Phoebe has the modest dream of owning a Sno-Cone truck at the beach in Key West. Her would-be boyfriend, Nicky, also dreams small. All he wants is a decent gig as a guitar player in a bar, but they run afoul of a sleazy local cheat, a Miami gangster desperate to stay in business, and a murderous Cuban smuggler looking for a fall guy. They'll need a kind of smarts and chutzpah they never knew they had in order to keep their hopes, and themselves, alive. And maybe a cabin cruiser full of Key West luck.

So what, exactly, is Key West Normal? Well, Key West Normal is when two friends in need of a place to live drag away an abandoned hot dog truck in the middle of the night... But an insomniac New Yorker has got himself trapped inside it while searching for his neurotic cat... And the truck is the secret hub of a global smuggling operation and holds a stash worth millions... But the tough guy sent to recover the fortune is way more interested in being reunited with his one true love. Most of all, though, Key West Normal is when none of the above seems at all improbable. It's just the way things are. Or at least how they are in the funky, funny, palm-shaded, all-accepting town at the end of the road. And when it falls to the unlikeliest pair of heroes--a homeless man named Pineapple and an ancient Mafioso known as Bert the Shirt--to sort through all the many twists and turns and save the day, well, that's Key West Normal to the max. Full of tropical sunshine and crackling dialogue, loopy wisdom and touching revelations from characters you'll root for, this feel-good novel will lift you like an ocean wave and remind you how good it feels to forget your worries and laugh out loud.

FACT: In September 1964, the Beatles, their private flight diverted by Hurricane Dora, made an unplanned visit to Key West. FICTION: Poolside at their motel, the Fab Four fell into conversation with a snappy-dressing local named Bert the Shirt, who listened as the band worked out a harmony to the most beautiful song he'd ever heard--and wouldn't hear again for over half a century. FACT: That night, the Beatles played an unannounced free concert in the motel bar. Everyone was welcome. Local musicians showed up with guitars and keyboards, and had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of jamming with the Beatles till 4 am. This legendary event has forever after been known to Key West locals as THE PARADISE GIG.FICTION: Next day, hung over and exhausted, the Beatles left for the airport, having somehow lost a stained and battered notebook that held a priceless stash of unrecorded songs. NOW CUT TO THE PRESENT: A beautiful woman is doing a yoga headstand on a Key West beach when she's abducted by a pair of thugs. An aspiring young singer is offered a recording deal that seems a bit too good to be true. Bad things happen to a couple of one-hit wonders...And old Bert hears a new song that is hauntingly familiar, but that he can't quite place.Could it possibly be the same song he'd heard at poolside so many years before? Could it be that all the present mayhem circles back through the decades to THE PARADISE GIG? Could the precious, even sacred, Beatles notebook possibly turn up after all these years? Could Bert be the hero who would rediscover that stash of unheard songs for music lovers everywhere-and save a young singer's life in the process? With Nacho, his intrepid Chihuahua, at his side, and with no one but bumbling detective Pete Amsterdam for an ally, the undaunted Bert the Shirt sets out through the Florida haze to piece it all together, learning along the way how much the world has changed-and how much it has not. In equal parts suspenseful and nostalgic, funny and romantic, this time-bending caper celebrates the power of music and the many tricks of memory, the joys of youth and the comforts of age, and the free and funky spirit of Key West.

From sweet calypso music to yummy Key lime pie, this adorable board book invites little ones to explore all the sites, sounds, and tastes the Florida Keys has to offer, including conch shell blowing, boating, fishing and diving, Seven Mile Bridge, Bahia Honda State Park, Fort Jefferson, Key deer, Mallory Square, Duval Street, treasure hunting, sea life, and more.

"In this business, nothing is as good as dead..." The business in question is the high-end art world, and everyone in this darkly comedic mystery wants a piece of it. When painter Augie Silver is lost at sea in a sailing accident, his many friends among Key West's artists, writers, and hangers-on mourn--until, that is, they realize that Augie's death has sent the prices for his pictures skyrocketing. What at first seemed a tragedy turns out to be a windfall--until, that is, Augie, rescued at sea, limps back to town alive. Not everyone is thrilled by the artist's resurrection. Someone, in fact, is upset enough to start trying to bump off Augie for real. Full of steamy Key West atmosphere and sometimes brutal insights into the wacky world of creative types, SCAVENGER REEF is both a taut whodunit and a wise meditation on loyalty real or faked, friendships sincere or toxic.

When a low-level mobster and a furniture salesman--each with vanity license plates reading "Big Al"--decide to drive to Florida for their vacations, the stage is set for a brilliantly sharp, funny novel of mistaken identity and tropical crime. "Wickedly inventive".--"The Los Angeles Times".

A man is caught in a fight between his brother and a Mafia boss.