From Publishers Weekly
When the president of the Miami Chamber of Commerce is found dead inside a suitcase with his legs sawn off and a rubber alligator stuffed down his throat, news and police locals prefer to believe it's simply another typical South Florida crime. But when letters from a terrorist group, Las Noches de Diciembre, link the man's death to the disappearances of a visiting Shriner and a Canadian tourist, former newsman (now private eye) Brian Keyes intuits that someone is out to kill Florida's tourist trade. His investigation leads him to an old journalism crony obsessed with fury against the state's irresponsible development policies. Miami Herald columnist Hiaasen writes with a seriousness of intent and knack for characterization which, unfortunately, outstrip his comic talents. This is an auspicious solo debut for the serious Hiaasen (he has written three thrillers with William Montalbano), but a lukewarm one for him as a potential comic-absurdist. (March 24pCopyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
P.I. Brian Keyes finds himself enmeshed in a bizarre string of crimes: a series of murders perpetrated by a radical group using carnivorous reptiles, both living and rubber, as weapons in an attempt to free Florida from overdevelopment. This serviceable abridgment fails to capture the absurdity of the book. But Asner's exquisite narration more than makes up for it. His versatile voice is subtly varied for each character, never exaggerated and always on target. His snorting laugh as a redneck bartender demonstrates the care put into vocal characterization of even the smallest roles. D.T.H. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Review
"A dark, funny book full of irony and spice. I loved it!"-- Robert B. Parker

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The only trace of the first victim was his Shriner's fez washed up on the Miami beach. The second victim, the head of the city's chamber of commerce, was found dead with a toy rubber alligator lodged in his throat. And that was just the beginning... Now Brian Keyes, reporter turned private eye, must move from muckraking to rooting out murder, in a caper that will mix football players, politicians, and police with a group of fanatics and a very hungry crocodile.

FROM THE CRITICS

Tony Hillerman

''Tourist Season'' is a lively story of a conspiracy intended to save Florida for the future by terrorizing tourists and thereby collapsing its superhyped condominium economy. . . . Mr. Hiaasen leaves you grinning a lot. . . Reading Carl Hiaasen is fun. Behind the fun is a sophisticated morality story that leaves you to decide exactly who the bad guy was. -- New York Times

Publishers Weekly