"The Soul of Key West" is a 104 page anthology of the Key West music scene through the eye of local photographer Ralph De Palma, as told by the musicians. Their stories are the true description of the lives of professional musicians. The book includes 46 interviews, and over 200 hundred photographs culled from a collection of 2500. It is the first book about Key West's fantastic musicians. "Key West is becoming a music destination much like Nashville or New Orleans. Our island is full of talent that migrated here from those much larger music cities," says De Palma. "If Nashville is the 'Music City' then Key West is most certainly the 'Music Island'. De Palma's passion for Key West's vibrant music scene led him to spend countless hours photographing and interviewing dozens of musicians. His photographs capture the rocking spirit of a tiny island filled with over fifty venues featuring live music, and his words roll out the stories, struggles, and triumphs of musicians who play for us night after night. With so many live music venues, there are still numerous local musicians that have not told their story. De Palma is currently working on Volume II of "The Soul of Key West".

Only a family emergency could drag Abby Vernayhome to Key West for Christmas. And there's certainlynothing holly berry and mistletoe about this visit.She's got to bail out her eccentric father, and thatmeans taking on the local law. None other than policecaptain Reese Burkett, Abby's high-school crush—andthe man she's been avoiding for thirteen years.She doesn't know about Reese, but she's neverforgotten the night of her graduation, a night thatleft Abby with bittersweet memories and a secret thatchanged her life. Yet even Abby can't deny thatReese's behavior has been very good and he doesn'tdeserve a lump of coal this year. In fact, he has aright to finally know the truth. Besides, seeing himagain makes her want to let go of the past and moveon to a future…together. Except he'll probably neverforgive her.… Merry Christmas? Bah, humbug.

The Key West fire that burns in my soul didn't start as a conflagration. It started as a nice warm sun on my face-and it started at Mallory Square. Imagine stumbling upon a beach party on a small tropical island, with barely clad natives, their bodies glistening with sweat, dancing to primal drum beats, smoking ritual herbs, and drinking rum from coconuts as the sun sank slowly into the ocean. It sounds like a steamy novel, but I swear it's all true. It's said that Paradise is where your realities are more exciting than your Fantasies. This book chronicles my journey through those Key West realities.

Literary Nonfiction. Jewish Studies. History. 2017 Florida Book Award, Phillip and Dana Zimmerman Gold Medal for Florida Nonfiction. The dramatic story of South Florida's oldest Jewish community and a major addition to the history of this unique island city. Long before Miami was on the map, Key West had Florida's largest economy and an influential Jewish community. Jews who settled here as peddlers in the nineteenth century joined a bilingual and progressive city that became the launching pad for the revolution that toppled the Spanish Empire in Cuba. As dozens of local Jews collaborated with José Martí's rebels, they built relationships that supported thriving Jewish communities in Key West and Havana at the turn of the twentieth century. During the 1920s, when anti-immigration hysteria swept the United States, Key West's Jews resisted the immigration quotas and established "the southernmost terminal of the Jewish underground," smuggling Jewish aliens in small boats across the Florida Straits to safety in Key West. But these and other Jewish exploits were kept secret as Ku Klux Klan leaders infiltrated local law enforcement and government. Many Jews left Key West during the 1930s and their stories were ignored or forgotten by the mythmakers that reinvented Key West as a tourist mecca. Arlo Haskell's THE JEWS OF KEY WEST is an entertaining and authoritative account of Key West's Jewish community from 1823-1969. Illustrated with over 100 images, it brings to life a history that had long been forgotten.

Hayley Snow loves her job as the food critic for Key Zest magazine, tasting the offerings from Key West’s most innovative restaurants. She’d rate her life four stars, until she’s forced into the spotlight…and another murder investigation. Hoping for some good publicity, Hayley’s boss signs her up to help judge the Key West Topped Chef contest. Stakes are high as the winner could be the next cooking-show superstar. Hayley shows up for the filming nervous but excited, until she sees who’s on the judging panel with her: Sam Rizzoli, big shot businessman—and owner of the restaurant she just panned in her first negative review. When Rizzoli turns up dead, the police assume his killer is one of his business rivals. But Hayley wonders whether someone is taking the contest a little too seriously. With the police following the wrong recipe, it’s up to Hayley to find the killer before she’s eliminated from the show…permanently.

Many a book has been written about Key West, but there has never been anything like Stetson Kennedy's Grits & Grunts, a portrait of the Key West that was. Neither a history (though you will learn a lot about Key West's unique past) nor a guidebook (though you will learn more about Key West than any guides offer), Grits & Grunts is a treasure trove gleaned from the rich multiculture that came to full-flower on "The Rock" during the first half of the twentieth century, "when Key West was Key West." You'll find an abundant sampling of the inimitable art of Mario Sanchez, whose carved bas-relief paintings of Key West street scenes are in great demand around the world, as well as many never-before-published photographs. The overflowing Key West songbag is also here in all its abundance, from lullabies to traditional ballads, as well as games and folktales.