Search

* Enger, Leif. Peace Like a River. Sept. 2001. 320p. Atlantic Monthly, $24 (0-87113-795-X). What readers will appreciate first in Enger's marvelous novel is the language. His limpid sentences are [...]

Bamford, James. Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency. 2001. 720p. index. Doubleday, $29.95 (0-385-49907-8). 327.1273. Bamford is the author of the best-selling The Puzzle Palace (1982), [...]

Limbaugh, David. Absolute Power: The Legacy of Corruption in the Clinton-Reno Justice Department. 2001. 385p. index. Regnery, $27.95 (0-89526-237-1). 345.73 Limbaugh, a nationally syndicated columnist and brother of radio talk-show [...]

Winchester, Simon. The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology. Aug. 2001. 336p. illus. index. HarperCollins, $25 (0-06-019361-1). 526.092. In the much admired and [...]

If you plan to head out of town on a vacation sometime soon, the inevitable airport delay should give you plenty of time to peruse your travel guide of choice. [...]

Kamen, Henry. Philip V of Spain: The King Who Reigned Twice. May 2001. 270p. index. Yale, $29.95 (0-300-08718-7). 946.055. A trio of biographies revisits three diverse corners of monarchical Europe [...]

MacDonogh, Giles. The Last Kaiser: The Life of Wilhelm II. Aug. 2001. 416p. index. St. Martin's, $27.95 (0-312-27673-7). 943.08. A trio of biographies revisits three diverse corners of monarchical Europe [...]

Weir, Alison. Henry VIII: The King and His Court. May 2001. 640p. illus. index. Ballantine, $28 (0-345-4365-8). 942.05. A trio of biographies revisits three diverse corners of monarchical Europe in [...]

Barnard, Robert. Unholy Dying. May 2001. 288p. Scribner, $23 (0-7432-0149-3). In his thirty-third book, the popular and prolific British mystery writer proves that he can still spin a roiling good [...]

* Serge A. Storms series by Tim Dorsey. Representative title: Florida Roadkill. 1999. Morrow, $24 (0-688-16782-9). Dorsey's over-the-top novels aren't really set in Tampa, though a chunk of Florida Roadkill [...]

* Stick Foster series by Kevin Robinson. Representative title: Mall Rats. 1992. op. This series starring paraplegic sleuth Stick Foster never received its due during a three-novel run in the [...]

* Florida Beaches, by Alan Bisbort and Parke Puterbaugh. Foghorn; dist. by Publishers Group West, paper, $19.95 (1-57354-054-4). This all-encompassing handbook includes a big section on the Panhandle. The authors [...]

* Sierra Lavotini series by Nancy Bartholomew. Representative title: Film Strip. 2000. St. Martin's/Minotaur, $23.95 (0-312-2616-6). This third entry in the only Florida crime series starring a stripper finds Sierra [...]

* Travel Smart: Florida Gulf Coast, by Carol Perry. 2d ed. John Muir, paper, $14.95 (1-56261-441-X). This basic guide to Florida's Gulf Coast covers all the tourist attractions in St. [...]

* Fred Carver series by John Lutz. Representative title: Spark. 1993. Holt, o.p. Direct descendants of Willeford's Hoke Moseley procedurals, Lutz's Fred Carver mysteries are bone-hard, realistic crime stories in [...]

* Hemingway's Key West, by Stuart McIvar. 1998. Pineapple, paper, $10.95 (1-56164-935-2). Key West was one of Ernest Hemingway's most productive venues, and his home there is a popular tourist [...]

* Truman Kicklighter series by Kathy Trocheck. Representative title: Crash Course. 1997. HarperCollins, paper, $5.99 (0-06-109172-3). Retired newspaperman Kicklighter lives at the Fountain of Youth Residential Hotel in St. Petersburg [...]

* The Sarasota, Sanibel Island & Naples Book: A Complete Guide, by Chelle Koster Walton. Berkshire House, paper, $17.95 (0-936399-98-9). This excellent guide covers the stretch of the Gulf Coast [...]

* Matthew Hope series by Ed McBain. Representative title: The Last Best Hope. 1998. Warner, paper, $6.75 (0-446-60673-1). Less well known than the 87th Precinct series, the Matthew Hope novels [...]

* Lew Fonseca series by Stuart Kaminsky Representative title: Vengeance. 1999. Tor/Forge, $22.95 (0-312-86927-4). After the death of his late wife, Fonseca drove south from Chicago until his car died [...]

* Morgan Hunt series by Geoffrey Norman. Representative title: Sweetwater Ranch. 1991. Atlantic Monthly, o.p. Norman is one of the few Florida crime writers who sets his stories in the [...]

* Doc Ford series by Randy Wayne White. Representative title: Captiva. 1996. Berkley, paper, $6.50 (0-425-15854-3). White's hero, who lives in a stilt house off the coast of Sanibel Island, [...]

* Orlando like a Pro, by Rick Namely. 3d ed. Random/Fodor's, paper, $12 (0-679-00450-5). Namely, a hometown boy, says that he 'wrote this book to help you avoid little things [...]

* A Hap Tyler novel by James W. Hall. Representative title: Hard Aground. 1993. Dell, paper, $6.99 (0-440-21357-6). When his brother is murdered, Hap Arnold is left to clean up [...]

* Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. Representative title: A Tan and Sandy Silence. 1971. Ballantine, paper, $6.99 (0-449-22476-4). Picking a single Travis McGee novel to stand alone out [...]

* Hoke Moseley series by Charles Willeford. Representative title: The Way We Die Now. 1988. o.p. This fourth and final novel in the late Willeford's series starring the tough-as-nails Miami [...]

* Miami: Edge Guide, by Emma Telles. Longstreet, paper, $14 (1-56352-519-4). According to the author, Miami is a place 'where something is always happening.' Her hip guide to participating in [...]

* Lupe Solano series by Carmen Garcia-Aguilera. Representative title: Bloody Waters. 1996. Putnam, $21.95 (0-399-14157-X). This is a series you want to like more than you can. Cuban American PI [...]

* Britt Montero series by Edna Buchanan. Representative title: Garden of Evil. 1999. Morrow, $24 (0-380-97654-4). The early novels in celebrated Miami Herald reporter Buchanan's series (starring a celebrated Miami [...]

* Harry Arno series by Elmore Leonard. Representative tite: Pronto. 1993. Dell, paper, $9.95 (0-385-33290-4). Harry Arno isn't exactly a detective (he's a senior-citizen bookie), and he isn't really a [...]

* Great Adventures in Florida, by Timothy O'Keefe. 2d ed. Menasha Ridge; dist. by Globe Pequot, paper, $14.95 (0-89732-343-2). The author includes a chapter on canoeing in the Everglades that [...]

* John Deal series by Les Standiford. Representative title: Presidential Deal. 1998. HarperCollins, paper, $6.50 (0-06-109553-2). You have to give Standiford credit: he's turned the archetypal bad guy in Florida [...]

* Gail Connor series by Barbara Parker. Representative title: Suspicion of Betrayal. 1999. NAL/Signet, paper, $6.99 (0-451-19838-7). Parker's series of legal thrillers starring two attorneys, Gail Connor and her lover, [...]

* Alex Rutledge series by Tom Corcoran. Representative title: The Mango Opera. 1998. St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne, $22.95 (0-312-18628-2). This first in a solid new series starring crime-scene photographer Alex Rutledge [...]

* Pete Amsterdam series by Laurence Shames. Representative title: The Naked Detective. 2000. Villard, $22.95 (0-375-50253-X). If Carl Hiaasen's humor is black, Shames' is charcoal, the violence and comedy mixed [...]

* Thorn series by James W. Hall. Representative title: Red Sky at Night. 1997. Delacorte, $23.95 (0-385-31638-0). Thorn may be the most complex hero in contemporary Florida crime fiction. Having [...]

* Hidden Florida Keys & Everglades, by Candace Leslie. 6th ed. Ulysses; dist. by Publishers Group West, paper, $12.95 (1-56975-193-5). The first key you come to when traveling south from [...]

* Gideon Lowry series by John Leslie. Representative title: Blue Moon. 1998. Pocket, paper, $6.50 (0-671-53514-5). Gideon Lowry is a Conch (Key West native) who has spent his entire life [...]

* Hiking Florida, by Timothy O'Keefe. 2d ed. Falcon, paper, $15.95 (1-560-44876-8). A sturdy handbook containing excellent directions for a fascinating, three-hour walking tour through and around Ft. Lauderdale, often [...]

* Florida's Paved Bike Trails: An Eco-Tour Guide, by Jeff and Gretchen Kunerth. Univ. Press of Florida, paper, $14.95 (0-8130-1851-X). This handsome, helpful guide includes a chapter on a Palm [...]

* Tony Lowell series by E. C. Ayres. Representative title: Eye of the Gator. 1995. [available in print-on-demand format from iUniverse.com] Ayres' series starring retired photographer Lowell, one of many [...]

To chart the history of the Florida crime novel over the last 35 years or so, you need to set your cabin cruiser on a storm-tossed course from John D. [...]

* Skink series by Carl Hiaasen. Representative title: Stormy Weather. 1995. Warner, paper, $6.99 (0-446-60342-2). Hiaasen doesn't really write series novels, and the character Skink is hardly a series hero: [...]

Tapper, Jake. Down & Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency. 2001. 514p. index. Little, Brown, $24.95 (0-316-83264-2). For those who still care, the Washington correspondent for Salon.com takes apart [...]

Redfern, Elizabeth. The Music of the Spheres. July 2001. 432p. Putnam, $24.95 (0-399-14763-2). By the waning years of the eighteenth century, the French had removed the heads of their king [...]

* WALKER, KENT AND SCHONE, MARK. SON OF A GRIFTER: THE TWISTED TALE OF SANTE AND KENNY KIMES, THE MOST NOTORIOUS CON ARTISTS IN AMERICA. MAY 2001. 416P. ILLUS. MORROW, [...]

Alexander, Caroline. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. 1998. Knopf, $29.95 (0-375-40403-1). A glorious failure, Ernest Shackleton's attempt to become the first transcontinental trekker of Antarctica turned into one of [...]

Whyte, Jack. Uther: The Camulod Chronicles. Apr. 2001. 384p. Tor/Forge, $25.95 (0-312-86443-4). Canadian writer Whyte has received deserved acclaim for his series of historical novels, the Camulod Chronicles, in which [...]

Cookman, Scott. Ice Blink: The Tragic Fate of Sir John Franklin's Lost Polar Expedition. 2000. Wiley, $24 (0-471-37790-2). In this absorbing account of the fabled 1845 Franklin expedition in search [...]

Dunnett, Dorothy. Gemini: The Eighth Book of the House of Niccolo. Knopf, $27.50 (0-679-45478-0). This is the eighth, longest, and last volume in the author's enthralling House of Niccolo series, [...]