October's Books

Disgraced detective Andrew Yancey is now a health inspector, shutting down restaurants for rats and roaches. Hollywood agent Lane Coolman represents Buck Nance, a reality tv star, in the “Duck Dynasty” mode. Only Buck is really an accordion player from suburban Milwaukee.

When Merry Mansfield rear-ends Coolman’s car on the road to the Florida Keys, it starts a chain reaction of kidnapping, a hate crime murder, and Mafia business deals. Yancey, who is trying to get his detective’s shield back, is battling his neighbor, a product liability lawyer, who wants to build a McMansion that will block Yancey’s view. Giant Gambian pouched rats have appeared in a local restaurant, and it falls to Yancey to capture the beasts.

All the elements of a Hiassen book—a beautiful woman outwitting the system, unscrupulous Florida businessmen, invasive species, and a character down on his luck—are here and add to the surreal mix that makes his books twisted and funny.

 

I am Brian Wilson by Brian Wilson
Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen
When Krishna Calls by Susan Oleksiv
Butcher's Moon by Richard Stark

April's Books

In Skink: No Surrender, Carl Hiaasen's latest book, fourteen year old Richard is the only one who sees through his cousin Malley’s ruse. She told her parents she was leaving for boarding school but she left the airport and got into a car with a strange man she met on the internet. She begged Richard not to tell, but when he met a strange old man on the beach—one with bird beaks in his beard, a missing eye, and picture perfect teeth—he spills the story. He’s worried about Malley, although she claims she’s having an adventure.

The seemingly crazy old man, who turns out to be ex-governor Clint Tyree, is assumed to be dead. He tells he’ll help Richard track down his cousin, and with some behind the scenes help from a retired Florida Highway Patrol trooper, they locate Malley. As usual in Hiassen’s books, there are colorful characters, wild animals, and nature at odds with man. This is Hiassen’s first young adult book, but all fans of Hiassen will want to read Skink’s latest adventure.

 

Skink: no surrender by Carl Hiaasen
Death of a Liar by M.C. Beaton
Catification: Designing a Happy and Stylish Home for your Cat by Jackson Galaxy
Lady Parts by Andrea Martin
Rancher Rescue by Barb Han
The Rome Affair by Addison Fox
Scene of the Crime: Baton Rouge by Carla Cassidy
When No One is Watching by Natalie Charles
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
Dead Wake: the Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
Alive at 5 by Linda Bond
Dead on Arrival by Lori Avocato

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen

There are a couple of things you can count on in a Carl Hiaasen book. One is that the bad guys will be despoiling the environment in some way. Another is that there will be a deranged animal running amok. And finally, that the result will be a wickedly funny book. In “Bad Monkey,” Andrew Yancy has been asked to leave both the Miami-Dade Police and the Monroe County Sheriff's office, and has been hidden away doing restaurant inspections. His predecessor died of Hepatitis and Yancy, who can't stomach another filthy kitchen, has dropped eleven pounds in three weeks.
Then he comes into possession of a human arm, hooked by tourists on a charter fishing boat. The sheriff, who has political ambitions, wants the arm out of his jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, a developer is putting up a huge house right next door to Yancy, and has driven away the tiny Key deer and spoiled Yancy's view. A fun story, where the good guys prevail and the bad guys get what's coming to them.

June's Books

“Guy Fieri Food” is a big, bold , colorful volume, much like the author himself. Fieri writes about his lifelong love of food and tells stories about his family and friends. He started with a pretzel cart when he was a child, opened a restaurant “Johnny Garlic” and became a fixture on television food shows. Many of the recipes feature frilled meats, bacon, and hot peppers. There’s bacon-wrapped shrimp with chipotle BBQ sauce, banana pepper sauerkraut, and penne with Cajun hot links and chipotle shrimp.

Not all the recipes are so over-the-top. There are also some with interesting flavors, but lighter on the heat and the meat. Like pepper jack pretzels, coffee bananas foster, and watermelon pork tacos.

Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland by Ace Atkins

Murder at the Castle by Jeanne Dams

Time Flies by Claire Cook

Guy Fieri Food by Guy Fieri

The Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen

Trouble in the Town Hall by Jeanne Dams

A Tine to Live, a Tine to Die by Edith Maxwell

In High Places with Henry David Thoreau by John Gibson