Shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2017 for Comic Fiction.
Shortlisted for the Last Laugh Award at the CrimeFest Awards 2017.
A return to Hiaasen land is always welcome and Razor Girl proves one of his better escapades after a few fallow years. The absurdities, venalities and sheer black humour of his Florida capers will always keep you splendidly entertained and this tale offers an array of memorable moments: imaginative car hijacks (involving a razor and personal hygiene... don't ask...), beach sand cons, mafia crooks, gay restaurateurs and the return of Andrew Yancy, roach inspector extraordinaire, together with the introduction of Merry Mansfield, a new irrepressible red-headed heroine with dubious morals and a strong line in cynicism. Hiaasen still uses wit to combat the despoiling of the paradise Florida once was, but his frantic plotting and larger than life characters make the message go down as smoothly as a milk-shake, albeit a strong alcoholic-laced one. Belly laughs are guaranteed. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
Key West is a small place, but there are criminal secrets buried everywhere ...When jumped-up reality TV star Buck Nance aggravates the crowd in a Key West bar, he incites a riot and vanishes in the melee. His hapless agent Lane Coolman should have been by Buck's side, but has been accidentally taken hostage by two petty criminals who now think they can turn a quick profit by ransoming an LA talent agent. As the search for Buck continues, the mystery draws in a broad cast of characters from across the island: a delusional fan of Buck's show; the local sheriff who's desperate for re-election; a disgraced cop who now works restaurants on roach patrol; a shady lawyer and his gold-digging fiancee; the gay mayor and his restauranteur partner; a Mafioso hotelier; and a redheaded con artist named Merry who, using a razor blade and a high-speed car, has developed a signature way of luring in her victims. Outrageously funny, fast-paced and uniquely addictive, Razor Girl will keep you utterly gripped until the final page.
Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida, where he still lives. He is a prize-winning journalist with a regular column in the Miami Herald and many articles in varied magazines. He started writing crime fiction in the early 1980s and has recently branched out into children's books; he has also had several works of non-fiction published.
