Key West Normal

Key West Capers, Book 16

By: Laurence Shames

Narrated by: Laurence Shames

So what, exactly, is Key West Normal?

Well, Key West Normal is when two friends in need of a place to live drag away an abandoned hot dog truck in the middle of the night....

But an insomniac New Yorker has got himself trapped inside it while searching for his neurotic cat....

And the truck is the secret hub of a global smuggling operation and holds a stash worth millions....

But the tough guy sent to recover the fortune is way more interested in being reunited with his one true love.

Most of all, though, Key West Normal is when none of the above seems at all improbable. It’s just the way things are. Or at least how they are in the funky, funny, palm-shaded, all-accepting town at the end of the road.

And when it falls to the unlikeliest pair of heroes - a homeless man named Pineapple and an ancient Mafioso known as Bert the Shirt - to sort through all the many twists and turns and save the day, well, that’s Key West Normal to the max.

Full of tropical sunshine and crackling dialogue, loopy wisdom and touching revelations from characters you’ll root for - and featuring the special warmth and intimacy that only a read-by-the-author audio can provide - this feel-good novel will lift you like an ocean wave and remind you how good it feels to forget your worries and laugh out loud.

©2021 Laurence Shames (P)2021 Laurence Shames

Pure enjoyment!

This book is pure enjoyment! The characters are adorable; the story is fun, humorous, and optimistic. By the epilogue, you can't help but wonder, does life need to be so complicated, or is it us who make it such? We should at least consider making it simpler and more enjoyable, as some of those folks in Key West do :)

Mr. Shames narration seems monotonous at first, but when you get used to it, you realize it's actually very fitting and comforting, and some of the characters sound so realistic!

All in all, this book is a great one to relax to and under its humorous surface contains some good nuggets of wisdom.

P.S. A while ago I've read Laurens Shames' first book in his Key West series, "Florida Straits", and it's great, too.

His usual hilarious escapade

This entry in his wonderful Key West series is hilarious as usual. What makes this one particularly interesting is that the author is the narrator, which I have not seen him do before (though he might have). He's not quite as good a narrator as the fabulous Jem Matzan, but he is very good, and he provides an interesting take on Bert the Shirt. If you have not read Shames before, I suggest that you start with either Virgin Heat (a mixed drink) or One Big Joke, his two funniest.

Good stuff

Interesting and neurotic characters interacting in my favorite place of escape, where you enter another dimension somewhere between the 7-mile bridge and Cow Key.

I just love these books.

I like coming back to Mr. Shames' characters and town. I can't wait until next one, even though this one just came out.

Delightfully Escapist

Laurence Shames is simply a master of the genre. Well-paced and plotted, this caper will transport you to a quirky tropical island where even villains have a heart.