Finding Flipper Frank

the long version

"Walt Honerman has just about given up on life. He is thirty-eight years old and lives in a small apartment above a hardware store in Billings, Montana. But because of a promise made to a dying uncle, Walt embarks on a cross-country driving trip with two passengers: Moira Kelly, a young woman who had befriended Walt's uncle during his recent hospitalization, and 76-year old Izzy Dunleavy, a loquacious nursing home resident who wishes to return to his hometown of Crawfish Bay, Maryland. During their trip, Izzy entertains Walt and Moira with elaborate tales of the grand resort that he once owned in Crawfish Bay -- a resort with a mythical reputation for being a place of good luck. But when they arrive in Crawfish Bay, a suddenly confused Izzy is arrested on a decades-old embezzlement charge. After Moira insists on staying to help Izzy, she and Walt discover that most of Izzy's stories are pure fiction. More discoveries occur when they meet Felix, Izzy's former business partner, and Emily, a single mother who worked at the nursing home in Billings and who came to Crawfish Bay because of Izzy's promise of a job at his fictional resort. This mismatched group, thrown together as much by anger as by nostalgic affection, begins investigating the money Izzy supposedly embezzled when he disappeared from Crawfish Bay years ago. And despite his retreat from life, brought on by a past tragedy, Walt gets pulled into the wake of wild dreamers."--Page 4 of cover.