WORDSWORTH IN BOGOTÁ: A NOVEL (AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE DECEMBER 2024)
Mid-life crises are hard, especially for drug lord Diego Velasquez who has lost his mojo and faces the imminent collapse of his empire. If, as in the past, ruthlessness, bribery, and a few well-timed 'disappearances' of key competitors would restore the family's fortunes, he could turn to his son and heir-apparent Carlos. The enemy this time, however, is American law enforcement's new-found virtuousness following 9/11. Only an ingenious plan can save the day, and it falls to his youngest son, Esteban, the "black sheep" who spurned the family business to pursue his love of literature as a graduate student in the States, to become the unlikely savior.
Wagering the last of the family's dwindling assets, Esteban stages a poetry conference – Wordsworth in Bogotá – as the way to smuggle cocaine into the States. The plan must fool the Velasquez family's nemesis – grizzled DEA agent Bronson Attles and the Poetry Slam Taskforce that he has formed to take them down – while successfully navigating the jealousies and insecurities of the professors who will be the unwitting couriers. To make his plan work, Esteban turns to a talented fellow graduate student, Moira O'Shaughnessy, as his intellectual consigliore. A no-nonsense individual who has largely given up on the world and love, Moira not only must decide how far she'll go in helping Esteban, but what to do about Percy Billings, a brilliant academic with a Walter Mitty belief that he was meant to be a man of action rather than letters.
As Esteban and his father engage in a cat-and-mouse game with the Drug Enforcement Agency, a new appreciation for each other emerges. With Esteban's plan coming to its climax, the kaleidoscope takes another surprising turn, causing friendships, romances, and family ties to tumble into new patterns once again.
Unafraid to have fun with the characters and plot, WORDSWORTH IN BOGOTÁ is reminiscent of Carl Hiaasen and shows like Ozark and Better Call Saul.