Relative Humidity

Key West Capers, Book 17

De: Laurence Shames

Narrado por: Steve Marvel

Ever notice that things get sticky when family comes to town?

Pete Amsterdam, world’s most reluctant private eye, is living the bachelor dream in Key West, Florida. Then his mother, the undaunted Gertie, shows up with her new hip, her large suitcase, and her gift for cutting remarks.

Penelope Calabro, world’s most fetching pickleball instructor, has been managing to outrun her troubled, secret past. Until her Uncle Gianni appears one humid day with a mysterious hit-man following much too close for comfort.

Before long, Gertie has guilt-tripped Pete into taking on Gianni’s very complicated problems, since Gianni is her last best hope for a scintillating late-life romance. But Pete has fallen for the irresistible Penelope, running headfirst into a perplexing question: Who’s the hit-man really after—the uncle or the niece?

With a midnight deadline to solve the puzzle looming, Pete finds himself with only the most improbable of allies—an ancient Mafioso named Bert the Shirt and his neurotic chihuahua, Nacho, along with a couple of ragged locals who live in an old food truck in the mangroves. Can this ill-assorted team beat the odds and save a couple of lives?

Told with Laurence Shames’s trademark mix of comedy, suspense, and romance, Relative Humidity raises the temperature with crackling dialogue, steamy Key West atmosphere, and achingly on-point observations about the genetic accidents known as families.

©2023 Laurence Shames (P)2023 Laurence Shames

Good Listen

It’s true, I did miss Jem as the narrator, but over all I enjoyed the story-just wish it was longer!

Grabs you from the start

Witty, laugh out loud fun! Read it so quickly that it left me wanting more.

Laurence Shames

What’s not to love about Burt the shirt, Nacho, and Pete the reluctant detective? As always a fun and entertaining read!

Awful narration of one of Shames' rare poor works

It breaks my heart to give a poor review to a Laurence Shames book, as he is one of my all-time favorite authors. His "Virgin Heat", "One Big Joke", and "Tropical Swap" are true masterpieces, all on my short list of all-time favorites. But somehow Shames was off his game when he wrote this book. The plot is much thinner than his usual plots, and the dialog is not even close to his usual witty banter. And adding to the downer nature of this book is the truly terrible narration of Steve Marvel. He has absolutely no grasp of the personalities. He does a reasonable job with Pineapple, but that's it. And his rendition of Bert the Shirt is painful to listen to. He has no concept of how this sweetly aging mafia leader speaks. Maybe it's just that I've been spoiled by the excellence of Jem Matzan as a Shames narrator, but I found this reading to be dull and lifeless.