Margins
Choke on Your Lies book cover
Choke on Your Lies
2011
First Published
3.67
Average Rating
320
Number of Pages

A new novel by the author of PSYCHOSOMATIC, YELLOW MEDICINE, and HOGDOGGIN'. Smith presents his homage to one of his favorite detectives, Nero Wolfe, but written for the "internet porn" generation. Octavia VanderPlatts is wealthy, powerful, and "comfortable with her weight"—or to hear her say it, a "rich fat b****." Her IQ is at the genius level, and she uses it to manipulate and frighten anyone who tries to get in her way. She controls an empire built on discrimination lawsuits won against some of the nation's top companies. On top of that, Octavia doesn't care one wink what people think of her. So when she offers her old friend poetry professor Mick Thooft some help in his impending divorce, he smells an ulterior motive. Maybe because Frances didn't invite Octavia to the wedding for fear of her clearing the buffet. Not only does Octavia want to help, but she's got evidence—plenty of scandalous photos. That's not Mick's style, so he turns her down flat...until he discovers that Fran's trying to take their home based on a near-perfect forgery of his signature. After that he and Octavia charge forward, but soon find they're in deeper than they realized—robot pens, swinger clubs, and a blackmail scheme that holds an entire college faculty hostage. Just when Mick and Octavia are on the cusp of victory, it all goes terribly wrong. Mick is framed for murder and someone targets Octavia's immense wealth and secret backyard greenhouse full of exotic marijuana. With no one on their side except Octavia's butler Jennings, her new personal chef Harriet, and their "Amazon Warrior" lawyer Pamela, Octavia and Mick must find a way to turn the tables before they end up broke, humiliated, and in prison.

Avg Rating
3.67
Number of Ratings
156
5 STARS
23%
4 STARS
37%
3 STARS
27%
2 STARS
12%
1 STARS
2%
goodreads

Author

Anthony Neil Smith
Anthony Neil Smith
Author · 11 books

I write crime novels. PSYCHOSOMATIC, THE DRUMMER, plus the Billy Lafitte series—YELLOW MEDICINE, HOGDOGGIN', THE BADDEST ASS, and HOLY DEATH—and the Mustafa & Adem series—ALL THE YOUNG WARRIORS and ONCE A WARRIOR, in addition to WORM, CHOKE ON YOUR LIES, and SLOW BEAR. Next up: THE BUTCHER'S PRAYER (Sept 21) and TROOPER DOWN! (later in 22). CASTLE DANGER: WOMAN ON ICE and THE MENTAL STATES, and THE CYLCIST are available as ebooks out from BE Ebooks. My entry in Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin's DEAD MAN series, COLDER THAN HELL, was published by 47North in January, '13. I'm an English Professor at Southwest Minnesota State University. I'm one of the founders of the crime webzine PLOTS WITH GUNS. I like tacos. I like biking. I had a heart attack at 40. I'm good now.

548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2025 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved