Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 4/16/2025 + 1253 more book reviews

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!

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details