Helpful Score: 2
Great humorous look at life and crime in Southern FL. As always, a memorable cast of characters!
Helpful Score: 2
Great read. Entertaining. Moves right along. Great cast of characters keeps you hoping that the good guys win.
Helpful Score: 2
I enjoyed it very much and ordered a couple of more of his books. A former investigative reporter is demoted to the obituary page and then becomes embroiled in a murder mystery. Really interesting and funny sidebits about the newspaper business and good twist and turns along the way. It is particularly funny about associating things that happen with the deaths of famous persons.
Helpful Score: 1
Another fun outing from Hiaasen. The protagonist of this one is Jack Tagger who is stuck writing obituaries for a Florida daily newspaper after he insulted the owner of the paper. He longs to be back in the action writing more significant stories and when he gets assigned to write the obit for a former rock star, he may have what he has been looking for. Jimmy Stoma who once headed the band Jimmy and the Slut Puppies dies in a scuba "accident" but Tagger smells something fishy. Was it an accident or was he murdered? And if so, was his young widow behind it? The widow is an up and coming pop singer named Cleo Rio who has only one hit to her name but she is longing for more claiming that she and Jimmy were working together on a new album for her. But Jimmy's sister tends to disagree telling Jack that Cleo was not working with Jimmy. So what would her motivation be if she was responsible for Jimmy's death? And can Jack pull together a crime story that will give him a leg up in his newspaper career?
As usual I really enjoyed this novel from Hiaasen. This one focusses on the newspaper business but it was also filled with a lot of trivia related to music and personalities dating back to the 60s. I admit the novel did seem somewhat dated. It was originally published in 2002 at the time when most newspapers in print were on the edge of being overtaken by the internet. It was also before online music was the norm and when CDs were still the standard for music. But it was definitely an enjoyable trip through Hiaasen's Florida. Hiaasen actually wrote a song along with Warren Zevon called Basket Case which he attributes to Jimmy and the Slut Puppies. Good stuff! This is actually the last adult Hiaasen novel I had yet to read. But I am looking forward to his next one, Fever Beach which comes out next month (May 2025). Can't wait!
As usual I really enjoyed this novel from Hiaasen. This one focusses on the newspaper business but it was also filled with a lot of trivia related to music and personalities dating back to the 60s. I admit the novel did seem somewhat dated. It was originally published in 2002 at the time when most newspapers in print were on the edge of being overtaken by the internet. It was also before online music was the norm and when CDs were still the standard for music. But it was definitely an enjoyable trip through Hiaasen's Florida. Hiaasen actually wrote a song along with Warren Zevon called Basket Case which he attributes to Jimmy and the Slut Puppies. Good stuff! This is actually the last adult Hiaasen novel I had yet to read. But I am looking forward to his next one, Fever Beach which comes out next month (May 2025). Can't wait!
Helpful Score: 1
Living in Florida, working at a theme park, Carl's work hits home for me. I love his humor, a little trashy in all the right places, definitely "R" rated. Great departure..
