Book #165: Beach Money by Preston Pairo

 

Beach Money

Preston Pairo

 Released: June 1st, 1991

My 31st book for 2026 was Preston Pairo’s Beach Money.

This one was interesting because of the location, Ocean City, MD.  I found this one at Wonderbook in Frederick, MD.  

I remember going to Ocean City a couple times when I was a young child.  We would take our family vacation there because my dad's boss owned a beach house and would allow his employees to take a week and enjoy it.  I remember getting a box of Dunkin Donut's donut holes, cutting my toe in the sand on the boardwalk, spilling spaghetti-o's on the white carpet (30+ years later, sorry Andy), and getting yelled at by another man because I was throwing rocks near boats (30+ years later, sorry boat owner).  The boardwalk was always fun, and seeing the ocean was nice.

In this story, a lawyer-turned-beach motel operator, Dallas Henry, investigates a suspected suicide in Ocean City while on summer break from college.  There appears to be no motive.  Dalles has numerous booze binges, and a penchant for waking up each day after Noon.  He tracks down the truth by going in and out of various locations around the city.  He learns more about what happened included a shocking revelation that changes the way the case is perceived.  It's neat for someone who has been there.  To others, it's just another beach town to read about.  

There's an interesting selection of characters that fit different stereotypes.  We see a lot of interaction with partiers and beachgoers that frequent Ocean City.  That sums it up a bit well.  It is known as a sort of party city.  The crowd is mostly younger.

Ocean City always seemed cooler when I was a young child in the early 1990's.  It was the first beach I ever saw in my life and I didn't go back until I was in college.  I had a lesser impression but also, I went during a chilly Spring Break with a woman I dated in college and went back home the same day.  I know friends who used to do Senior Week there, and other things, but I was not quite one of those people.  I did my own partying elsewhere.

Since those early visits, I've seen the Outer Banks, Venice Beach, Clearwater Beach, Cannon Beach, Seaside, and Lincoln City.  It's not the greatest in the world, but certainly worth a stop.  It doesn't have that same feeling as it once did, but Summer 1991-1993 is a lot different than Summer 2026.

This novel is a pretty standard mystery.  I enjoyed it but also got lost somewhere around the ending.  There are more Dallas Henry novels out there.  Probably check them out some day.

Here is what I learned:

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• Oliver is a patrolman.

• Herbie Gonner is a young kid.

• Dallas Henry is a town drunk.

• Dallas has straw blond hair.

• Ocean City cops are resort cops with basically a small-town mentality.

• Judson Fitch died from a fall that is suspected as suicide.

• Dallas’ business card was found on his body.

• Dallas has an office in the Ocean Tides lobby.

• Teresa Jane Fitch is Judson’s sister.

• Dallas drives a silver 280Z.

• Teresa works in the stock analysis department of an investment banking firm.

• Teresa is from Hunt Valley, MD.

• Johnny D surfs 45th street.

• Teresa drives a Lexus.

• Judson was arrested for possession of marijuana 4 days before he died.

• Cops tend to have a little too much of an us-against-them mentality.

• Judson had a condo in Triton’s Trumpet.

• Dallas dines at Margarita Maggie’s.

• People on vacation are fickle tippers.

• Dallas went to Aruba 5 years ago.

• Dallas helps a kid pick up girls and booze.

• Dallas loves Susan Vette’s Italian white silk dress.

• Teresa is staying in room 301 of Ocean Tides.

• Teresa’s father mistreats her.

• Packs of Camel cigarettes were popular rewards with young teenagers.

• Teresa is 28.

• She won a stuffed flamingo.

• It was cheaper to take a cab 20 times from Maryland to Delaware than to call it “long-distance”.

• People magazine tells you who Sly Stallone is dating this week.

• Dallas meets Terry after a party.

• They have breakfast at General’s Kitchen.

• Jud had a thing for jacuzzis.

• Jud always talked about money, sex, and lamenting his father.

• Crabs only run in Maryland during the hottest months.

• The limo driver read nudie magazines.

• A Triumph TR7 makes a cameo.

• Johnny D looks like Malibu Neanderthal.

• "Boss, this is the age of pessimistic youth. We don't really expect the world to last that long. Put off fun today, you might die to regret it tomorrow when someone hits the wrong button and starts World War Last."

• Jens’ full name is Jennifer Lynn Tolly.

• Polo is a homosexual.

• Teresa also goes by T.J.

• “You know, it’s a fact of our age — my age — that the American dream of living a better life than your parents is no longer a sure thing.  In fact, odds are most people going into the work force in the next five years will be working harder than their parents, but won’t achieve the same life-style.”

• Adam Walker is a pool cleaner with Wall Street aspirations.

• Dallas likes all varieties of women.

• Teresa watches smutty movies.

• Teresa has binged Valium.

• 18 red roses cost $40 in Ocean City.

• Sea Knoll Court is mostly 70’s-Modern houses.

• Diverting mail is a federal offense.

• Teresa Jane now goes by T.J.

• F.J. Barnheim’s is a discount house.

• Endberg Steel (EnbrgSt), Riviera Bank & Trust (RvBkTr), and Gossimer’s (Gossmr) are all part of an inside trader investigation.

• Herbie gives Dallas his room for the rest of the summer for the price of $1.00.

• Print was dead in 1991.

• Guava is not rare.

• Olivia and Calvert Miles had a net worth of $15 million.

• Jeannie was always scraping to get by.

• “This is how every event in human existence is to be interpreted. And any occurrence that takes place can be used for profit, it can be analyzed and made into money if the opportunity is seized by the right individual. And why should that quest for money be limited to following a certain path? There is no guarantee that life holds security for anyone. People work lifetimes for companies with the hope - with the assumption - that the pension plan they contribute to for their entire working life will provide for their golden years.  But when the company goes bankrupt, the pension plan washes out, and what happens to the man who spent his entire life frugally setting the money aside so that his final years could be consumed by expense-covered trips to a series of doctors whose only desire is to keep the man alive so that he can get sick again and come back?"

• Bearded pipe smokers from Pennsylvania are the worst possible demographics for a driver in the Mid-Atlantic region.

• Adam knows how to fly an airplane.

• If you enjoyed this book, you were able to write to Mystery Editor, Walker and Company, 720 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10019.

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Overall, standard mystery, just set at the beach this time.  If you have ever been to Ocean City, MD, walked the Boardwalk, seen the Atlantic from there, it's a good throwback to some classic sights.

Recommended.  Especially for Ocean City and Maryland fans.

On to Book #166: Argylle by Elly Conway.

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Need to catch up?  See previous blog post: Saturday Night Dead.