Key West Series by Laurence Shames
Key West #9
KW 09:Shot on Location
Laurence Shames
Take three speedboats, a disgruntled ghostwriter, and a hit TV show starring a gorgeous but impossible diva and created by a driven genius who may be losing his marbles. Add a fearless and gleefully profane stuntwoman, an ancient Mafioso with a chihuahua, and a revenge-crazed blonde in gladiator sandals. Stir in a thug with a heart of gold and an inveterate slacker who yearns for glory. Whisk a loopy but tender romance into the mix, turn the whole crew loose in the liberating and seductive sunshine of the Florida Keys—and what do you have? SHOT ON LOCATION, the new and long-awaited Key West novel by Laurence Shames. Hilarious and suspenseful, wisecracking and wise, this is the most intoxicating story yet from the author of such cult classics as FLORIDA STRAITS and SUNBURN. Longtime Shames fans will rejoice at his return to the fictional turf of Key West and the reappearance of some of his most beloved characters. And new readers will find themselves in for a hell of a ride as Hollywood glitz meets Florida funky.**
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Key West #9.50
KW09b:Chickens
Laurence Shames
Chickens. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are actually birds. But dogs can also be chickens, and so can people. In fact, all of us are chickens at various times, generally when we are confronted by new and daunting situations, when we are yanked from our comfortable routines and thrust into a world that seems—and is—mysterious and strange. For an old man named Bert the Shirt, unwelcome change comes by way of a slip-and-fall that necessitates his moving out of his long-occupied Key West condo and into a compound filled with nudists and eccentrics. For Bert and his chihuahua, everything has suddenly been scrambled. Doors and windows are not where they should be. There are new names to be remembered, new customs to absorb. Most jarring of all, there are weird and primal sounds in the night, courtesy of a tireless feral rooster staked out in an alleyway next door. Can the real chicken and the figurative chickens peacefully co-exist? Must there be a confrontation, and if so, who will win it? This story, by turns poignant and hilarious, traces the trajectory of Bert’s fears and triumph as he and his less than heroic dog face down their respective demons and prove to themselves that they aren’t chicken.
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Key West #11
Key West #13
Key West #14
Nacho Unleashed
Laurence Shames
Key West has a new hero…He weighs four pounds and stands eight inches off the ground. His name is Nacho and he’s the bravest, shrewdest, funniest Chihuahua you will ever meet. He’ll do anything to help his master, the retired Mafioso Bert the Shirt, and his friends—especially the beautiful Rita, with whom Nacho is smitten from the very first time she reaches down to scratch his ears. Wise-cracking Rita, straight out of Jersey, is new in town and needs a job. A gig at Wreckers Rum seems promising, but there’s something, well, a little off about the place. It doesn’t sell much booze, yet maintains a classy tasting room on prime Key West waterfront. Where’s the money coming from? Who’s the oddly chivalrous mobster behind the operation? What’s up with the crazy scientist in flip-flops toiling away in his triple-locked lab behind the distillery? And how might Rita get closer to the irresistible but aloof young chief distiller whose only passion seems to be for making rum? Determined to find both answers and true love, undaunted Rita lands herself in some very hot water—hot rum, actually—and it will take a special kind of devoted and unleashed hero to rescue her. Oh…and one more thing about Nacho. He’s not just brave; he talks, lending plenty of loopy canine wisdom to this rollicking, sun-drenched story of rum and romance, chemistry and crime, friendship, family, and the sacred responsibilities of loyalty.
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