Crime Fiction and Film in the Sunshine State

Florida noir

Plot

Even before John D. MacDonald first anchored Travis McGees houseboat, the Busted Flush, at Fort Lau-derdales Bahia Mar Marina, Florida had developed a rich legacy of fictional detectives. Since McGee, the state has become the home of perhaps the greatest number and variety of mystery writers in America.From Elmore Leonards professional hoods to Carl Hiaasens amateur grotesques, Floridas mystery writers have created a criminal universe that centers on Miami but stretches from the Key West of James Hall and Laurence Shames through the Palm Beach of Lawrence Sanders and the Orlando of John Lutz to the panhandle of Geoffrey Norman. This is a world of sophisticated Latina journalists like Edna Buchanans Britt Montero and retiring ichthyologists like Randy Wayne Whites Doc Ford, of Armani-clad socialites like Ed McBains Matthew Hope and leisure-suited cops like Charles Willefords Hope Moseley.For the first time, a group of literary critics examines how the center of crime shifted from the City of Angels to the home of Miami Vice and the Magic Kingdom and why the countrys southernmost state has developed such a concentration of talented mystery writers. In addition to essays on the origins of the detective novel in Florida and its contemporary masters, the book includes a chapter on Florida film noir from Key Largo to Body Heat and the first comprehensive bibliography of mysteries set in the state.