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This page lists novels, short story collections and non-fiction by Carl Hiaasen. The list includes novels co-written with With William Montalbano.

Books about Carl Hiaasen are also included.

Cover images, when possible, are for an early US edition and a more recent paperback or digital edition.

By Carl Hiaasen
- novels / story collections
- omnibus editions
- non-fiction

Edited by Carl Hiaasen
- anthologies

About Carl Hiaasen
- biographical / critical

Powder Burn

William D. Montalbano and Carl Hiaasen

1981

The writers are listed on later editions as Carl Hiassen and Bill Montalbano.

"Chris Meadows’s charmed life as an up-and-coming architect in Coconut Grove has kept him far removed from Miami’s bloody drug trade. But his comfortable existence comes crashing down around him when Chris witnesses the hit-and-run death of an ex-girlfriend by a car full of drug smuggling gangsters. Now caught up in southern Florida’s brutal underground cocaine war, Meadows is in a fight for his life—to evade not only the hit men seeking to silence him, but also the crooked Miami cops who would rather exploit than protect him."

Trap Line

William D. Montalbano and Carl Hiaasen

1982

The writers are listed on later editions as Carl Hiassen and Bill Montalbano.

"Though he is one of Key West’s most skilled fishing captains, Breeze Albury barely ekes out a living on the meager earnings of his trade. Meanwhile, Cuban and Colombian drug smugglers thrive all around—and they have their sights set on Albury and his fishing boat. After the smugglers cut his three hundred trap lines and crush his livelihood, Albury is forced to run drugs to survive. But when he gets busted by the crooked chief of police and becomes a target of the drug machine’s brutal hit men, Albury becomes a vigilante on the seas of Florida, unleashing a fiery and relentless vengeance on the most dangerous criminals south of Miami."

A Death in China

William D. Montalbano and Carl Hiaasen

1984

The writers are listed on later editions as Carl Hiassen and Bill Montalbano.

"Art history professor Tom Stratton hasn’t seen his former mentor David Wang for years - until they unexpectedly run into each other while Stratton is on a guided tour of China. But the reunion doesn’t last long. After Wang is found dead - and the American embassy fumbles the investigation - Stratton sets out to solve the mystery of the killing on his own. Before long, he’s tangled in a web of corruption that reaches the highest seats of power. Beset by the suffocating secrecy and subterfuge of communist China, Stratton must find his friend’s murderer - before the fury of a brutal conspiracy closes in on him."

Tourist Season

Carl Hiaasen

1986

"The first sign of trouble is a Shriner's fez washed up on a Miami beach. The next is a suitcase containing the almost-legless body of the local chamber of commerce president found floating in a canal... The locals are desperate to keep the murders under wraps and the tourist money flowing. But it will take a reporter-turned-private eye to make sense of a caper that mixes football players, politicians, and one very hungry crocodile in this classic mystery that GQ called 'one of the top ten destination reads of all time'."

Double Whammy

Carl Hiaasen

1987

"R.J. Decker, star tenant of the local trailer park and neophyte private eye is fishing for a killer. Thanks to a sportsman's scam that's anything but sportsmanlike, there's a body floating in Coon Bog, Florida -- and a lot that's rotten in the murky waters of big-stakes, large-mouth bass tournaments. Here Decker will team up with a half-blind, half-mad hermit with an appetite for road kill; dare to kiss his ex-wife while she's in bed with her new husband; and face deadly TV evangelists, dangerously seductive women, and a pistol-toting redneck with a pit bull on his arm. And here his own life becomes part of the stakes. For while the 'double whammy' is the lure, first prize is for the most ingenious murder."

Skin Tight

Carl Hiaasen

1989

" After dispatching a pistol-packing intruder from his home with the help of a stuffed Marlin head, Mick Stranahan can't deny that someone is out to get him. His now-deceased intruder carries no I.D., and as a former Florida state investigator, Stranahan knows there are plenty of potential culprits. His long list of enemies includes an off point hit man, a personal injury lawyer of billboard fame, a notoriously irritating TV journalist, and a fumbling plastic surgeon. Now, if he wants to keep fishing into his golden years, Stranahan has no choice but to come out of retirement to close this one last case."

Native Tongue

Carl Hiaasen

1991

"Welcome to the Eager Beaver ... not just a topless fun palace in the heart of southern Florida's deadliest human swamp, but the mega-sleazy backdrop to the juiciest scandal in Miami's entirely colourful history. It's enough to say it begins with the sex-addled political fixer 'Moldy Moldowski', Erin the beautiful stripper and a champagne bottle ... and ends in a riotous cocktail of blackmail, comedy and cover-ups starring grotesques great and small. Enough to say it could only be Carl Hiaasen. And he's simply the best there is."

Strip Tease

Carl Hiaasen

1993

"Congressman David Dilbeck has a bad problem. 'I should never be around naked women.' But he just can't stay away. And late one night, at a gaudy Fort Lauderdale strip joint, Dilbeck loses control. He leaps onto the stage with the performers and proceeds to demonstrate his affections in a most unconventional way. The congressman barely escapes the scene, but not before being recognized by an odd little customer known as Mr. Peepers - an unlikely blackmailer, but (it turns out) a cunning one. To save himself from an election-year sex scandal, David Dilbeck desperately turns to Malcolm "Moldy" Moldowsky, a devious and cold-blooded political fixer. It is Moldy's mission to protect the congressman's reputation, shaky as it might be, and soon the stakes are murderously high. Meanwhile, the lust-struck Dilbeck secretly pursues the current woman of his dreams, a formidable nude dancer named Erin Grant. She has her own special plans for the wayward politician. The chase leads from the staid corridors of Congress to the sweltering cane fields of Lake Okeechobee, from a topless wrestling pit to a sunken Guatemalan banana boat."

Stormy Weather

Carl Hiaasen

1995

"Two honeymooners wake up early, make love twice, and brace themselves for a spectacle they won't be watching from the sidelines. A seductive con artiste stumbles into a scam that promises more cool cash than the lottery. A shotgun-toting mobile home salesman is about to close a deal with disaster. A law school dropout will be chasing one Gaboon viper, a troop of storm-shocked monkeys, and a newfound love life, while tourists by the thousands bail from the Florida Keys. We're now entering the hurricane zone, where hell and hilarity rule. And in the hands of the masterful, merciless Carl Hiaasen, we're going to have some weather."

Naked Came the Manatee

Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, Dave Barry, James W. Hall, Edna Buchanan, Les Standiford, Paul Levine, Brian Antoni, Tananarive Due, John Dufresne, Vicki Hendricks, Carolina Hospital, Evelyn Mayerson

1996

A serial collaboration with each author writing a chapter.

"In South Florida, everyone wants to get a head. But not just any head. A very famous human head--severed and snugged away in a cryonic container. A head that could spark a revolution and change the course of history. Everybody wants a piece of the noggin: rotund gangster Big Joey G., a 102-year-old environmentalist, hard-boiled Miami reporter Britt Montero, lawyer Jake Lassiter, and a would-be dictator in exile - with ex-president Jimmy Carter and a lovable manatee named Booger thrown in for good measure. With bodies piling up it's anybody's guess what will happen from one chapter to the next, as an all-star line-up of Florida's finest writers take turns at taking this outrageously original novel to the limit."

Lucky You

Carl Hiaasen

1997

"JoLayne Lucks lives in a town infamous for its suspicious miracles, but she's still elated when her lottery numbers finally pay off big-$28 million, to be exact. And she has great plans for her fortune: to save a rare piece of Florida paradise from the bulldozers. Only one problem: There's another winning Lotto ticket, and the people who've got it just never learned how to share. When the two militia wannabes swipe JoLayne's ticket, she enlists an off-the-rails newspaperman to help her track down the trigger-happy creeps and their bewildered hostage, a Hooters waitress. Getting rich quick is never easy."

Sick Puppy

Carl Hiaasen

2000

"An eco-terrorist with a trust fund, Twilly Spree is tailing a litterbug in a purple Range Rover with plates that read COJONES. Before he knows it, Spree is up to his cojones in corrupt Florida politicos and some very sick puppies, including a Toyota salesman turned governor, a Republicans-only hooker, and a millionaire developer with a fetish for Barbies. But when Spree learns that the fate of an unspoiled island is at stake, he's determined not to be outdone. While defending the toads of Toad Island-not to mention one cheerfully oblivious Labrador-he'll steal a man's wife, gouge out the eyes of big game trophies, and even risk his life two or three times."

Basket Case

Carl Hiaasen

2002

"Jack Tagger is a frustrated journalist. His outspoken views have relegated him to the obituary page, with his byline never again to disgrace the front page. But Jack has stumbled across a whale of a story that might just resurrect his career . . . James Stomarti, infamous frontman of rock band Jimmy and the Slut Puppies, has died in a diving accident and Jack harbours suspicions that the glamorous pop starlet widow may have had a vested interest in her husband's untimely death. It all smells a little too fishy. Aided and abetted by his rather sexy (if unnervingly ambitious) young editor, Emma, Jack sets out to in pursuit of the truth - and a nice juicy story. But of course nothing is ever straightforward and with murderous goons on his tail, brutal internal politics at the paper and a paranoia about death, Jack is struggling to keep his head above water. Was Jimmy Stomarti murdered? Is someone trying to kill off the Slut Puppies one by one? And what significance can a dead lizard named Colonel Tom possibly have?"

Hoot

Carl Hiaasen

2002

A children's novel.

"Roy Eberhardt is recently arrived in Florida. ‘Disney World is an armpit compared to Montana’, he announces. Roy’s family moves a lot so he’s used to the new-kid drill – and to bullies like Dana Matherson. And anyway, it’s because of Dana that Roy gets to see the mysterious running boy – who runs away from the school bus and who has no books, no backpack and, most oddly, no shoes. Sensing a mystery Roy starts to trail the mystery runner – a chase that will introduce him to many weird Floridian creatures: potty-trained alligators, some cute burrowing owls, a fake-fart champion, a sinister pancake PR man and some snakes with sparkly tails…Suddenly life in Florida is looking up!"

Skinny Dip

Carl Hiaasen

2004

"Joey Perrone is a woman with a mission. She's just been pushed overboard from a cruise liner by Chaz, her scumbag husband, and survived to tell the tale. But rather than reporting him to the police, she decides to stay dead and - with a little help from her friends and a few of Chaz's enemies - instead of getting mad, she's going to get even. Filled with a host of endearingly offbeat characters, and a narrative that is hilarious, romantic and thought-provoking by turns, Skinny Dip takes us on a journey through the warped politics of Southern Florida and through the madness created by the human heart."

Flush

Carl Hiaasen

2005

A children's novel.

"Noah's dad, Paine, is a kind but slightly irresponsible fisherman who is passionate about saving the local Florida aquatic life. When Paine discovers that a local businessman is running a scam from his casino boat, he takes the law into his own hands, sinks the boat and ends up in jail. This scam involves releasing the effluent from the boat's toilets directly into the water, to avoid the cost of disposing of it safely. Noah and his sister Abbey, take up the fight for justice on their Dad's behalf and enlist the help of Shelly, who knows that her former boyfriend is up to no good and comes up with a plan to prove it. She gets a job as a barmaid back on the casino boat and plans to sneak a huge load of coloured dye into the toilets."

Nature Girl

Carl Hiaasen

2006

"Honey Santana -self-proclaimed queen of lost causes - has a Plan. She's working on a scheme to help rid the world of irresponsibility, indifference and dinner-time telemarketers. She's also taking part-time telephonist Boyd Shreve and his less-than-enthusiastic mistress to Dismal Key - one of the Everglades' Ten ThousandIslands - for a gentle lesson in civility. What Honey doesn't know is that lurking in the island's undergrowth is Sammy Tigertail, half-blood Seminole Indian and wholly failed alligator wrestler, with death on his mind; and Honey's deranged co-worker, Louis Piejack, now with most of his fingers surgically mis-attached to the wrong knuckles, and intent on revenge."

Scat

Carl Hiaasen

2009

A young adult novel.

"When Mrs Starch, the most feared biology teacher in Florida, goes missing during a school trip to the Black Vine Swamp, her class is secretly relieved. The school principal tries to cover it up as a 'family emergency', but Nick and Marta just aren't convinced. They think it's much more likely to have something to do with Smoke, the local troublemaker - whose run-ins with Mrs Starch are infamous - and decide to do some investigating of their own. But there's more going on in Black Vine Swamp than either one of them could guess. And Nick and Marta must see off an eccentric eco-avenger, a stuffed rat named Chelsea, a crooked oil prospector, a singing substitute teacher, and an angry Florida panther before they really begin to see the big picture."

Star Island

Carl Hiaasen

2010

"Twenty-two-year-old pop star Cherry Pye is attempting a comeback from her latest drug-fuelled disaster. Her 'stunt double' Ann travels everywhere with her, throwing paparazzi off the scent when they get too close. But one night, Ann's resemblance to Cherry Pye proves too convincing - she is kidnapped by an obsessed paparazzo who only realises his mistake once it is too late to go back... From there it's a fast, funny and furious race against time to rescue Ann from a terrible fate."

Chomp

Carl Hiaasen

2012

A young adult novel.

"Wahoo Cray has grown up with a zoo in his backyard - alligators, snakes, rats, monkeys and parrots ... but it's his dad who's the real unpredictable critter. When his dad takes a job with a reality TV show called EXPEDITION SURVIVAL, Wahoo figures he'll have to do a bit of wrangling himself to keep his dad from killing the show's inept star Derek Badger, who insists on using real wild animals for his stunts. And Wahoo's acquired a shadow named Tuna, a girl who's hiding from her own dad. They've only been on location in the Everglades for a day before Derek gets bitten by a bat and goes missing in a storm. Search parties promptly get lost themselves. And then Tuna's dad shows up with a gun... It's anyone's guess who will survive."

Bad Monkey

Carl Hiaasen

2013

"When a severed arm is discovered by a couple on honeymoon in the Florida Keys, former police detective - now reluctant restaurant inspector - Andrew Yancy senses that something doesn't add up. Determined to get his badge back, he undertakes an unofficial investigation of his own. Andrew's search for the truth takes him to the Bahamas, where a local man, with the help of a very bad monkey (who allegedly worked on the Pirates of the Caribbean movies) is doing everything in his power to prevent a developer from building a new tourist resort on the island, with deadly consequences."

The Edible Exile

Carl Hiaasen

2013

A short novella written but not published in the 1980's. Published electronically.

"Cuervo is a pampered Nicaraguan moneyman, funding a guerrilla war from his cushy Miami penthouse. Sixto is his hulking, pistol-packing attendant, whose job satisfaction is on the wane. When an aging mobster enters their lives with a promise to help the rebel cause—with a planeload of chickens originally intended for voodoo sacrifice—a tense situation turns combustible."

Skink: No Surrender

Carl Hiaasen

2014

A young adult novel.

"Typical Malley - to avoid being shipped off to boarding school, she takes off with some guy she met online. Poor Richard - he knows his cousin's in trouble before she does. Wild Skink - he's a ragged, one-eyed ex-governor of Florida, and enough of a renegade to think he can track Malley down. With Richard riding shotgun, the unlikely pair scour the state, undaunted by blinding storms, crazed pigs, flying bullets and giant gators. Carl Hiaasen first introduced readers to Skink more than 25 years ago in DOUBLE WHAMMY, and he quickly became Hiaasen's most iconic and beloved character, appearing in six novels to date. Both teens and adults will be thrilled to catch sight of the elusive 'governor' as he pursues his own unique brand of swamp justice. With Skink at the wheel, the search for a missing girl is both nail-bitingly tense and laugh-out-loud funny."

Razor Girl

Carl Hiaasen

2016

"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 including Andrew Yancy, the disgraced cop who now works restaurants on roach patrol; a delusional fan of Buck's show; the local sheriff who's desperate for re-election; a shady lawyer and his gold-digging fiancée; 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."

Squirm

Carl Hiaasen

2018

A children's novel.

"Some facts about Billy Dickens: he once saw a biker swerve across the road in order to run over a snake; later, that motorcycle somehow ended up at the bottom of a canal; Billy isn't the type to let things go. Some facts about Billy's family: they've lived in six different Florida towns because Billy's mom insists on getting a house near a bald eagle nest; Billy's dad left when he was four and is a total mystery; Billy has just found his dad's address - in Montana. This summer, Billy will fly across the country, hike a mountain, float a river, dodge a grizzly bear, shoot down a spy drone, save a neighbor's cat, save an endangered panther, and then try to save his own father."

The Carl Hiaasen Omnibus: Tourist Season / Double Whammy / Skin Tight

Carl Hiaasen

1994

An omnibus that brings together the three novels Tourist Season, Double Whammy, and Skin Tight.

Native Tongue / Striptease

Carl Hiaasen

2003

An omnibus that brings together the two novels Native Tongue and Striptease.

Stormy Weather / Lucky You

Carl Hiaasen

2003

An omnibus that brings together the two novels Stormy Weather and Lucky You.

Tourist Season / Double Whammy

Carl Hiaasen

2004

An omnibus that brings together the two novels Tourist Season and Double Whammy.

Sick Puppy / Skin Tight

Carl Hiaasen

2004

An omnibus that brings together the two novels Sick Puppy and Skin Tight.

The Carl Hiaasen Omnibus 2: Stormy Weather / Native Tongue / Striptease

Carl Hiaasen

2005

An omnibus that brings together the three novels Stormy Weather, Native Tongue, and Striptease.

Hoot / Flush / Scat / Chomp

Carl Hiaasen

2013

An box set omnibus that brings together the four young people's novels Hoot, Flush, Scat, and Chomp.

Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World

Carl Hiaasen

1998

" 'Disney is so good at being good that it manifests an evil; so uniformly efficient and courteous, so dependably clean and conscientious, so unfailingly entertaining that it's unreal, and therefore is an agent of pure wickedness. . . . Disney isn't in the business of exploiting Nature so much as striving to improve upon it, constantly fine-tuning God's work.' - from TEAM RODENT."

Kick Ass: Selected Columns Of

Carl Hiaasen

Editor: Diane Stevenson

1999

"Beginning with 'Welcome to South Florida', a chapter introducing such everyday events as animal sacrifice, riots at the beach, and a shootout over limes at the supermarket, this collection organizes over 200 columns into 18 chapters, chronicling events and defining the issues that have kept the South Florida melting pot bubbling throughout the '80s and '90s. An introductory essay provides an overview of Hiassen's career and outlines his principal concerns as a journalist."

Paradise Screwed: Selected Columns Of

Carl Hiaasen

Editor: Diane Stevenson

2001

"Kick Ass gave Hiaasen fans a jump start. Now they get another slice of Hiaasen heaven in Paradise Screwed: a wide-ranging safari of South Florida's wildlife in its natural habitat-from fat-cat politicians to migrating mobsters, drowning Dolphins to stray chads. This collection of Miami Herald columns - written with a satiric wit and biting humor - offers a glimpse of the facts that inspire, and prove far stranger than, Hiaasen's frenetic fiction."

The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport

Carl Hiaasen

2008

Published in the UK as Fairway To Hell.

"Filled with harrowing divots, deadly doglegs, and excruciating sandtraps, The Downhill Lie is a hilarious chronicle of mis-adventure that will have you rolling with laughter. Bestselling author Carl Hiaasen wisely quit golfing in 1973. But some ambitions refuse to die, and as the years passed and the memories of slices and hooks faded, it dawned on Carl that there might be one thing in life he could do better in middle age than he could as a youth. So gradually he ventured back to the rolling, frustrating green hills of the golf course, where he ultimately - and foolishly - agreed to compete in a country-club tournament against players who can actually hit the ball."

Dance of the Reptiles: Selected Columns

Carl Hiaasen

Editor: Diane Stevenson

2014

"If you think the wildest, wackiest stories that Carl Hiaasen can tell have all made it into his hilarious, bestselling novels, think again. Dance of the Reptiles collects the best of Hiaasen's Miami Herald columns, which lay bare the stories- - large and small - that demonstrate anew that truth is far stranger than fiction. Hiaasen offers his commentary--indignant, disbelieving, sometimes righteously angry, and frequently hilarious--on burning issues like animal welfare, polluted rivers, and the broken criminal justice system as well as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Bernie Madoff's trial, and the shenanigans of the recent presidential elections. Whether or not you have read Carl Hiaasen before, you are in for a wild ride."

Assume the Worst: The Graduation Speech You'll Never Hear

Carl Hiaasen

2018

"This commencement address will never be given, because graduation speakers are supposed to offer encouragement and inspiration. That's not what you need. You need a warning. - So begins Carl Hiaasen's attempt to prepare young men and women for their future. And who better to warn them about their precarious paths forward than Carl Hiaasen? The answer, after reading Assume the Worst, is: Nobody."

The Best American Mystery Stories 2007

Editor: Carl Hiaasen

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2007

"The acclaimed columnist and author of Nature Girl serves as guest editor for this new collection of the outstanding mystery tales of the year, in an anthology that incorporates pieces of short fiction by Lawrence Block, James Lee Burke, John Dufresne, Louise Erdrich, William Gay, and David Means, among other notable authors."

• Stab (Chris Adrian)
• Solomon's Alley (Robert Andrews)
• Going, Going, Gone (Peter Blauner)
• Keller's Double Dribble (Lawrence Block)
• T-Bird (John Bond)
• A Season of Regret (James Lee Burke)
• The Timing of Unfelt Smiles (John Dufresne)
• Gleason (Louise Erdrich)
• Chellini's Solution (Jim Fusilli)
• Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You? (William Gay)
• Take the Man's Pay (Robert Knightly)
• One True Love (Laura Lippman)
• The Spot (David Means)
• Rodney Valen's Second Life (Kent Meyers)
• Meadowlands (Joyce Carol Oates)
• Jakob Loomis (Jason Ockert)
• Queeny (Ridley Pearson)
• Lucy Had a List (John Sandford)
• The True History (Brent Spencer)
• Pinwheel (Scott Wolven)

New Hard-Boiled Writers: 1970s-1990s

Leroy Lad Panek

2000

"Beginning in the 1970s, a new generation of writers took over the hard-boiled story and transformed it to fit the realities of their world - a universe infected by violence, greed, racism, sexism, war, and commercialism. The author comments both on the way the hard-boiled story has changed over the past three decades and examines the work of ten significant contemporary hard-boiled writers. Chapters on Robert B. Parker, James Crumley, Loren Estleman, Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, Carl Hiaasen, Earl Emerson, Robert Crais, James Lee Burke, and Walter Mosley demonstrate how these writers have used the hard-boiled hero to make powerful statements about life in the last quarter of the twentieth century."

Carl Hiaasen: Sunshine State Satirist

David Geherin

2018

"Carl Hiaasen is one of America's most inventive and entertaining writers. A columnist for the Miami Herald for over thirty years and an award-winning author of several young-adult novels, he's best known for the fourteen crime novels he's published since 1986. His distinctive blend of crime, outrageous humor, and biting satire gives his books an appeal that extends beyond just mystery fans to include readers who enjoy comic fiction as well as those interested in novels that address serious social and environmental issues. This, the first book-length study of Hiaasen, takes a close look at all his writing, from his earliest days as a reporter and later a columnist for the Miami Herald to his current status as bestselling author of novels both for adults and young readers. While much of his writing focuses on his beloved state of Florida, his work has a universal appeal that has earned him a global audience of avid fans."