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Nature Girl
Carl Hiaasen Manufacturer: Knopf ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0307262995 Release Date: 2006-11-14 |
Book Description
Honey Santana—impassioned, willful, possibly bipolar, self-proclaimed “queen of lost causes”—has a scheme to help rid the world of irresponsibility, indifference, and dinnertime sales calls. She’s taking rude, gullible Relentless, Inc., telemarketer Boyd Shreave and his less-than-enthusiastic mistress, Eugenie—the fifteen-minute-famous girlfriend of a tabloid murderer—into the wilderness of Florida’s Ten Thousand Islands for a gentle lesson in civility. What she doesn’t know is that she’s being followed by her Honey-obsessed former employer, Piejack (whose mismatched fingers are proof that sexual harassment in the workplace is a bad idea). And he doesn’t know he’s being followed by Honey’s still-smitten former drug-running ex-husband, Perry, and their wise-and-protective-way-beyond-his-years twelve-year-old-son, Fry. And when they all pull up on Dismal Key, they don’t know they’re intruding on Sammy Tigertail, a half white–half Seminole failed alligator wrestler, trying like hell to be a hermit despite the Florida State coed who’s dying to be his hostage . . .
Will Honey be able to make a mensch of a “greedhead”? Will Fry be able to protect her from Piejack—and herself? Will Sammy achieve his true Seminole self? Will Eugenie ever get to the beach? Will the Everglades survive the wild humans? All the answers are revealed in the delectably outrageous mayhem that propels this novel to its Hiaasen-of-the-highest-order climax.
Customer Reviews:
Nature Girl.......2007-09-27
Classic.......2007-08-16
More Thrills and Laughs from Carl Hiassen.......2007-08-05
Disappointing.......2007-07-26
Eclectic and border-line cast of Hiassen.......2007-07-25
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Ten Thousand Islands
Randy Wayne White Manufacturer: Berkley ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items: ASIN: 0425180433 Release Date: 2001-06-12 |
Amazon.com
Of all the Travis McGee wannabes who've appeared on the mystery scene since the death of John D. MacDonald, Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford, the marine biologist with an intentionally vague history of military espionage, comes closest to hitting the mark. In this seventh outing in a popular series that's never quite broken into bestsellerdom, Ford is finagled away from his beloved fish and his stilt house off Florida's Gulf Coast to investigate the grave robbing of a long-dead adolescent girl who had a remarkable gift for finding archaeological artifacts of a long-gone civilization of Calusa Indians. The centuries-old gold medallion that may have been buried with Dorothy Copeland has mysterious powers--at least, that's what a big Florida developer whose son is being groomed for high political office seems to believe. By the time Doc Ford starts investigating the incident, along with his oddly gifted friend Tomlinson (a druggie with a past as violent and mysterious as his own), more lives are at stake, including Doc's.Ten Thousand Islands is based on a true story of multiple tragedies associated with the 1969 discovery of the medallion at the novel's center. But the complicated tale of mayhem and serial murder White weaves of it is all his own. Doc Ford is an increasingly interesting character whose love life takes up as many pages as the plot, but the community of Dinkin's Bay, with its fascinating and well-drawn minor characters, is as great a part of White's series as the denizens of Travis McGee's Fort Lauderdale marina were of MacDonald's. --Jane Adams
Book Description
Government agent-turned-marine-biologist Doc Ford returns in a steamy tale that begins with the suspicious suicide of a fifteen-year-old girl-and ends in a shadowy world of ancient ritual and modern corruption.Customer Reviews:
Loved this one!.......2007-07-01
A Title as Good as the Book.......2007-06-15
One of White's Best Doc Ford Novels.......2006-11-27
best one yet.......2005-09-03
Excellent Florida mystery.......2003-11-22
White weaves the history of the Calusa Indians with modern-day grave robbers. Doc Ford searches for someone who desecrated the grave of a teenage girl - Dorothy, a girl with a mystic link to the history of Marco Island - a girl who may have been murdered.
A political candidate, his powerful businessman father, and hired thugs all appear to be looking for what was buried with Dorothy. Plain old evil, madness, and a hint of the supernatural weave together into a fast-paced and exciting story.
Very well done and a good read.
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Pavilion Key: Isle of Buried Treasure
Greg Lewbart Manufacturer: Krieger Pub Co ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 1575240793 |
Book Description
Pavilion Key: Isle of Buried Treasure continues the saga of Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission Officer Hal Noble, who once again finds himself pitted against corrupt individuals--their greedy plans could seriously affect one of the most endangered reptiles on earth, the Kemp's ridley sea turtle. This time the story takes Hal to Pavilion Key which lies at the leading edge of Florida's Ten Thousand Islands. This island was a favorite stop for Caribbean pirates in the 16th and 17th centuries -- but gold doubloons and precious stones aren't the only treasures buried in its sands. Pavilion Key, like Greg Lewbart's first novel, Ivory Hunters, weaves sharply drawn characters with classic mystery plots while touching on such important and timely topics as natural history, ecology, and conservation. Mystery lovers, nature buffs and discerning readers of all types will enjoy Lewbart's entertaining and educational adventures.Customer Reviews:
Nice try.......2001-09-17
On the downside, this novel, put out by a small science publisher out of Malabar, FL, could've used better editing. The text is filled with small grammatical errors (like pluralizing the Kemp's ridley sea turtle as "ridley's") that detract from the largely entertaining storyline. Otherwise, the sophomore effort by author/veterinarian Greg Lewbart is not nearly as polished as Florida thrillers penned by the likes of Hiaasen, McDonald, etc., and the factual background of the tale draws too heavily, even clumsily, from its primary source, the writings of Dr. Archie Carr.
That aside, the heart and devotion with which Lewbart writes is readily apparent, and his protagonist, Hal Noble, is a likable hero in Everyman's clothing. A laudable effort.
Entertaining and educational!.......2000-09-22
Pavilion Key : Isle of Buried Treasure.......2000-06-19
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Southwest Florida's Wetland Wilderness: Big Cypress Swamp and the Ten Thousand Islands (Florida Sand Dollar Book)
Jeff Ripple Manufacturer: University Press of Florida ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0813014549 |
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Big Cypress Swamp and the Ten Thousand Islands: Eastern America's Last Great Wilderness
Jeff Ripple Manufacturer: Univ of South Carolina Pr ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0872498425 |
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Catch Fish Now!: In the Florida Keys, the Everglades, and the 10,000 Islands (Catch Fish Now!)
Mike Babbidge Manufacturer: Pineapple Press (FL) ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 156164210X |
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Everglades Wonderland for Boys and Girls (Gems of Our Nation)
Lura D. Dickson Manufacturer: Dickson's Inc. ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000INWT1M |
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Moundville revisited. Crystal River revisited. Mounds of the lower Chattahoochee and lower Flint rivers. Notes on the Ten Thousand Islands, Florida (LC History-America-E)
Clarence Bloomfield Moore Manufacturer: Reprint Services Corp ProductGroup: Book Binding: Library Binding ASIN: 0781245168 |
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Pictorial History of the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence River
Mary Beacock Fryer Manufacturer: Besancourt Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000T5O5D4 |
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Tales of South Florida and the Ten Thousand Islands,
Jack Beater Manufacturer: Jack Beater ProductGroup: Book Binding: Unknown Binding ASIN: B0007E7SWM |
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The Big Knockover: Selected Stories and Short Novels
Dashiell Hammett Manufacturer: Vintage ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items: ASIN: 0679722599 Release Date: 1989-07-17 |
Book Description
Short, thick-bodied, mulishly stubborn, and indifferent to physical pain, Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. He is also the hero of most of the nine stories in this volume. The Op's one enthusiasm is doing his job, and in The Big Knockover the jobs entail taking on a gang of modern-day freebooters, a vice-ridden hell's acre in the Arizona desert, and the bank job to end all bank jobs, along with such assorted grifters as Babe McCloor, Bluepoint Vance, Alphabet Shorty McCoy, and the Dis-and-Dat Kid.Customer Reviews:
The epitome of hard-boiled.......2007-08-14
GET IT- CRIME DOES NOT PAY.......2007-07-05
Classic Adventures of the Indomitable Continental Op........2004-07-12
"The Big Knockover" was edited by Dashiell Hammett's longtime companion, the playwright Lillian Hellman, who wrote the introduction to the book in 1965, 5 years after Hammett died. She affectionately describes how they met, their relationship, how he died, and provides some insight into Hammett's personality from someone who knew him well. It's worth reading. "The Big Knockover" is a solid collection of Hammett stories featuring the wry, indomitable Continental Op. Dashiell Hammett was one of the 20th century's best short story writers, and, apart from "Tulip", which is a curiosity, this is classic Hammett and well worth reading whether you are new to Hammett or already a fan.
A great writer flexes his muscles.......2001-12-02
During most of the 1920s and early 1930s, Dashiell Hammett was a compulsive writer and storyteller, possibly due to a personal need to make sense of his world and experiences. Later, he lost that compulsion. Following a brief prison term in the early 1950s (for his refusal to take part in the McCarthy-era witchhunts), he began to rediscover that earlier compulsion. Hence, the fragment of "Tulip," which he apparently intended as an semi-autobiographical novel. One wishes he could have lived long enough to complete more of it, at least.
Now to the meat of this short-story collection from his earlier days.
Hammett's most enduring character, the anonymous first-person narrating Continental Op, is the protagonist throughout. The stories vary widely, from the old-west (but not that old at the time of its writing) atmosphere of "Corkscrew" -- which would later serve as theme material for the novel "Red Harvest" -- to the comedy of "The Gatewood Caper"; there's the sinister undertones, interspersed with more comedic touches and a superb punchline at the end, of "Dead Yellow Women" as well as the total 'shaggy dog story' feel of "The Gutting of Couffignal" (in which everything apparently is intended to lead up to yet another punchline).
And then there's the title story itself, "The Big Knockover," perhaps the pre-eminent 'caper story' of all time: a carefully planned and executed bank robbery which falls awry in a trail of double-cross and deduction, yet which leaves its protagonist at the end to wryly remark (perhaps echoing Hammett's sentiments?): "What a life!"
Note: Subsequent editions of this collection sometimes include "$106,000 Blood Money," which Hammett ill-advisedly wrote as a sequel to "The Big Knockover." Good as this second tale may be, I believe it could have been written just as easily -- and to better effect -- as an independent story. (There is some evidence that Hammett at one point thought of combining the two as a novel.) I much prefer to leave "Knockover" on its own and let it end there, without the more-than-slightly unsatisfactory resolution of "$106,000 Blood Money."
Each story in this collection shines on its own and reveals facets of Hammett's innate genius.
Oh, yeah: There's also a reminiscince by playwright Lillian Hellman, which may or may not have any bearing upon the actual Dashiell Hammett. Decide for yourself.
Novellas from a Private Detective.......2001-08-14
Some of these stories appear to be similar to the turmoil in early 16th Century Italy. Could a Cesare Borgia have planned the "The Big Knockover"? In "$106,000 Blood Money" the Continental Op arranges the death of a traitorous detective, and then the bounty hunter who would claim this reward (leading to a nice bonus later?).
Why have detective stories gone out of fashion after the 1950s? Could a form of censorship be responsible for this (to hide the actions of these secret agents of the rich and powerful)? Are the "James Bond" stories an updated version of the private detective stories? Or have none-fiction writings become more popular since then ("The Invisible Government")?
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The Big Knockover Selected Stories & Short Novels
Manufacturer: Random House ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000GQ6NYK |
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THE BIG KNOCKOVER- SELECTED STORIES AND SHORT NOVELS OF DASHIELL HAMMETT
Manufacturer: Random House ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000H3V2U2 |
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The Big Knockover-Selected Stories and Short Novels
Dashiell (introduction by Lillian Hellman) Hammett Manufacturer: Rand Hse ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000GW0B1A |
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The Big Knockover : Selected Stories and Short Novels of Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell; Hellman, Lillian (editor) Hammett Manufacturer: Random House ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000VVH72M |
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