Turning Samoan

Debbie Fyfe is the reference/Internet resources librarian in the
Information Services Division of the Edmonton Public Library.

Alberta author Dennis Chute is a former private investigator with a
Ph.D. in botanical medicine. His first novel is part romance, two parts
comedy, mixed with a little mystery and implausibility.

Willie Jakes is a 300-pound part-Samoan private detective. When not
investigating cheating spouses and missing persons, Willie is
desperately trying to come up with a thesis topic for his Ph.D.
dissertation on the writings of Mark Twain. Maria Ralko, a slight but
shapely Gypsy woman of Romany descent, finds herself living in Edmonton
after she is sold in marriage to three bumbling Hungarian brothers who
abuse and use her to pull off their two-bit scams. Willie and Maria’s
paths literally cross one day when Maria, as part of an insurance scam,
pretends to be run over by Willie’s truck. Lying on the road, Maria
experiences a moment of enlightenment: she resolves to trade in her
grifter ways and—with Willie’s help—become a Samoan.

As Maria and Willie spend more time together, their different cultures
collide and they become embroiled in a caper that involves a casino
heist, a search for J.F.K.’s missing brain, and tantric magic.
Chute’s research into the Samoan and Romany cultures took two full
years and is evident throughout the novel. He is a writer to watch.