A Fool's Gold: A Story of Ancient Spanish Treasure, Two Pounds of Pot, and the Young Lawyer Almost Left Holding the Bag

About the time you realize that you don't have a clue about what will happen next (and you can't wait to find out), you realize the song playing in your head is "What a long strange trip it's been".

Bill Merritt has written a wonderfully entertaining fable about young lawyers learning the ropes, a delightful cast of society's castaways, buried treasure and even a little bit of science. Because Merritt casts himself as the central character, it is necessary to remember that this is fiction - or at least Merritt says so: "Author's note: This book isn't journalism. It is filled with made-up individuals, composite characters, and descriptions that do not match anything in the real world. If you think something in here is about you, it isn't. And, if you think you are going to make a big deal out of it, I've got plenty more on you that doesn't appear in the book, so think again." Within a few pages, of course, you'll have forgotten the warning, so compelling is Merritt's first-person narrative. The characters are compelling and believable. There's Thaddeus Silk, now deceased, who hires Merritt as an associate in his small, highly suspect law office. Silk's death from natural causes brings in the police, an aggressive DA, the bar association disciplinary committee and others. Thaddeus, it seems, had long been suspected of a variety of nefarious dealings, including fencing a long rumored Spanish treasure that had been buried on Oregon's cost. Merritt provides a fascinating recounting of the legends of Neahkahnie Mountain where, it is said, a treasure is buried. Along the way, Merritt also provides an unexpected explanation of trade winds and the history of Spanish trade a few centuries ago. Utterly unexpected, these facts provide both elements of the main plot and an unusual backstory. Good work, indeed. When Thaddeus Silk shuffles off the mortal coil, Merritt is left the task of picking up the pieces of his mentor's practice. There's Grady Jackson, seemingly a harmlessly befuddled treasure hunter who, in his youth, had been a heroic soldier. Jolene, the office receptionist, was hired by Thaddeus on a work-release program after Thaddeus had bungled her case. Her boyfriend Tail Pipe lives largely on another planet. Abby Birdsong is an aging hippy with a marijuana possession charge against her that just keeps getting bigger. Soon Merritt himself is facing indictment by an aggressive DA. The story has plenty of twists and turns as Merritt, still a young and inexperienced lawyer, makes his way through one predicament after another. In terms of handling humor, Merritt is an ace. His storytelling flows smoothly, anchoring your sympathy to Merritt as the subject and eliciting boos and catcalls for the evil guys (who really aren't all that evil: just kind of dumb). It would be unfair to detail the story to any extent. Take my word for it: there's not a dull page in the book. There's also no sex, no immediate gore, no cliffhangers: just out-of-the-ordinary situations with some pretty oddball characters. Summer's almost here; the weather's getting nicer: this is the perfect beach read. Jerry

The introduction at the La Jolla bookstore said it all: cross between John Berendt and Ken Kesey, or carl Hiassen and Vince Bugliosi -- or as he put it, reminiscent of Mark Twain.

Merritt's book is a blast to read. He paints a fascinating and fun cast of characters, and the narrative really makes you wonder what the heck has been going on on the Oregon coast for the past few hundred years!

An absolutely delightful read. The characters are all quite odd, like true Oregonians!