What do a dead clown, a murderous turkey cult and groups of buskers battling it out for territory all have in common?
Well, a couple of things, it turns out.
First, they all inhabit Santa Lacrimosa—a fictitious beach town that Santa Cruzans might find a little too familiar. Second, they were all written by local Santa Cruz independent author, Whiskey Leavins, who just published his third book in the Santa Lacrimosa series: The Busker War: A Sarah and Jess Adventure, now available at Bookshop Santa Cruz and on Amazon.
“I’m about laughs, first and foremost,” says Leavins—whose real name is John Williamson Page (seriously). “I’d probably call myself a humorist before I call myself a ‘novelist.’”
He pauses before adding with a laugh, “But I like to think there’s something of value there in the books.”
Part Raymond Chandler, part Christopher Moore, a Whiskey Leavins book is for fans of dry—and dirty—humor. For example, his first book is a collection of short stories called The Devil’s Own Piss and Other Stories with the tagline, “This is Definitely an R-Rated Book.”
“I didn’t think of it as being that offensive,” explains Page. “But for the Santa Lacrimosa novels I dialed it back a bit. However, there’s still plenty of dirty jokes and I still make fun of religion in all my books.”
The Busker War is the fourth book published under the Leavins name and the third in Page’s Santa Lacrimosa series following Murder in Greasepaint and A Turkey Danced Death. A bustling beach town, Santa Lacrimosa boasts a university and community clown college, a boardwalk, a wharf, several dive bars like the Liv (The Asti) and the Pretty Baby (Blue Lagoon) and a main drag in the downtown called—what else—Seafoam Street. It’s a case of “write what you know” that has gained a life of its own.
“When I first started writing it was convenient to already know the geography,” Page admits. “But then it turned into a thing. I got a lot of feedback from Santa Cruzans who read Murder saying it was fun to figure out what is what.”
It’s a choice that has been profitable for the author.
“When people go to the Local Author section, they like to see things that represent Santa Cruz,” says Bookshop Santa Cruz’s local author coordinator, who goes by the single name Yves. “It’s never too weird.”
Yves says at any given time Bookshop Santa Cruz—which just celebrated its 58th anniversary in mid-November—has anywhere from 200 to 400 local authors available on their shelves. Anyone interested in selling their words at the Bay Area favorite can find all the information on Bookshop’s website.
“I was comparing [Leavins’ books] to others and he sells well,” Yves explains. “I think the most important thing he does for himself is have multiple titles. Independent authors don’t make that much money from one book but over time from a large backlist.”
The first two Santa Lacrimosa publications follow a hard-drinking, noir-style detective for the Santa Lacrimosa Police Department named Rock Cobbler. Despite the trope, Cobbler isn’t really a tough guy in the classic sense. Sure, he can throw a punch and take one like the best of ’em, but he hates carrying a gun. Plus, instead of solving cases, Cobbler ends up falling into the answers with the help of his official partner, Luis Ruvalcaba, and his unofficial partners and friends, Sarah Milliner—a nerdy in the best way head librarian at the Santa Lacrimosa Clown College—and a goth, transwoman bartender at the Statesman (a midtown bar that’s a combination of Brady’s Yacht Club and the ex-Blue Lounge now Hold Fast Lounge), who goes by the single name Jess.
In The Busker War, a new busker comes to town wearing a giant, blue bird costume to take photos with tourists for money at the wharf. However, this newbie—who ends up getting the nickname #badbluebird—is very un-Santa Lacrimosan. He’s a homophobic, transphobic white nationalist who is in town to stir up controversy and chaos during the annual cornhole contest. Cobbler is out of town on a much-needed gambling and boozing vacation in Vegas, so it’s up to Jess, Sarah and Luis to figure out who he is and what he’s up to in a Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew style adventure.
It’s an idea he spawned last year when Santa Cruz had its own bad Cookie Monster last year.
“I like the idea of being able to write something that’s not Rock Cobbler but in the same place,” Page says. “So Sarah and Jess are amateurs who go off sleuthing.”
Born to Baptist missionaries in the city of Torreón in the Mexican state of Coahuila, Page’s family moved to Mexico City shortly after. It was there that Page was first bitten by the humorist bug when he wrote a story for English class from the perspective of someone interviewing Wile E. Coyote from Looney Tunes.
However, it wasn’t until later in life that Whiskey Leavins was created. Page needed a pseudonym for his blog, which featured short stories that later became The Devil’s Own Piss. Many of the stories began as jokes he already had the punchline for, but needed to come up with the backstory. It was while he was compiling The Devil’s Own Piss that Page began writing Rock Cobbler.
“I wanted to try my hand at a novel,” Page says. “And I had the first bit for Murder with detectives looking down on the sidewalk at a dead clown. It was going to be a story for the blog but I thought, ‘I wonder if there’s something I can do with this.’”
Despite The Busker War still in its fledgling stages of retail, Page is already working on his next couple of novels, which will be centered around Cobbler once more.
“The next, next book is shaping up like it’s probably going to be an honest-to-god whodunnit,” he says. “Which will be more of a challenge because I just want to create funny characters and throw them together.”
