All Hat A Novel

Just out of prison for attacking the man who assaulted his sister, Ray Dokes heads back to the small town where he was raised. Vowing to lie low, he moves in with Pete Culpepper, a Texas cowboy who has always been a grounding influence on Ray, but whose debts are growing faster than his corn. Between roofing houses and watching Pete's nine-year-old gelding at the races, Ray soon develops a plan to con his sister's attacker, a local heir to an electronics fortune and a know-nothing horse breeder, out of a considerable chunk of money. Surprisingly poignant yet laugh- out-loud funny, All Hat tells a classic story of little guys fighting big guys and reaffirming the meaning of honesty and friendship--and second chances--in the process.

Brad Smith lives in Dunnville, Ontario. He is also the author of the novels Rises A Moral Man and One-Eyed Jacks, which was nominated for Canada's Dashiell Hammett Prize. All Hat is his first novel to be published in the United States.

"It's been awhile since I've read a novel so packed with vivid, energetic, pulsating characters. Their creator--Brad Smith--is a writer with lots of skill, lots of heart, lots of brains, and, yes, lots of hat." --Richard Russo

"For such a furiously funny writer, Smith has great reserves of tenderness." --The New York Times Book Review

"All Hat is an incendiary example of pedal-to-the-floor country noir. Brad Smith has got the goods--he's funny, poignant, evocative, and he tells a blistering tale. A writer to watch, a comet on the horizon." --Dennis Lehane

"Brad Smith could give clinics on how to write a mystery novel." --The Charlotte Observer