Jeff Johnson is a twenty-year veteran tattoo artist who has inked gang members, age-defying moms, and sociopaths; he's defused brawls and tended delicate egos. He is also the author of the memoir, Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink, and the novels Everything Under the Moon, Knottspeed, Deadbomb Bingo Rayand the first two novels in the Darby Holland crime novel series: Lucky Supreme and A Long Crazy Burn. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
“The bastard lovechild of Charles Bukowski and Raymond Chandler.”
—Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire Mysteries, the
basis of Netflix hit drama Longmire.
“What wonderful Northwest noir. … with a raunchy grace and an
unfailing sense of black humor.” —New York Times bestselling
and three-time Edgar Award-winning author, T. Jefferson
Parker
“Darby Holland is a modern hero in the mold of Sam Spade and
Marlowe only with more tattoos and in steel-toed boots.”—Ace
Atkins, New York Times bestselling author of The
Innocents
“Jeff Johnson is the real deal. His work is fast and funny, down
and dirty—one moment as smooth as 18-year-old bourbon and the next
as rough as a country road. A great talent, a pleasure to read.”
—Brad Smith, author of The Return of Kid Cooper
“Johnson launches the first of a noir trilogy with this highly
original caper novel. Darby Holland is the proprietor of the
Lucky Supreme, a tattoo parlor in the Old Town neighborhood of
Portland, Ore., where he and his artists, a gang of societal
misfits, have created their own niche within this gentrifying
community. Johnson, a veteran tattoo artist, captures the conflict
between the two cultures perfectly without any false sentiment . .
. The inventive, unorthodox Darby effectively marshals his forces
against thugs, officials, and even federal agents in this amusing
crime tale.”—Publishers Weekly (Starred
Review)
“Jeff Johnson writes with a poet’s rhythm, a boxer's attitude and
an artist’s sense of style and flair.”—Norman Green, Shamus
Award Winner of The Last Gig
“The author, a tattoo artist himself, gets props for not getting
all soapy and fuzzy with his setting, and Darby makes for an
intriguing narrator/storyteller... black humor tinged with a
rough poetry.... More please.”—Mystery Scene Magazine
“Lucky Supreme is a pulp elegy that offers escape from the
monotony of workaday life. It’s meant to be read in low light,
preferably at night, so that the protagonist's sawtoothed warble
might be heard in the proper context. . . .Johnson wields the lurid
pen of twentieth century crime novelists like Raymond Chandler and
Mickey Spillane and stands with contemporaries like Michael
Connelly and Walter Mosley to grace the grit of dark streets.”
— Matthew Denis, Eugene Weekly
"Jeff Johnson’s Lucky Supreme is a pulp elegy that offers escape
from the monotony of workaday life. It's meant to be read in low
light, preferably at night, so that the protagonist's sawtoothed
warble might be heard in the proper context. The protagonist, Darby
Holland, is a tattoo shop owner who's carved out a hardscrabble
niche from a destitute background. The plot arises from the tattoo
artist's ethos: do not let others take a bite out of you lest you
want to be eaten whole. Necessary revenge and bloody affairs follow
Holland from the seedy underbelly of Old Town Portland to the
zombieland of southern Oregon to San Francisco's decrepit
industrial warehouses and back home again. Indigent paupers under
the Burnside Bridge stand defiant against two encroaching worlds:
the insatiable appetites of kingpins and the ineffable seep of
gentrifying urbanites. In the tumbledown setting, Johnson draws a
sentimental context—a neon fever dream, a decrepit labyrinth that
only the down and out know profoundly; the only place that they can
call home. In Holland, Johnson carves a compassionate character —
damaged yet caring, gentle yet vicious about protecting the kin
that populate his world. Johnson wields the lurid pen of twentieth
century crime novelists like Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane
and stands with contemporaries like Michael Connelly and Walter
Mosley to grace the grit of dark streets. Whether readers can
relate or not, they won’t be able to resist rooting for the
charismatic Holland and empathizing with a man fighting to save his
own hide and the singular denizens of a grimy world." — Matthew
Denis, Eugene Weekly
"Johnson launches the first of a noir trilogy with this highly
original caper novel. Darby Holland is the proprietor of the Lucky
Supreme, a tattoo parlor in the Old Town neighborhood of Portland,
Ore., where he and his artists, a gang of societal misfits, have
created their own niche within this gentrifying community. Johnson,
a veteran tattoo artist, captures the conflict between the two
cultures perfectly without any false sentiment. A phone call from a
friend alerts Darby that Jason Bling, a former employee who quit
without notice some months ago, has surfaced in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Bling has stolen valuable original “flash” (tattoo designs) by
pioneer designer Roland Norton. Darby goes to Santa Cruz, where he
confronts Bling and figures out that Bling's new boss, Nicholas
Dong-ju, who owns a minimall in San Francisco, may have the stolen
flash. Darby ends up in a war with a wealthy collector who follows
him back to Old Town. The inventive, unorthodox Darby effectively
marshals his forces against thugs, officials, and even federal
agents in this amusing crime tale."-- PW (Starred)
"A gifted and natural born storyteller." -- John Irving
"What wonderful Northwest noir. Lucky Supreme cruises through
Portland's underworld with a raunchy grace and an unfailing sense
of black humor. I loved it." -New York Times bestselling & 3-time
Edgar Award-winning author T. Jefferson Parker
“The bastard lovechild of Charles Bukowski and Raymond Chandler,
Lucky Supreme is a novel so good you’ll want to ink it into your
skin.” -Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire Mysteries, the
basis of Netflix’s hit drama Longmire.
"Lucky Supreme is one hell of a book. I didn't know anyone could do
noir like this. Now I know Jeff Johnson can." -Joe R. Lansdale,
author of Paradise Sky.
"As hip and cool as the neon rain-slicked slicked streets of
Portland. Darby Holland is a modern hero in the mold of Sam Spade
and Marlowe only with more tattoos and in steel-toed boots. A funny
and very gritty book with cool folks, cool music, and wonderful
sense of place." -- Ace Atkins, New York Times Bestselling author
of The Innocents and Robert B. Parker's Slow Burn.
"Jeff Johnson is the real deal. His work is fast and funny, down
and dirty--one moment as smooth as 18-year-old bourbon and the next
as rough as a country road. A great talent, a pleasure to read." --
-Brad Smith, author of Red Means Run
"The author, a tattoo artist himself, gets props for not getting
all soapy and fuzzy with his setting, and Darby makes for an
intriguing narrator/storyteller, his black humor tinged with a
rough poetry that initially seems forced but eventually really gets
under your skin. More please."--Mystery Scene Magazine
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