Synopses & Reviews
Once a hotshot investigative reporter, Jack Tagger now bangs out obituaries for a South Florida daily, "plotting to resurrect my newspaper career by yoking my byline to some famous stiff." Jimmy Stoma, the infamous front man of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies, dead in a fishy-smelling scuba "accident," might be the stiff of Jack's dreams, if only he can figure out what happened.
Standing in the way are (among others) his ambitious young editor, who hasn't yet fired anyone but plans to "break her cherry" on Jack; the rock star's pop-singer widow, who's using the occasion of her husband's death to re-launch her own career; and the soulless, profit-hungry owner of the newspaper, whom Jack once publicly humiliated at a stockholders' meeting.
With clues from the dead rock singer's music, Jack ultimately unravels Jimmy Stoma's strange fate, in a hilariously hard-won triumph for muckraking journalism, and for the death-obsessed obituary writer himself.
Review
"The story, about a onetime investigative reporter reduced to writing obituaries, reads much more like mainstream crime fiction than the blend of slapstick nightmare and moral outrage we have come to expect from Hiaasen. But it's a rip-roaringly entertaining tale." Booklist
Review
"Hiaasen's typical quirky characters and hilarious dialog are in abundance in this thoroughly entertaining novel." Library Journal
Review
"Hiassen gets back to his roots with this (almost) straight-ahead mystery, but doesn't skimp on the funny stuff ... A hilarious sendup of exotic Floridian fauna in the newspaper business, the novel offers all the same treats Hiassen's fans have come to crave. What makes this book different is its first-person, present-tense narrative style. Unlike previous capers, which were narrated in the omniscient third person, this book settles squarely in the mystery genre from whence Hiaasen's fame (Double Whammy; Tourist Season, etc.) initially sprang." Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Once a hotshot investigative reporter, Jack Tagger now bangs out obituaries for a South Florida daily, "plotting to resurrect my career by yoking my byline to some famous stiff." Jimmy Stoma, the infamous front man of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies, dead in a fishy-smelling scuba "accident" may be just the stiff Jack needs-if only he can figure out what happened. Standing in the way are [among others] an editor who wants Jack to "break her cherry," Stoma's ambitious pop-singer widow, and the soulless, profit-hungry newspaper owner Jack once publicly humiliated. As clues from Stoma's music give Jack Tagger the chance to trade obits for a story that could hit the front page, murder gives his career a new lease on life.
Kids Q&A
Read the Kids' Q&A with Carl Hiaasen