From Publishers Weekly
Following up his hilarious Florida Straits , Shames delivers another dose of criminal high jinks in relentlessly bohemian Key West, although this tale falls a little short of the first's full measure of fun. The questionable artistic merit of iconoclastic painter Augie Silver doesn't matter much while he's still alive--not to him, his lovely wife and local smalltime gallery owner Nina, nor to their gay houseboy Reuben. But when Augie's ship fails to return to harbor after a January sail, things quickly change. Those with Augie Silver art in their possession contemplate their sudden wealth. One considers the purchase of charter boats, another support of his floundering poetic career, a third a new wardrobe of black clothing. Further up the economic scale, a New York gallery owner and her bankrupt husband anticipate high profits as they make a quick grab for all the available Silver pieces. Then Augie returns from his watery grave. Surely prices will drop. Oh, if only Augie were really and truly dead. Such authors as Carl Hiassen and Elmore Leonard also mine the venal weirdness of the Sunshine State, but Shames offers sharp-edged parody without a trace of meanness, portraying his craven cast with a bold, new affection. Perhaps it was only the newness that made the earlier story seem fresher than this. Readers will look forward to the next tale to find out.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Augie Silver is a successful Key West artist whose work brings a decent, if not extraordinary, price at the finer New York galleries. Then Augie, an avid sailor, disappears into the Carribean. His wife, Nina, grieves, and his friends hoist a few to his memory. Meanwhile, Augie's agent organizes a retrospective exhibit of the Silver collection; the show is a huge success, and the value of Augie's art goes through the roof, prompting the painter's friends to realize that the pictures hanging on their walls, largely gifts from their pal Augie, are now worth a fortune. Hold everything! Here's Augie, alive again. His boat broke apart in a storm, but he floated ashore and, after a bout of amnesia, has finally returned to his beloved Nina. She's overjoyed, but Augie's friends--seeing their anticipated pile of lucre shrink--aren't so sure. Soon Arnie's life is in danger again--this time from someone trying to protect his or her investment. Carefully drawn characters--Key West eccentrics, mostly--and a languid, poetic style combine with a clever plot for an unusual and very entertaining mystery.
Wes Lukowsky
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
