The old adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover” definitely applies to Carl Hiaasen’s newest book “Bad Monkey.” On the cover is a picture of, what else, a monkey wearing a pirate hat with its mouth poised to bite its latest victim. Ordinarily, this cover, as well as the title, would definitely cause me to pass it up. However, I had recently hear an interview with Hiaasen and was intrigued. I thought that I should give it a try.
The setting is Hiaasen’s home turf of Florida, specifically Miami and the Florida Keys. The main character is Andrew Yancy, a police detective who has been fired by the Miami Police Department and is soon to be fired by the Monroe County sheriff’s office. While Yancy is waiting to hear whether he has been discharged due to an attack on his girl friend’s husband, he has been assigned as a Health Inspector, affectionately known as roach patrol. This duty causes him to lose more than twenty pounds due to the conditions he uncovers in local restaurants.
The mystery begins when a vacationing tourist reels in an arm instead of a fish. It appears that the owner of the arm has died in a boating accident. What follows is a double murder, the burial of the arm, twice, Yancy’s involvement with a kinky coroner, and, of course, the “bad monkey.” Yancy uses legal and illegal methods to track down the killers and uncover a case of major medical fraud.
Hiaasen has written a very humorous detective story. His cast of characters is well developed and his understanding of the southern Florida lifestyle adds greatly to the plot. If you like your mysteries mixed with humor and a whole cast of despicable characters, you will like “Bad Monkey.”