Roland Norton. Darby goes to Santa Cruz, where he confronts Bling and figures out that Bling's new boss, Nicholas Dong-ju, who owns a minimall in San Francisco, may have the stolen flash. Darby ends up in a war with a wealthy collector who follows him back to Old Town. The inventive, unorthodox Darby effectively marshals his forces against thugs, officials, and even federal agents in this amusing crime tale."-- PW (Starred)

"A gifted and natural born storyteller." -- John Irving

"What wonderful Northwest noir. Lucky Supreme cruises through Portland's underworld with a raunchy grace and an unfailing sense of black humor. I loved it." -New York Times bestselling & 3-time Edgar Award-winning author T. Jefferson Parker

"The bastard lovechild of Charles Bukowski and Raymond Chandler, Lucky Supreme is a novel so good you'll want to ink it into your skin." -Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire Mysteries, the basis of Netflix's hit drama Longmire.

"Lucky Supreme is one hell of a book. I didn't know anyone could do noir like this. Now I know Jeff Johnson can." -Joe R. Lansdale, author of Paradise Sky.

"As hip and cool as the neon rain-slicked slicked streets of Portland. Darby Holland is a modern hero in the mold of Sam Spade and Marlowe only with more tattoos and in steel-toed boots. A funny and very gritty book with cool folks, cool music, and wonderful sense of place." -- Ace Atkins, New York Times Bestselling author of The Innocents and Robert B. Parker's Slow Burn.

"Jeff Johnson is the real deal. His work is fast and funny, down and dirty--one moment as smooth as 18-year-old bourbon and the next as rough as a country road. A great talent, a pleasure to read." -- -Brad Smith, author of Red Means Run

"The author, a tattoo artist himself, gets props for not getting all soapy and fuzzy with his setting, and Darby makes for an intriguing narrator/storyteller, his black humor tinged with a rough poetry that initially seems forced but eventually really gets under your skin. More please."--Mystery Scene Magazine

"The bastard lovechild of Charles Bukowski and Raymond Chandler." --Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire Mysteries, the basis of Netflix hit drama Longmire.

"What wonderful Northwest noir. ... with a raunchy grace and an unfailing sense of black humor." --New York Times bestselling and three-time Edgar Award-winning author, T. Jefferson Parker

"Darby Holland is a modern hero in the mold of Sam Spade and Marlowe only with more tattoos and in steel-toed boots."--Ace Atkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Innocents

"Jeff Johnson is the real deal. His work is fast and funny, down and dirty--one moment as smooth as 18-year-old bourbon and the next as rough as a country road. A great talent, a pleasure to read." --Brad Smith, author of The Return of Kid Cooper

"Johnson launches the first of a noir trilogy with this highly original caper novel. Darby Holland is the proprietor of the Lucky Supreme, a tattoo parlor in the Old Town neighborhood of Portland, Ore., where he and his artists, a gang of societal misfits, have created their own niche within this gentrifying community. Johnson, a veteran tattoo artist, captures the conflict between the two cultures perfectly without any false sentiment . . . The inventive, unorthodox Darby effectively marshals his forces against thugs, officials, and even federal agents in this amusing crime tale."--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"Jeff Johnson writes with a poet's rhythm, a boxer's attitude and an artist's sense of style and flair."--Norman Green, Shamus Award Winner of The Last Gig
"The author, a tattoo artist himself, gets props for not getting all soapy and fuzzy with his setting, and Darby makes for an intriguing narrator/storyteller... black humor tinged with a rough poetry.... More please."--Mystery Scene Magazine

"Lucky Supreme is a pulp elegy that offers escape from the monotony of workaday life. It's meant to be read in low light, preferably at night, so that the protagonist's sawtoothed warble might be heard in the proper context. . . .Johnson wields the lurid pen of twentieth century crime novelists like Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane and stands with contemporaries like Michael Connelly and Walter Mosley to grace the grit of dark streets." -- Matthew Denis, Eugene Weekly

Best Crime Novel of the Year--Joy Ride through the Tattoo Underworld of Portland's Old Town.

The night world of Old Town, Portland, Oregon, has gone mad in the grip of gentrification, and at the center of it all is Lucky Supreme, a seedy tattoo parlor, whose proprietor is a street-bred artist with a unique approach to problem solving. Darby Holland has enough on his radar, but when some flash (tattoo artwork) stolen from him resurfaces in California he can't help himself. His efforts to reclaim it set him on a dangerous path, dragging along his delightfully eccentric colleagues, including the brains behind his brawn, Delia, a twiggy vinyl-clad punk genius secretly from the other side of the tracks. No one knows why the art signed "Roland Norton, Panama, 1955" is worth anything or how it came to hang on the walls of a tattoo shop in Portland, Oregon. Only the deranged former owner can say--and he's not talking. Before the wrecking balls swing through Old Town in the name of "progress," Darby must settle old scores and face new demons to save his reputation, his shop, and his sanity. He has secrets of his own, and a tattoo shop in Old Town was a perfect place to hide, but when cash, lies, crime, and history collide, Darby Holland will need his ramshackle skill set, his wits, and a lot of luck to rise to the top of a human food chain, or be eaten alive.

Lucky Supreme is an intuitive thrill ride from start to finish in the spirit of Elmore Leonard and Dennis Lehane. It is the first of a trilogy featuring Darby Holland, Delia, and the other unforgettable nocturnal residents of Old Town. Jeff Johnson is a hugely entertaining new voice in noir.