Laurence Shames has 15 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators. The most-rated is The Paradise Gig.
Mangrove Squeeze
Summary
Laurence Shames’ funny, elegantly written, and hip thrillers have topped best-seller lists across the country, and earned him a leading role as a writer of “Florida noir” with Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen. When Island Frigate advertising rep Suki Sperakis decides to write an exposé on the Key West black market, she is strangled and left for dead in the trunk of a car sinking slowly into the Gulf of Mexico. Soon her only chance at survival rests on the senile Sam Katz and octogenarian ex-mobster Bert the Shirt who must infiltrate the Russian Mafia posing as a gay couple from New York. Will Bert and Sam succeed, or is Suki doomed to once again sleep with the fishes? Richard Ferrone brings every character to life—from the cigar-smoking Island Frigate editor to a man named Pineapple who lives in a fiberglass hotdog—to help make Mangrove Squeeze one of Shames’ sharpest, tangiest, and most engaging audiobooks to date.
©1998 Laurence Shames (P)1998 Recorded Books, LLC
Scavenger Reef
Summary
On best-seller lists all over the country with his witty cynicism and delightfully dark humor, Laurence Shames writes thrillers that his fans endearingly classify as great “Florida noir.” In the tradition of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, he gives character to the inhabitants of Florida’s steamy underbelly. Artist Augie Silver’s friends are ostensibly grief-stricken when he drowns in a shipwreck off Scavenger Reef, but most of them are nervous because his body wasn’t found. They have too much to gain by his death. Since his demise, the price of his art is skyrocketing. If Augie isn’t dead, he soon will be, if his money-hungry “friends” get their way. Listeners will delight in Richard Ferrone’s narrative expertise as he perfectly captures the tongue-in-cheek humor, compelling characters, and snappy dialogue that have become the author’s trademark. The combination of humor and suspense is irresistible.
©1994 Laurence Shames (P)1998 Recorded Books, LLC
Sunburn
Summary
Listeners across the country have fallen in love with Laurence Shames’ rollicking national best-sellers set in South Florida. Energetic, forceful and unpredictable as a hurricane, Sunburn is filled with off-beat characters, top-notch suspense, and colorful dialogue. When aging Mafia godfather Vincente Delgatto flies to Key West to get a little sun, he decides to write his memoirs. When word of the book hits the street, everyone is in danger, even the octogenarian former enforcer Bert the Shirt and his cranky chihuahua.
©1995 Laurence Shames (P)1998 Recorded Books, LLC
One Strange Date
Summary
Perfect romance. Perfect nightmare. Sometimes it's a fine line. Meet Key West native Renita Daughtry - 22, wide-eyed, gorgeous, and very much in love with love. In other words, an irresistible target for professional impostor and pathological liar Richie Pestucci, who plans to charm her into utter helplessness. But there's just one problem. Renita's seeming naiveté masks a lot of savvy and a will of velvet-coated steel, and it isn't long before Richie, now smitten with his intended victim, starts to wonder just who is gaming who. As his cynical poise dissolves and the lovers' game of cat-and-mouse grows subtler and sexier, things start going dangerously and hilariously wrong. So wrong, in fact, that setting them right will require the combined efforts of a heroic twin brother, a fiercely loyal uncle who takes his pest control job very seriously, and a sharp-dressing retired mobster with a singing chihuahua. Seamlessly blending tender romance with raucous caper, One Strange Date massages the heart strings even as it tickles the funny bone and explores the deep everyday mystery of how and why we choose to believe.
©2017 Laurence Shames (P)2017 Laurence Shames
The Naked Detective
Summary
Popular crime novelist Laurence Shames consistently draws favorable comparisons to Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen. In his Key West tales, Shames paints vivid, hilarious portraits of the sun-splashed “paradise” he calls home. The retired Pete Amsterdam isn’t really a private investigator. But he has a license, a gun, and a listing in the phone book—all so he can write-off his wine cellar as an “office.” While soaking in his hot tub and rethinking his earlier tennis match, the inevitable blonde in distress comes calling, and Pete is reluctantly pulled into his first case. Feeling trapped by the conventions of detective stories, Pete stumbles his way through the Key West crime scene, hardly realizing the danger he’s in. The Naked Detective is vintage Shames—full of the biting wit, absurd scenarios, and quirky characters that recall his earlier works, such as Scavenger Reef and Mangrove Squeeze. Ron McLarty’s narration captures the off-beat, colorful island and its inhabitants and brings them fully to life.
©2000 Laurence Shames (P)2000 Recorded Books, LLC
One Big Joke
Summary
“What is with you lately?” Lenny’s wife would like to know. “You’ve been acting like everything is one big joke.” And it’s true - unemployed TV writer Lenny Sullivan has been having trouble seeing his life and times as anything more than fodder for edgy wisecracks. But when he bolts to Key West to refresh his lighter side, things suddenly turn serious. Well, sort of serious. A bullying businessman in league with a pair of bumbling mobsters is plotting to burn down his best friend’s struggling comedy club. The pill-popping star of his last best chance at a hit show is under a death threat from a very sore loser in a love triangle. And Lenny’s staunchest ally in the fight to keep the club, the star, and the laughs alive happens to be a 90-something named Bert the Shirt. Fortunately, Bert has a soft spot for comedians and is the savviest if not the most grammatical guy in town.... Deftly balancing suspense and humor, mayhem and romance, Key West color and showbiz glitz, One Big Joke uproariously entertains while making a sly but impassioned argument for the saving grace of comedy in tough times.
©2018 Laurence Shames (P)2018 Laurence Shames
Welcome to Paradise
Summary
Laurence Shames has attracted enthusiastic fans with his Key West novels, which include Florida Straits, Mangrove Squeeze, Scavenger Reef, and Sunburn. Each of these books is a hilarious mixture of zany crimes and offbeat characters. Welcome to Paradise is his best yet. When Al Marracotta, Mafia boss, takes a week’s vacation in Key West, he looks forward to days of sun, sex, and seafood. Alan Tuschman, New Jersey furniture salesman, is a reluctant tourist. He has won a week in Key West for his sales record. But they have something in common: vanity license plates that read BIG AL. So when two goons are sent to ruin Big Al’s vacation, it’s not long before they target the wrong guy. Between the frustrated henchmen and the baffled Als, each chapter grows loonier than the last. And with the addition of a romantic wild card, the winsome Katy Sansone, the tough guys’ schemes are tempered by more tender scenes. Narrator Ron McLarty’s fine performance keeps the action moving at a brisk clip.
©1999 Laurence Shames (P)1999 Recorded Books, LLC
Nacho Unleashed
Summary
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.
©2019 Laurence Shames (P)2019 Laurence Shames
Tropical Depression
Summary
When Murray Zemelman, a.k.a. The Bra King, pops another Prozac and heads to the Keys, he has nothing much in mind beyond a quixotic hope of winning back his first wife, Franny, whom he dumped years before. But when he forms an unlikely friendship with Tommy Tarpon, the last remaining member of an obscure Indian tribe, another plan also starts shaping up in his fevered brain. Why not open up Key West's first casino? Why not? Well, how about because the Mafia, in league with some of the nastiest politicians you will ever meet, is determined to kill anyone who tries? Somehow, Murray, Tommy, and Franny didn't think of that until they were in way too deep. Laugh along as they improvise a manic and ever more desperate campaign to keep their casino dreams - and themselves - alive.
©1996 Laurence Shames (P)2016 Laurence Shames
Virgin Heat
Summary
Which is more powerful: romance or revenge? Mafia princess Angelina Amaro has only ever loved one man - and even that lone affair was never consummated. Why not? Because her would-be lover, Sal Martucci, fled into the Witness Protection Program after ratting out Big Paul, Angelina's father. Not a great way to begin life with the in-laws.... But when Sal is discovered, a decade later, working as a bartender in Key West, the wildly dysfunctional Amaro clan heads south - one member with love on her mind, the others with murder in their hearts. With an improbable team of allies - Aunt Rose and Uncle Louie and the relentlessly romantic and flamboyant Michael-Angelina sets out to quench her passion before Daddy quenches Sal. And before you can say Romeo and Juliet, the Southernmost City becomes the setting for a touching and hilarious tale of love, the Mob, underdogs rising, bad guys redeemed, and, oh, some incidental cross-dressing.
©1997, 2015 Laurence Shames (P)2017 Laurence Shames
Key West Luck
Summary
Sometimes, small dreams are the ones most worth fighting for.... Phoebe has a dream - a very modest dream. She wants to own a Sno-Cone truck at the beach in Key West. Nicky, her would-be boyfriend, also dreams small. All he wants is a decent gig as a guitar player in a bar. Doesn't seem like too much to ask of life, does it? So why do things keep going so dreadfully wrong for Phoebe and Nicky? Is it just plain bad luck? Or is it the decidedly bad intentions of a sleazy local cheat, a Miami gangster desperate to stay in business, and a murderous Cuban smuggler looking for a fall guy? Against these enemies, and with only a pair of mangrove-dwelling philosophers and an ancient Mafioso as allies, Phoebe and Nicky will need more than a major shift in fortune to keep their hopes, and themselves, alive. They'll need a kind of smarts and courage they never knew they had. Lush with Florida atmosphere, deftly balancing suspense and comedy, romance and mayhem, Key West Luck will leave you cheering for the exploits of its unlikely heroes.
©2015 Laurence Shames (P)2016 Laurence Shames
Shot on Location
Summary
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 listeners will find themselves in for a hell of a ride as Hollywood glitz meets Florida funky.
©2013 Laurence Shames (P)2014 Recorded Books
Florida Straits
Summary
Top-notch suspense and "killer" comedy merge in this rollicking national best seller filled with funky characters, resounding dialogue, and inappropriately named "wise" guys. In the grand tradition of Elmore Leonard, Laurence Shames creates an outrageous heavyweight thriller that’s heavy on atmosphere and action. Joey Goldman is a low-level New York hustler. He’s taking a working vacation in South Florida and looking to score big with a time-share scam. His half brother Gino Delgatto is a man in need of a fall guy. When they meet in Key West, the term dysfunctional family takes on a new meaning. Will one of them succeed? Or will the Miami mob find an eye-popping way to dispose of them both? Critically acclaimed narrator Richard Ferrone brings every character to life - from bad guys in shiny blue suits to Steve the naked landlord - with a crackling intensity you will love.
©1992 Laurence Shames (P)1997 Recorded Books
Tropical Swap
Summary
Wanted: NY apartment in exchange for a great Key West house with swimming pool. In February. Who wouldn't take a swap like that? Then again, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is, as Meg and Peter Kaplan soon discover. Heading south for a supposed dream vacation, what they find instead is a panic attack waiting to happen. Coconuts crash through windows, bearing cryptic death threats. People fall from palm trees while spying on the pool. Neighbors whisper of Mob connections, leaving the Kaplans to wonder if they'll get whacked by mistake in the Southernmost City or if their cozy West Side co-op has been transformed into a convenient Mafia morgue. Enter an FBI agent going rogue, a very good girl determined to be very bad, and the irrepressible Bert the Shirt with his chihuahua, and the cast is complete for this riotous Florida romp. Told with Laurence Shames' trademark mix of suspense and comedy, mayhem and romance, crackling dialogue and lush description, Tropical Swap is a vacation you can savor without ever leaving home.
©2014 Laurence Shames (P)2016 Laurence Shames
The Paradise Gig
Summary
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, the comforts of age, and the free and funky spirit of Key West.
©2020 Laurence Shames (P)2020 Laurence Shames