Sunburn
Key West Mystery
Hyperion, March 1995
When Vincente Delgatto—an aging Mafia Godfather—decides to spend some time in Key West with his half-Jewish bastard son Joe Goldman (who is decidedly not in the family business, he thinks the worst that can happen is he’ll get a little too much sun. After all, the only thing he wants is peace and quiet, and some time to recover from the recent loss of his sainted wife.
But then Joe introduces the old man to his pal Arty Magnus, a local reporter who has had his fill of covering what passes for crime in this funky community of tourists and refugees. Together, they cook up the idea of collaborating on the godfather’s memoirs: the last word on the decline and fall of the mob.
A wonderful mix of savory characters—a sexy pet shop beautician, an ambitious musclehead FBI agent who has career dreams of bringing down the godfather, and an octogenarian ex-wiseguy who tries to save the day with the help of his ancient, constipated Chihuahua—all work together to keep the plot running at full throttle, and make SUNBURN Laurence Shames’s sharpest, funniest, most engaging novel yet.