The Great Birthright: An Oregon Novel

In his fiction debut, Matt Love bends and twists the detective novel genre with hilarious, unexpected and political results. The premise: a Los Angeles developer is trying to privatize Oregon’s publicly-owned beaches, its vaunted “great birthright,” and only one washed up detective and self published writer can stop him.

In The Great Birthright, a slick and tanned Los Angeles developer, Ronald Ryan, colludes with medieval US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to have Oregon’s famous 1967 Beach Bill declared unconstitutional. Once the Beach Bill disappears into the ashbin of history, say “hello” to the New Jersey and Malibufication of Oregon’s beaches: boardwalks, espresso stands, security guards, fences, no dogs, no bonfires, no fort building, NO TRESPASSING signs. Welcome to hell.

Matt Love, a writer and teacher living on the Oregon Coast, catches wind of the conspiracy and enlists a private detective for help. The detective, Tom West, has given up on life, lives in a trailer, hangs out the Mad Dog Country Tavern, and drinks Rainier all day. Love convinces West to join the cause, and together they hatch an outrageous plan to crush their foes by unleashing a weapon of mass destruction against privatization—Oregon’s unique and passionate relationship to its “great birthright.”