From Publishers Weekly
A comedy of Mafia manners as brash and shiny as a sharkskin suit struts its way across these pages. Young mafioso Joey Goldman, the illegitimate son of a New York don, gets fed up with his lot as a goombata gofer and takes his bank-teller girfriend Sandra to Key West, where he's "gonna, like, take over." Sandra lands a new job right away, but Joey is stymied by his first foray out of New York mob territory. Rebuffed by the seamiest of local racketeers, Joey is counseled by retired gunsel Bert "the Shirt" to go native; he falls in love with laid-back Key West, where "the air is the temperature of lips," and takes a job pitching time-shares. All is well until big brother Gino drops in from New York--up to his size-17 neck in trouble with the Miami mob over uncut emeralds and misplaced drugs. Joey's former troubles are back in his face as Gino sets him up; death looms before Joey finally outscams the pros to become a self-made man. The plot line flows like a strong ocean current, and Shames's ( The Big Time ) quirky Key West denizens clash wonderfully with the insulated and seamy lives of the mobsters. Film rights to Lee Rich Productions. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The author of The Hunger for More: Searching for Values in an Age of Greed (Times Bks., 1989) proves that fiction is not his forte in this tale of Joey Goldman, the neglected illegitimate son of a New York Mafia don and a Jewish manicurist who drives to Key West with plans to establish his own criminal fiefdom. Joey substantiates his reputation as a loser by assaying a number of rackets that Cubans, Colombians, and another Mafia family have already cornered. With funds running low, he takes a "legal" job as a barker-shill for a condominium development, but his past soon intrudes in the form of his half-brother, Gino Delgato, who engineered a bungled heist of emeralds from the rival Ponte family. Again involved in the brutal give-and-take of gang hegemony, Joey must take steps to save his brother's life as well as his own. The abundance of four-letter words is no substitute for purposeful dialog, and protagonist Joey is so sordidly pathetic, conventional, and slow-witted, that, by comparison, Paddy Chayefsky's Marty is a hero of Homeric proportions.-Edward Cline, Palo Alto, Cal.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
Nifty comic novel about a bumbling, low-level Mafia gofer who leaves the mob behind and goes to Key West to make a new life for himself. Readers will have a hard time not seeing Joey Pesci as the hero of this ``business novel'' by the author of The Big Time and the uncredited coauthor of the bestselling Boss of Bosses. The plot is The Worm Turns. Joey Goldman, half-Jewish illegitimate son of mob boss Vincente Delgatto, is not a full-blooded Sicilian and so can never take over the mob. What's more, he's forever being squashed by his half-brother, Gino, a full Sicilian. Joey decides to give it all up, move permanently to Key West with his girlfriend Sandra, and then take over a few scams--maybe numbers, prostitution, garbage trucking, something that will not give him the creepy feeling of going legit. But Key West's numbers racket is all sewed up by the Cubans; sex is weirdly ridden with transvestites; garbage trucking is under a city contract; and at each attempt to break in, Joey is humiliated. While Sandra gets another bank-teller's job, at half what she earned in Queens, Joey's money runs low. He meets retired Mafioso Bert the Shirt, who tells him he should look into the local traditions, perhaps get his money from the sea--and Joey starts thinking about the Florida Straits as a moneymaker. Then his greasy brother Gino shows, pursued by a rival mob and looking for $3 mil in rough-cut emeralds that have been hidden in a rotting boat. Soon Joey and Sandra are prisoners of mob goons, and Joe must recover the emeralds.... A comic novel with no laughs: all the humor blooms from character, not from farcical difficulties--a wise business move by Shames. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


From the Publisher
Joey Goldman's flying south for the winter. The second-string New York wiseguy just packed up his faithful girlfriend Sandra and took off for Key West -- land of sun, surf and sleaze -- where a small-time hustler in search of a racket can score the big one. If he can find it. Enter Joey's half brother Gino. On the lam from the mob after one of the most royally screwed-up jewel heists in Florida history, Gino's a man in need of a fall guy. Which is where Joey comes in . . .Suddenly, everyone's after Joey -- including the ruthless Miami don who wants his three million worth of uncut emeralds and who just dispatched his goons to deliver Joey a one-way ticket -- out. Now Joey's where he always wanted to be -- in the big time. All he has to do is find out where the stones are stashed. And for an unikely hero out to make a killing, this could be Paradise . . . if he lives long enough.


From the Inside Flap
Joey Goldman's flying south for the winter. The  second-string New York wiseguy just packed up his  faithful girlfriend Sandra and took off for Key  West -- land of sun, surf and sleaze -- where a  small-time hustler in search of a racket can score the  big one. If he can find it. Enter Joey's half  brother Gino. On the lam from the mob after one of  the most royally screwed-up jewel heists in Florida  history, Gino's a man in need of a fall guy.  Which is where Joey comes in . .  .



Suddenly, everyone's after Joey -- including the  ruthless Miami don who wants his three million worth  of uncut emeralds and who just dispatched his goons  to deliver Joey a one-way ticket -- out. Now  Joey's where he always wanted to be -- in the big time.  All he has to do is find out where the stones are  stashed. And for an unikely hero out to make a  killing, this could be Paradise . . . if he lives  long enough.

ANNOTATION

New York wiseguy Joey Goldman has just landed in Key West, where a small-time hustler in search of a racket can score the big one. For an unlikely hero out to make a killing, this could be paradise--or real trouble, because Joey's half-brother Gino, on the run from the mob, is looking for a fall guy. Soon to be a major motion picture.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Joey Goldman's flying south for the winter. The second-string New York wiseguy just packed up his faithful girlfriend Sandra and took off for Key West — land of sun, surf and sleaze — where a small-time hustler in search of a racket can score the big one. If he can find it. Enter Joey's half brother Gino. On the lam from the mob after one of the most royally screwed-up jewel heists in Florida history, Gino's a man in need of a fall guy. Which is where Joey comes in . . .

Suddenly, everyone's after Joey — including the ruthless Miami don who wants his three million worth of uncut emeralds and who just dispatched his goons to deliver Joey a one-way ticket — out. Now Joey's where he always wanted to be — in the big time. All he has to do is find out where the stones are stashed. And for an unikely hero out to make a killing, this could be Paradise . . . if he lives long enough.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

A comedy of Mafia manners as brash and shiny as a sharkskin suit struts its way across these pages. Young mafioso Joey Goldman, the illegitimate son of a New York don, gets fed up with his lot as a goombata gofer and takes his bank-teller girfriend Sandra to Key West, where he's ``gonna, like, take over.'' Sandra lands a new job right away, but Joey is stymied by his first foray out of New York mob territory. Rebuffed by the seamiest of local racketeers, Joey is counseled by retired gunsel Bert ``the Shirt'' to go native; he falls in love with laid-back Key West, where ``the air is the temperature of lips,'' and takes a job pitching time-shares. All is well until big brother Gino drops in from New York--up to his size-17 neck in trouble with the Miami mob over uncut emeralds and misplaced drugs. Joey's former troubles are back in his face as Gino sets him up; death looms before Joey finally outscams the pros to become a self-made man. The plot line flows like a strong ocean current, and Shames's ( The Big Time ) quirky Key West denizens clash wonderfully with the insulated and seamy lives of the mobsters. Film rights to Lee Rich Productions. (June)

Library Journal

The author of The Hunger for More: Searching for Values in an Age of Greed (Times Bks., 1989) proves that fiction is not his forte in this tale of Joey Goldman, the neglected illegitimate son of a New York Mafia don and a Jewish manicurist who drives to Key West with plans to establish his own criminal fiefdom. Joey substantiates his reputation as a loser by assaying a number of rackets that Cubans, Colombians, and another Mafia family have already cornered. With funds running low, he takes a ``legal'' job as a barker-shill for a condominium development, but his past soon intrudes in the form of his half-brother, Gino Delgato, who engineered a bungled heist of emeralds from the rival Ponte family. Again involved in the brutal give-and-take of gang hegemony, Joey must take steps to save his brother's life as well as his own. The abundance of four-letter words is no substitute for purposeful dialog, and protagonist Joey is so sordidly pathetic, conventional, and slow-witted, that, by comparison, Paddy Chayefsky's Marty is a hero of Homeric proportions.--Edward Cline, Palo Alto, Cal.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

"I can't remember when I've had more laughs at the Mafia's expense. The funniest part is that 'Florida Straits' for all its zaniness provides a true picture of mob life and all the recent spate of as-told-to expose books put together." — Peter Maas

"Once every few years a really talented new novelist enters the mytery scene. This year it's Laurence Shames. 'Florida Straits' is fresh, new and different. You don't want to miss it. Shames can write!" — Tony Hillerman