{"product_id":"shell-games-a-true-story-of-cops-con-men-and-the-smuggling-of-americas-strangest-wildlife-isbn-9780061537141","title":"Shell Games: A True Story of Cops, Con Men, and the Smuggling of America’s Strangest Wildlife","description":"\u003cp\u003eA unique blend of natural history and crime drama, \u003cem\u003eShell Games \u003c\/em\u003eby Craig Welch is a riveting tale of rogues, scoundrels, and the hunt for nature’s bounty in the tradition of \u003cem\u003eThe Orchid Thief. \u003c\/em\u003eA stranger-than-fiction true story centered around a larger-than-life character who pursued a larger-than-life clam—the Geoduck—and then led wildlife police on a two-year-long chase, \u003cem\u003eShell Games \u003c\/em\u003eis enthralling and remarkable from page one on.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eShell Games\u003c\/em\u003e, journalist Craig Welch delves into our nation's waters and wildlands in search of America's most unusual criminals. The resulting detective story is filled with butterfly thieves, bear poachers, shark-trafficking pastors—and a rogues' gallery of double-crossing crooks who get rich smuggling bizarre marine creatures.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePuget Sound is home to the geoduck (pronounced \"gooey duck\"), the world's largest burrowing clam—a seafood delicacy worth millions on the international black market. Outlaw scuba divers pursue this prize while dodging cops, committing arson, and hiring hit men to eliminate their rivals.Detective Ed Volz has spent decades chasing fish and wildlife smugglers. Now, he and a team of federal agents are desperate to take down the most remarkable thief they've ever hunted: a darkly charming con man who works both sides of the law and calls himself the \"Geoduck Gotti.\"\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“With hit men, snitches, and midnight smuggling runs, this book has all the adventure of a Miami Vice episode. That it reads like a detective novel - with the quarry being millions of dollars of freakishly large clams - is testament to the formidable writing and reporting talents of Craig Welch.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMark Obmascik, author of The Big Year and 2009 National Outdoor Book Award winner for Halfway to Heaven: My White-knuckled - and Knuckleheaded - Quest for the Rocky Mountain High\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Shell Games is a fiercely-reported and wholly captivating cops-and-robbers story about the black-market wildlife trade in the Pacific Northwest...with profound implications for wildlife—under unprecedented threat from poachers and smugglers using high-tech means to hunt and transport their sad bounty—around the globe.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJonathan Miles, author of Dear American Airlines\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Forget CSI—this is the real deal, tracking down the greediest kinds of criminals as they plunder the planet’s future. You may think that clams are nothing special, but before this book is many pages old you’ll be rooting for the bivalves!” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The wildest story of bivalve intrigue and skullduggery ever assembled between two covers.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRichard Ellis, author of Tuna: A Love Story and The Empty Ocean\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[A]n engrossing tale of both human excesses and the attempts of a few brave souls’ to curb them. Everyone, not just the denizens of Puget Sound, has a stake in this battle’s outcome.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Riveting...Ed Volz and Doug Tobin are perfect antagonists.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Endlessly fascinating.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSeattle Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Welch brings us into the underworld of shellfish smuggling from multiple angles...Shell Games is an eye-opener, exposing a murky world operating just below the surface.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOregonian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Seattle Times writer Craig Welch’s Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature’s Bounty neatly represents this genre of ‘you can’t make this stuff up’ drama...Welch does the homework involved to make this work stand out, providing a rich layer of detail that informs but does not slow down the cops and robbers adventuring. If anything, it brings a sense beyond the money, beyond the environmental impact, of why an enormous mollusk comes to muddy the waters of so many people’s lives.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44887837737189,"sku":"NP9780061537141","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780061537141.jpg?v=1730227568","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/shell-games-a-true-story-of-cops-con-men-and-the-smuggling-of-americas-strangest-wildlife-isbn-9780061537141","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}