Florida has been a popular setting for mysteries for a long time. The Travis Magee series from the venerable John D McDonald remains a landmark against which so many other noir style writers are judged. Jonathon King’s Max Freeman series, Bob Morris‘ Zack Chasteen series follow in McDonald’s footsteps.
Elmore Leonard was the first of what is now a well established field of off-beat story tellers who loved the blatant corruption and flamboyant characters that seem to be so much a part of Florida. This is a tradition carried on and enhanced by the likes of Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey. Then there are the legal thrillers by James Grippando and Paul Levine. Or how about Cuban-American PI Lupe Solano by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera? And tiny Sanibel Island off Florida’s west coast (and a favorite vacation spot of mine) plays host to thriller reader’s Doc Ford books by Randy Wayne White. ( I personally think the earlier books are far better than any of his last 8 or so.) Christine Kling bases her Seychelle Sullivan series in Ft Lauderdale. So many writers – Les Standiford, James O Born, John Lutz, Charles Willeford, Laurence Shames, and James Swain to name a few – and I admit to being rather heavy on the noir style writers as they are are my favorites.
But the Keys, that beautiful string of islands that stretches out 127 miles along the Overseas Highway, has landed it’s share of fictional detectives. The Torn series by James W Hall is best known, but my personal favorite is Tom Corcoran’s Alex Rutledge series set in Key West. He’s only written 6 mysteries in nearly 14 years, but they’re more than worth reading. Given memorable titles like Air Dance Iguana, The Mango Opera, Octopus Alibi, and Bone Island Mambo, the books are terrific mysteries and entertaining reads – and available on PBS. In fact, most of the authors named above have all, or at least some of their books available here.
Yes, there are cozies in Florida too, just not as many as you might think. Elaine Viets mines this field with her Dead-End Jobs series, Rita Lakin with the Gladdy Gold books, Mary Kennedy‘s Maggie Walsh books (I like this series), Deborah Sharp‘s Mace Bauer series, and Nancy J Cohen‘s Marla Shore books. Now, Lucy Burdette has chosen Key West as the setting for her Key West Food Critic mysteries featuring 25 year old Hayley Snow, a young woman searching for a life.
Hayley was swept off her feet by Chad Lutz, a divorce lawyer in Key West visiting his mother in New Jersey. He returns to Key West and in one of those heat of the moment things asks her to come live with him. Hayley jumps at the chance – much to her mother’s dismay, and picks and moves down. In the ‘repent in leisure’ category, this was a perfect bad choice, for both of them. She catches Chad in bed with another woman he throws her out. Hayley ends up living on a small houseboat with her old friend Connie and looking for work on an island with too many people and not enough jobs. Also in Key West is her gay friend Alex, a psychologist and her dinner ‘date’ at Seven Fishes, a restaurant she’s planning to review for a food critic job with Key Zest, a new publication. The big problem is, Kristen Faulkner, the woman Hayley caught Chad with, is the owner. The way Kristen acts, you’d think it was Hayley who was caught doing something, not the other way around.
Next morning, as she’s struggling with the restaurant review, the cops arrive. Kirsten Faulkner has been murdered and she’s suspect number one. Detective Bransford might be a hunk, but having him accuse her of murder is a real turn off. Then things get really strange. The elderly lady next door is attacked, the houseboat where she’s living is ransacked and the only thing missing is her 5 year old Apple laptop, then she’s run off the road and shot at as she’s returning from Miami – but no one believes her, not even her best friend Alex. Of course, it was his beloved classic Mustang that got flipped, so he might have good reason to be annoyed.
Hayley does what all amateurs do in these books and starts investigating the people involved with Kirsten herself. Turns out, lots of people had good reason to hate her, even her partner in the new Key Zest publication. And Chad is such a self-adsorbed lump, you have to wonder why she ever came to Key West to be with him. The whole ‘he was different in New Jersey’ thing did not jibe for me. Who did it and why was very good, but the ‘how was it done’ discovery was way too pat. And that’s the tale of the two sides of An Appetite for Murder, really good mixed with a healthy dose of ‘can she really be so stupid?’
As for capturing the atmosphere of Key West, the book was adequate, but certainly not at the level of Tom Corcoran’s work. I saw several things that reminded me of Corcoran’s books – including the Mustang, though his Alex Rutledge character has a Shelby Mustang Cobra. (Notice that both guys are named Alex!) Houseboats are a favorite way for ordinary people to live there and have been for a long time. I real life, the food is good, the place laid back, and once away from the tourist areas, it’s really a beautiful spot. And I am sorry the drive from Key West to Miami was done in the pouring rain in the book because it is easily one of the most scenic drives anywhere in the country, one that any island fancier should make at least once.
OK, I admit I have issues with characters like Hayley Snow. My patience for the self indulgent practice of ‘finding’ one’s self is pretty much non-existent. Anyone who had to shoulder responsibility early in life knows just how annoying this really is, especially at 25 years of age. Hayley too often acts like she’s still 18 and the world revolves around her and her inability to be independent and make smart, tough decisions. This is not to say the personality isn’t dead on for many 25 year olds, just that it really annoys me. Getting past that is a bit of a struggle.
It’s hard for me to fairly judge a book with a lead character that irritates me much of the time. The writing is decent for a cozy, though it lacks the rich, descriptive style that makes places like Ket West jump to life. As usual, the story is told in the first person. Hayley’s dependence on tarot readings was a shade off-putting for me, though obviously meant to be quirky. Chad had no redeeming character at all. He was just mean, petty, spiteful, and a total jerk. He reminded me of the infamous ‘Dickie’ in the Stephanie Plum books. Kirsten was another petty, spiteful person – and was rich to boot, but at least she’s dead. They pretty much deserved each other. Detective Bransford is never fleshed out as a personality. Since he’ll obviously play a part in future books, that was disappointing. Gay friend Alex and buddy Connie are also barely-there characters, and the way Hayley abuses their friendship says a lot about her immaturity. As I said, that’s a sore point with me. I did like her concern and caring for her elderly neighbor and for the homeless men in town. I will try book 2 in the series and hope Hayley gets over her initial bad impression on me and the other characters begin to take on life. Overall, I’d give An Appetite for Murder a C+.
