[FIND] Vice - Ratchet up Your Adrenaline with Sam Capra

Latest offering from Jeff Abbott

Sam Capra, the unassuming hero of Adrenaline, looks like Joe-anybody, doesn't stand out in a crowd. He's a wiry character, standing six feet tall, with dirty blond hair and blue eyes. And he runs Parkour for fun and fitness, vaulting himself over and up walls with grace and ease. He also, within one week of being introduced, propelled himself onto several best seller lists, 23 in the New York Times, 20 in Publishers Weekly, two of the standards in the industry.

We caught up with internationally acclaimed author Jeff Abbott (Capra's creator) between book signings and interviews on Friday afternoon last week. Abbott says of Capra, "Sometimes, because he's sort of trim and not a big bulky guy, the bad guys underestimate him.

"[Sam] can't handle everything that he gets into, that would be pretty boring," says Abbott. But he can hold his own.

Abbott has crafted in Capra a new kind of hero. He's good looking, but he doesn't know it. He's young for the genre, only 25 years old. But in spite of his youth, he's quick of wit, fleet of feet, and, thanks to world-traveling aid-worker parents and extensive CIA training, he's - well - extremely capable.

In one scene from Adrenaline, Abbott's 12th book, our hero Sam Capra faces a crew of roughnecks in a bar fight. "His first thought is you actually take the biggest guy down first," Abbott says, "That will affect the emotions of the others. This may not be true, but he's - that's how he's thinking -  strategically." That's about what one would expect from a recently defrocked CIA operative: efficient, thoughtful,  strategic - extremely capable.

Mr. Capra, in the course of this first-in-a-series novel, comes into ownership of a number of bars around the globe. While he's not prone to vice, Capra (like so many spies and PIs) savors a fine cocktail. Upon entering one of his newly acquired watering holes for the first time, Abbott says. "[Sam's] happy to see that they are mixing the cocktails with care."

So I think it's safe to say that were Capra to own a bar in Nashville, it would likely be The Patterson House, where they, as Abbot would say, "know what they are doing." For the [FIND] Vice cocktail pairing—this month with our newly introduced action hero, Sam Capra—James Hensley has lent us one of his favorite, hand-crafted summer drinks.

The Montgomery Fizz

2          oz        Tanqueray

1/8       oz        La Muse Vert Absinthe

3/4       oz        Fresh lime juice

3/4       oz        Ginger syrup

2                      sprigs of mint

1                      Splash of tonic water and club soda

Bruise the mint in the bottom of a mixing tin and then add the other ingredients. Shake briefly and strain into a collins glass filled with ice. Top with a splash of tonic water and club soda. Garnish with a mint sprig and a piece of ginger candy.

*Two things you need to do right now: Pick up a copy of Adrenaline, by Jeff Abbott and drop by The Patterson House for a Montgomery Fizz. You'll be glad on both counts.

[FIND] Vice - Travis McGee

Our P.I. hero this month isn't even a real P.I. But go ahead; try and turn him away. Standing 6'4" with a 205 lb frame, 33" waist, and size 46L sport coat, he sees no need to suffer fools or take "no" for an answer.

Travis McGee, "salvage consultant," is one of the best-loved characters in the detective genre. Sure, he's not actually a licensed shamus, but no matter. He is The Man.

McGee's creator John D. MacDonald crafted color-coded time capsules of a bygone era--a swampy, 1960s Florida landscape that's been drained and paved by the kind of venal lowlifes McGee loves to punish. McGee's paternal, almost condescending eye for the fairer sex reflects a "Mad Men" ethos that borders on predatory but reflects the Man's Man attitudes of the day. Although McGee, in his words, "cut a wide swath through a wall of female flesh," don't judge him by our more "enlightened" present. MacDonald was writing about his own era and, thus, carries the authenticity of Spillane's 1950s, with its attendant paranoia, racism, and homophobia, swept neatly under a carpet of illusory innocence.

Detective novelist George Pelecanos calls Travis McGee "the embodiment of early 60s male wish-fulfillment." And when you think about it, what man wouldn't want his build, and his life: no real job, no cubicle, no nine-to-five. He's capable with his fists but no bully. He's tall and handsome, but a thinking man's action hero, despite his physicality. McGee's best pal Meyer, summed it up: "Add all those ingredients together and stir well, and you can come up with a lasting case of psychological impotence."

"The only suitable attitude towards oneself and the world is the awareness of pathetic, slapstick comedy."  -Travis McGee, from Free Fall in Crimson


The Cocktail
courtesy of our own Patterson House mixologist, James Hensley, who writes The Spirit Monkey blog.


The Busted Flush, a manly swizzle

2 oz.     Flor de Cana 7-year rum
1/2 oz.  Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
1/2 oz.  Orange Reduction
1/4 oz.  Demerara Syrup
3           large lime cut into 1/8ths

Muddle the lime eighth in the bottom of a Collins glass. Fill glass 3/4 full with crushed ice, then add all the liquid ingredients. Swizzle until a fine layer of frost forms on the exterior of the glass, making sure to keep the lime rinds at the bottom of the glass. Fill rest of glass to heaping with more crushed ice, and garnish with a standing lime wheel on the rim of the glass. Stir well...and forget the consequences.


The Cigar

Joe Zike, UPtowns cigar expert and wordsmith extraordinaire, pairs McGee with a Montecristo No. 2.

Joe: "The protagonist of arguably the best detective series ever written will smoke one of the best Cuban cigars in production, the Montecristo No. 2. This cigar offers the tan, ruminating Floridian the perfect opportunity to extemporize his philosophies. Just over six inches long with a 52 ring gauge, the cigar offers an hour-long indulgence in cocoa and leather flavors. While it could serve as a welcome hiatus, for McGee it has more of a fourth wall effect, as he places the absurdities and violent images of his work in and out of context, resulting in a pithy perspective."

Farewell Robert B. Parker (1932 - 2010)

A dear friend and mentor stopped by my house several years ago and dropped of the book Double Duce, by Robert B. Parker. Now, my friend and mentor is a writer of some acclaim, and I trust his literary tastes. He’s referred me to Thomas Merton, Graham Green, and John Le Carre, to name a few. This gives you some idea of the breadth of my friend's leaning when it comes to the written word. So I never question my friend’s book suggestions. I just pick them up, dive in head first, and read.

Robert B. Parker was a departure for my friend, but right inside my wheelhouse. I fell for it. I love plot- driven thrillers, can’t get enough of them. I burn through the pages sometimes one book a day (when on vacation). I did that with Double Duce, finished in one day. Only problem was, I was supposed to be working that day. Oh well.

Robert B. Parker’s gift, his purpose here on earth was to write dialogue. No one did it better. Natural, easy, clever, smart, Parker had it all. Jesse Stone chatting with his shrink, Dr. Dix,... nothing short of poetry. When planning a long surveillance, a day sitting in the car for hours on end, I’ll often turn to Robert B. Parker’s books on CD to help the time pass.

Check out the NPR remembrance of Parker here.