South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Dorsey’s charming killer settles in Florida Keys
When Tim Dorsey’s first novel, “Roadkill,” was published in 1999, it is doubtful that many in the publishing world thought it could sustain a series.
After all, “Roadkill” revolved around a serial killer who was oddly likable. Could that really be a thing? And this charming killer — Serge A. Storms — was full of quirks and given to nonsensical speeches. His sidekick was the rather useless Coleman, who was permanently stoned long before medical marijuana became legal, or drunk, or both, sometimes asleep.
Serge was a specific kind of killer — targeting only those who preyed on the vulnerable or disrespected Florida and its history.
The Florida angle must have been the clincher for the publishers because here is Dorsey’s 25th novel — “Mermaid Confidential.”
While the personalities of Serge and Coleman haven’t changed since “Roadkill,” Dorsey has used his novels to showcase Florida, to embrace its eccentricities, its residents’ bizarre behavior and its unusual history. Dorsey shows he loves Florida in each novel. In a way, Serge has become a full-fledged historian, uncovering those little tidbits that make people say “only in Florida.”
Dorsey lacks the sophisticated comic timing that flows easily from Carl Hiaasen. Dorsey ladles each novel with wide swaths of humor that is more guttural yet still funny. Like Hiaasen, Dorsey’s humor is grounded in reality. (Yes, a woman really was arrested after driving a motorized cart around a Florida superstore, drinking a bottle of wine while eating sushi and rotisserie chicken. Just Google it.)
As for Dorsey’s plots, well, they are there, sort of. More like vignettes that somehow come together in a somewhat cohesive, and entertaining, story.
Several subplots occupy “Mermaid Confidential.” A turf war ensnares the Millan cartel, the criminal Benzappa family and murderous drug smugglers. A treasure map brings them all to the Keys to find buried cash.
Meanwhile, Serge has decided to go condo — tired of roaming Florida in one beat-up car after another, each of which seems to run on rubber bands and hope. He wants to settle down, for a bit, in the Florida Keys. But no modern condo with amenities, nothing that hints at state-of-the-art for Serge. He wants a “fishing cabin in the sky,” a run-down, decidedly “not nice” place with the most outdated appliances and furnishings possible.
He finds it at Pelican Bay, which he fondly says is also the name of a California prison. Serge is hardly the kind of neighbor you want living next door, or even in the same county. He’s certainly one you never want to make mad. But Serge is full of surprises.
Serge and Coleman aren’t prepared for how close-knit the residents are, how they thrive on communal dinners and gossip. He likes the mostly senior residents and becomes a popular resident. Serge refuses to allow them to be taken advantage of by drunks, threatened by renters and victimized by dangerous prank calls. He also targets those who overcharge shoppers and pain clinic owners who scam patients with fraudulent, overblown medical bills. Maybe he’s not such a bad neighbor after all.
While Dorsey’s novels usually touch each part of the state, “Mermaid Confidential” is more Keys-centric as he adds trivia and history that is “so nectarof-Florida.”
Serge decides that the Keys will be the place for him — at least in this novel. “On the streets of Miami, there’s more noise than signal,” Serge says. We don’t know what that means either, but we’ll take Serge’s word for it and enjoy the ride in “Mermaid Confidential.”
Zoom with the author
Tim Dorsey will discuss “Mermaid Confidential” at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 24, with several bookstores across the country, including Books & Books in Coral Gables. Visit booksandbooks.com/events/ for registration.