Key West has a new hero…He weighs four pounds and stands eight inches off the ground. His name is Nacho and he’s the bravest, shrewdest, funniest Chihuahua you will ever meet. He’ll do anything to help his master, the retired Mafioso Bert the Shirt, and his friends—especially the beautiful Rita, with whom Nacho is smitten from the very first time she reaches down to scratch his ears. Wise-cracking Rita, straight out of Jersey, is new in town and needs a job. A gig at Wreckers Rum seems promising, but there’s something, well, a little off about the place. It doesn’t sell much booze, yet maintains a classy tasting room on prime Key West waterfront. Where’s the money coming from? Who’s the oddly chivalrous mobster behind the operation? What’s up with the crazy scientist in flip-flops toiling away in his triple-locked lab behind the distillery? And how might Rita get closer to the irresistible but aloof young chief distiller whose only passion seems to be for making rum? Determined to find both answers and true love, undaunted Rita lands herself in some very hot water—hot rum, actually—and it will take a special kind of devoted and unleashed hero to rescue her. Oh…and one more thing about Nacho. He’s not just brave; he talks, lending plenty of loopy canine wisdom to this rollicking, sun-drenched story of rum and romance, chemistry and crime, friendship, family, and the sacred responsibilities of loyalty. 

Key West may very well get its first legal gambling parlor if Murray Zemelman, a.k.a. The Bra King, & his new partner Tommy Tarpon, a local Native American, can pull off their kooky, Prozac-induced plan. When a local mafioso and Key West's most crooked politician decide to get a piece of their action, Murray and Tommy fight for their money and lives in a battle of wits, writs and anti-depression.

Take three speedboats, a disgruntled ghostwriter, and a hit TV show starring a gorgeous but impossible diva and created by a driven genius who may be losing his marbles. Add a fearless and gleefully profane stuntwoman, an ancient Mafioso with a chihuahua, and a revenge-crazed blonde in gladiator sandals. Stir in a thug with a heart of gold and an inveterate slacker who yearns for glory. Whisk a loopy but tender romance into the mix, turn the whole crew loose in the liberating and seductive sunshine of the Florida Keys—and what do you have? SHOT ON LOCATION, the new and long-awaited Key West novel by Laurence Shames. Hilarious and suspenseful, wisecracking and wise, this is the most intoxicating story yet from the author of such cult classics as FLORIDA STRAITS and SUNBURN. Longtime Shames fans will rejoice at his return to the fictional turf of Key West and the reappearance of some of his most beloved characters. And new readers will find themselves in for a hell of a ride as Hollywood glitz meets Florida funky.**

When Vincente Delgatto—an aging Mafia Godfather—decides to spend some time in Key West with his half-Jewish bastard son Joe Goldman (who is decidedly not in the family business, he thinks the worst that can happen is he’ll get a little too much sun. After all, the only thing he wants is peace and quiet, and some time to recover from the recent loss of his sainted wife.

A hilarious novel of mistaken identify and tropical crime that proves that while we all love the idea of a vacation, the truth is we often end up wishing we’d stayed home. Rich in the loopy insights and surprising tenderness that have become Shames's hallmarks, WELCOME TO PARADISE is his best novel yet.

When artist Augie Silver disappears in a sailing accident, his Key West pals are devastated. They’re devastated again when he turns up alive—at least for a while.

Mafia princess Angelina Amaro has only ever loved one man-and that lone affair was never consummated. Why not? Because her would-be lover, Sal Martucci, fled into the Witness Protection Program…after ratting out Angelina’s father. When Sal is found tending bar in Key West, the wildly dysfunctional Amaro clan heads south-one member with love on her mind, the others with murder in their hearts.