Mon 20 Feb 2023
An Archived Review by Barry Gardner: LAURENCE SHAMES – Tropical Depression.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[12] Comments
LAURENCE SHAMES – Tropical Depression. Hyperion, hardcover, 1996.
Shames ls one of the few down-and-dirty Florida writers I’ve enjoyed at all, and it took two books before I gave him even that much. The last two featured a family of gangsters named Goldman, but other than a walk-on by one of them at the beginning, they’re not in this one.
Murray Zemelman, a lingerie mogul from Jersey known as “the Bra King,” gets depressed, pops a Prozac, and heads for Key West, Florida-leaving behind the bra business and a mid-life-crisis second wife. Not so coincidentally, his first wife is in Florida. Murray .meets a retired Mafioso, a Native American who’s the last surviving member of his tribe, and a shady Florida politician (redundancy?), and before you know it is involved in a scheme to help the N. A. Old Murray’s decisions haven’t been so good beginning with the one to leave his first wife, though, and matters don’t go quite as he planned.
Take one thoroughly Jewish garment-maker, add a couple of Italian gangsters and a generic Florida politician, and then stir in a down-and-out Indian… Shames writes a brand of fiction that’s hard for me to describe. It certainly isn’t farce, though some of the strokes are broad; it’s occasionally amusing, but not really light-hearted; and it’s serious and rough-edged without being grim.
There — does that help? Well, maybe not, but I liked the book anyway. He does really good characters and ethic dialogue; some of the characters are small masterpieces, really. Maybe a little less manic Hiassen, or a bit softer Leonard?
Hell, I don’t know. Try it.
The “Key West Capers” —
1. Florida Straits (1992)
2. Scavenger Reef (1994)
3. Sunburn (1995)
4. Tropical Depression (1996)
5. Virgin Heat (1997)
6. Mangrove Squeeze (1998)
7. Welcome to Paradise (1999)
8. The Naked Detective (2000)
9. Shot on Location (2013)
10. Tropical Swap (2014)
10.5 Chickens (2015)
11. Key West Luck (2015)
12. One Strange Date (2017)
13. One Big Joke (2017)
14. Nacho Unleashed (2019)
15. The Paradise Gig (2020)
16. Key West Normal (2021)
17. Relative Humidity (2023)
February 20th, 2023 at 8:32 pm
Barry reviewed two of the earlier books in the series, and you can find them here:
#1. Florida Straits. https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=31303
#3. Sunburn. https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=54551
February 20th, 2023 at 9:02 pm
I probably should have given Shames a better chance, but at the time the down and dirty Florida novel was wearing thin for me, ringing the same changes regardless of who wrote it.
They all seemed to be quirky, farcical, hyper violent, and up to their necks in eccentricity. It was like reading the same book over and over with different characters.
February 20th, 2023 at 9:39 pm
Somebody must be reading these. It’s never been me, but that’s a long list of books he’s written, and he has one coming out this year, which I hadn’t expected when I added the list at the end of Barry’s review.
February 21st, 2023 at 9:01 am
A few years ago I made myself a little list of Florida mystery writers, whom I tend to like very much for all the reasons that David V. doesn’t. I have not updated this, but it might be useful for some.
Glynn Marsh Alam
Ace Atkins
Dave Barry
James O. Born
Edna Buchanan
Nancy J. Cohen
Tom Corcoran
Harry Crews
Tim Dorsey
Mary Ann Evans
Carolina Garcia-Aguilera
James Grippando
James W. Hall
Brett Halliday
Vicki Hendricks
Jeffrey Hess
Carl Hiaasen
Stuart Kaminsky
Jonathon King
Christine Kling
Elmore Leonard
Paul Levine
Jeff Lindsay
John Lutz
John D. MacDonald
Geoffrey Norman
Barbara Parker
Steph Post
Lawrence Sanders
Alex Segura
Laurence Shames
Les Standiford
Elaine Viets
Randy Wayne White
Charles Willeford
Stuart Woods
February 21st, 2023 at 9:35 am
Nice list, Patrick.
I see there was a big gap between THE NAKED DETECTIVE in 2000 and SHOT ON LOCATION in 2013. I wonder why.
I read the first few of his. The first Joey Goldman book, FLORIDA STRAITS, hit a chord for me when we first drove down to Key West over the Seven Mile Bridge and the rest of the trip, which Shames describes perfectly. The Key West part was fun, but after a few books I tried one that I didn’t care for and never went back.
February 21st, 2023 at 2:50 pm
As to the gap, you’re right. It’s a sizable one. I wondered if it had to with this, which I found on his web page:
“Shames has also authored non-fiction and enjoyed considerable though largely secret success as a collaborator and ghostwriter, having discreetly penned four New York Times bestsellers. These have appeared on four different lists, under four different names, none of them his own. This might be a record.”
And from Wikipedia, possibly filling in the gap, but not knowing which books he wrote under a pen name:
Living Large: A Big Man’s Ideas on Weight, Success, and Acceptance (with Michael S. Berman) (2006)
The Angels’ Share (2012)
Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well Lived (with Peter R. Barton) (2004)
February 21st, 2023 at 5:15 pm
I can already see that my list of Florida crime writers is missing Rufus King and Philip Wylie, so add those guys in. Of course, such a list is never really complete.
February 21st, 2023 at 6:00 pm
Other than California or New York, what other state has had more mystery stories taking place in it?
February 21st, 2023 at 7:32 pm
I really miss BARRY GARDNER and his wonderful reviews! Florida seems to be a prime location for crime and all sorts of wrong-doing. I enjoyed John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series set mostly in Florida.
February 21st, 2023 at 7:49 pm
I was, and am, a big fan of many of the writers on that list of Florida writers including Rufus King and Philip Wylie, but at some point I burned out.
That isn’t a rejection of the writers already on my list, I just didn’t feel like adding new ones anymore unless there was serious critical acclaim, or something sounded above average.
February 21st, 2023 at 8:41 pm
It occurs to me that the very fact that there are clichés and tropes specifically associated with Florida crime fiction means that it is a sub-genre ripe for study. There was an anthology from Bowling Green State University back in 1997 titled Crime Fiction and Film in the Sunshine State: Florida Noir, and there have been at least a couple of articles at CrimeReads, but I would say that there is ample room for a guidebook / annotated bibliography.
February 26th, 2023 at 4:43 am
William Fuller and Lorenz Heller also wrote books and short stories featuring Florida locations, both recently published by Stark House Press.