Air Dance Iguana

My wife and I both keep reading Tom Corcoran's novels and they are always great. If you've ever been to Key West his novels take you right back. These are by far the best modern novels set in Key West.

Alex Rutledge actually gets into action out of Key West, albeit it is just across the seven mile bridge. Maybe it is that Corcoran's soul is in Key West more than most of the many writers based there, but this latest of his tightly plotted and well written novels has a sense of the spirit of the place that I find in few of the others. The author knows his setting and characters (with Alex Rutledge the sometimes crime photographer, sometimes freelancer, pal of "Chicken Neck" - former Key West city detective, now Monroe County Sheriff, Alex's past and present lovers, associates and now rogue brother, Tim) there is a cast appropriate to the Keys. The actual strange mix of legal jurisdictions - Monroe County, State of Florida, City of Key West and other Keys' cities, the Feds with immigration, shore patrol, coast guard and FBI - has made for the sort of tangle of ambitions, secrets and confusions which a crime novelist of Corcoran's skill can exploit to create a great read. The everpresent signs spotted by every tourist describing the Keys: "A quaint little drinking town with a fishing problem!" are at work here. We first see Tim in custody, outside the Bull and Whistle after a few of their very cold draft beers. The mysterious coincidences of the Keys: lookalikes, chance meetings, odd meetings of e spouses and old friends in saloons or walking along Smathers beach, which all Key residents know happen, may be the greatest stretchers of readers' credulity, but spend a month in Marathon sometime and the reality of such unrealities will sink in. And then there are Keys' jokes. "jackalope" would not stand a chance there. We wonder throughout about the murders by davit that start the novel off - are they some ironic joke. Only at the end will you learn. And it will be worth it. A word of caution Do not skip ahead and spoil it .

Another indication that Harriet Klausner does not read all of the books she posts about is her description of Air Dance Iguana as "zany." Despite the uniquely Floridian manner of murder and the title, in tone, the Alex Rutledge books are far closer to John D. MacDonald and Steve Hamilton than Carl Hiaasen and his countless imitators-- which is what someone who only looked at the COVER of this book might mistake it for. Like Travis McGee, Alex works when he needs to, and enjoys his lifestyle, like Steve Hamilton, the cases are an imposition on his real life. At the heart of this book is Alex's attempt at rescuing his derelict brother. Sure there's humor, but this book is anything but "zany." Check it out if you like MacDonald and Hamilton, and would like something set in Florida that's not a cheap rip-off of Hiaasen like FAR too many other series.

His on and off lover Monroe County Sheriff Department Detective Bobbi Lewis hires freelance photographer Alex Rutledge to take shots at the Little Torch Key crime scene where Kansas Jack Mason was murdered hanging from a davit. Twenty miles away in Marathon another corpse that of Milton Navarre perhaps of Pensacola was hanging from a davit too. Alex is a bit confused as he is the only person to have seen both apparently related crime scenes; he wonders why Sheriff Liska had two different cops checking each homicide. The prime suspect is Alex's brother Timothy, who he has not seen in seven years, but has now returned. He now has to peel him off the streets of Key West. Though Alex believes Tim is a loser, he refuses to accept that his sibling would kill anyone; not even the mean streets of Cleveland Heights could do that to him. He begins to make inquiries poking for the connection between the victims, which soon leads him back to a 1970s scam from around the time he first arrived to live in Key West. The latest Rutledge mystery (see OCTOPUS ALIBI) captures the essence of life (and in this case death) on the Keys not just Key West. Alex drives the story line from the moment he ignores the first o'dark call, visits two related murder scenes, picks up his brother, and finally confronts the killer who has a gun aimed at him. Like Alex, fans will wonder what's going on as Tom Corcoran provides a zany solid investigative tale. Harriet Klausner

Air Dance Iguana is absolutely wicked. The twists and turns of the plot along with the unsual and intriguing cast of characters makes it impossible to put the book down. Corcoran has an eerie knack for weaving a tantalizing tapestry revealing the unexpected. A "who done it" that shouldn't be missed.