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Key West #4
Tropical Depression
Murray Zemelman—lingerie mogul, a.k.a. the Bra King—wakes up one morning, starts his car in the confines of his airtight garage, and contemplates the worst. But instead of doing himself in, he pops a Prozac and hits the road, waving good-bye to his trophy wife, the thriving brassiere business, and the streets of New Jersey for good. He's headed to Florida, home of his first wife, Franny, whom he was stupid enough to leave all those years ago. But now he wants to start fresh. Is it a brilliant insight? A glitch in his Prozac dosage? Who cares? He's off to Key West. There, he meets Tommy Tarpon, a local Native American—beaten down and made bitter by the unfairness of life around him, and the last surviving member of his small Florida tribe. Together they cook up a plan: with Murray's business acumen and Tommy's ability to make the most of government statutes, Key West could very well get its first legal gambling parlor on Tommy's tribal grounds—a tiny, alligator-infested island just off the coast. But gambling in Key West isn't an original idea, and a whole other species of reptiles is interested in the plan. With the "assistance" of Key West's crookedest politician, a local Mafioso makes Murray and Tommy an offer they can't refuse. All Murray wanted was to woo his first wife away from her reading group and into the Jacuzzi—but he ends up getting her, himself, and Tommy into more hot water than he ever bargained for.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
251 people are currently reading
493 people want to read
About the author
Laurence Shames
40 books239 followersLaurence Shames has been a New York City taxi driver, lounge singer, furniture mover, lifeguard, dishwasher, gym teacher, and shoe salesman. Having failed to distinguish himself in any of those professions, he turned to writing full-time in 1976 and has not done an honest day’s work since.
His basic laziness notwithstanding, Shames has published more than twenty books and hundreds of magazine articles and essays. Best known for his critically acclaimed series of Key West Capers--14 titles and counting!--he has also authored non-fiction and enjoyed considerable though largely secret success as a collaborator and ghostwriter. Shames has penned four New York Times bestsellers. These have appeared on four different lists, under four different names, none of them his own. This might be a record.
Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1951, to chain-smoking parents of modest means but flamboyant emotions, Shames did not know Philip Roth, Paul Simon, Queen Latifa, Shaquille O’Neal, or any of the other really cool people who have come from his hometown. He graduated summa cum laude from NYU in 1972 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. As a side note, both his alma mater and honorary society have been extraordinarily adept at tracking his many address changes through the decades, in spite of the fact that he’s never sent them one red cent, and never will.
It was on an Italian beach in the summer of 1970 that Shames first heard the sacred call of the writer’s vocation. Lonely and poor, hungry and thirsty, he’d wandered into a seaside trattoria, where he noticed a couple tucking into a big platter of fritto misto. The man was nothing much to look at but the woman was really beautiful. She was perfectly tan and had a very fine-gauge gold chain looped around her bare tummy. The couple was sharing a liter of white wine; condensation beaded the carafe. Eye contact was made; the couple turned out to be Americans. The man wiped olive oil from his rather sensual lips and introduced himself as a writer. Shames knew in that moment that he would be one too.
He began writing stories and longer things he thought of as novels. He couldn’t sell them.
By 1979 he’d somehow become a journalist and was soon publishing in top-shelf magazines like Playboy, Outside, Saturday Review, and Vanity Fair. (This transition entailed some lucky breaks, but is not as vivid a tale as the fritto misto bit, so we’ll just sort of gloss over it.) In 1982, Shames was named Ethics columnist of Esquire, and also made a contributing editor to that magazine.
By 1986 he was writing non-fiction books. The critical, if not the commercial, success of these first established Shames’ credentials as a collaborator/ghostwriter. His 1991 national bestseller, Boss of Bosses, written with two FBI agents, got him thinking about the Mafia. It also bought him a ticket out of New York and a sweet little house in Key West, where he finally got back to Plan A: writing novels. Given his then-current preoccupations, the novels naturally featured palm trees, high humidity, dogs in sunglasses, and New York mobsters blundering through a town where people were too laid back to be afraid of them. But this part of the story is best told with reference to the books themselves, so please spend some time and explore them.
His basic laziness notwithstanding, Shames has published more than twenty books and hundreds of magazine articles and essays. Best known for his critically acclaimed series of Key West Capers--14 titles and counting!--he has also authored non-fiction and enjoyed considerable though largely secret success as a collaborator and ghostwriter. Shames has penned four New York Times bestsellers. These have appeared on four different lists, under four different names, none of them his own. This might be a record.
Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1951, to chain-smoking parents of modest means but flamboyant emotions, Shames did not know Philip Roth, Paul Simon, Queen Latifa, Shaquille O’Neal, or any of the other really cool people who have come from his hometown. He graduated summa cum laude from NYU in 1972 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. As a side note, both his alma mater and honorary society have been extraordinarily adept at tracking his many address changes through the decades, in spite of the fact that he’s never sent them one red cent, and never will.
It was on an Italian beach in the summer of 1970 that Shames first heard the sacred call of the writer’s vocation. Lonely and poor, hungry and thirsty, he’d wandered into a seaside trattoria, where he noticed a couple tucking into a big platter of fritto misto. The man was nothing much to look at but the woman was really beautiful. She was perfectly tan and had a very fine-gauge gold chain looped around her bare tummy. The couple was sharing a liter of white wine; condensation beaded the carafe. Eye contact was made; the couple turned out to be Americans. The man wiped olive oil from his rather sensual lips and introduced himself as a writer. Shames knew in that moment that he would be one too.
He began writing stories and longer things he thought of as novels. He couldn’t sell them.
By 1979 he’d somehow become a journalist and was soon publishing in top-shelf magazines like Playboy, Outside, Saturday Review, and Vanity Fair. (This transition entailed some lucky breaks, but is not as vivid a tale as the fritto misto bit, so we’ll just sort of gloss over it.) In 1982, Shames was named Ethics columnist of Esquire, and also made a contributing editor to that magazine.
By 1986 he was writing non-fiction books. The critical, if not the commercial, success of these first established Shames’ credentials as a collaborator/ghostwriter. His 1991 national bestseller, Boss of Bosses, written with two FBI agents, got him thinking about the Mafia. It also bought him a ticket out of New York and a sweet little house in Key West, where he finally got back to Plan A: writing novels. Given his then-current preoccupations, the novels naturally featured palm trees, high humidity, dogs in sunglasses, and New York mobsters blundering through a town where people were too laid back to be afraid of them. But this part of the story is best told with reference to the books themselves, so please spend some time and explore them.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
August 26, 2025
I felt like reading something different and this was just the ticket, one of Laurence Shames' Key West capers. A fast and fun read, published in 1996. In this one, Murray is a guy from New Jersey who escapes the rat race to Key West. There he meets Tommy, the last of his Florida tribe. Together, the unlikely duo hatch a plan to set up a casino on an alligator-infested island, which is Tommy's ancestral land. The problem is that there's something far worse than alligators for the pair to deal with: the Mob.
February 17, 2014
My first Laurence Shames novel and I guarentee it won't be my last. Laurence Shames writing is in the tradition of my Favorite Florida authors-Carl Hiaasen,Paul Levine and Tim Dorsey. I found it a bit darker than other 3 authors, but very enjoyable read!
August 2, 2020
Murray Zemelman has a thriving lingerie business and is known as The Bra King. He's miserable in New York with his trophy wife and on a whim moves himself to Key West, Florida. A bit lonely, he makes friends with anembittered Indian shell seller named Tommy Tarpon who, it turns out, is the last of his tribe. When Murray finds that Tommy owns a deserted island, he comes up with a scheme to open an Indian casino. There's lots of interest from the Mafia and a local politician. Murray, Tommy and Murray's ex-wife, Franny, who he still loves, get in over their heads. It's great fun. The best thing about the book is the character of Murray.
May 5, 2013
Oy! It's January and bitterly cold up here in the Northeast. Perfect time to settle into a slapstick caper novel that takes place in Key West. And that, in a nutshell, describes Laurence Shames's style of writing.
Murray Zemmelman, the famous lingerie mogul, otherwise known as the Bra King, sits in his garage in his running Lexus trying to decide if he's going to work or committing suicide. Suddenly he's got a strong will to live, so much so that he can't even wait for the garage door to completely open before driving out. Then it's nonstop driving until Key West. Popping prozac like its antacid, he calls up his second wife to let her know she can have the house, his company to say he's stepping out and his shrink to get another prescription. He feels like he's finally doing the right thing and now it's time to try to get back his first wife, and he believes he knows how to impress her. Meanwhile he's also found himself a new project. He wants to help Tommy Tarpon, a bitter Native American, who makes his living selling sea shells near the most-southern-point, to become a sovereign nation. Tommy happens to be the only one left of his tribe, so Murray talks him into letting him do the paperwork. And then maybe the two of them can go into business together with a gambling casino.
Of course, these two amateurs have no idea that the gambling business is solely owned by the Mafia in Miami who has been paying a crooked politician lots of money to get an angle on the Florida Keys. And this Matalatchee Indian, Tommy Tarpon, looks to be the key to the whole business. Zemmelman has no idea what trouble will precipitate when the petition passes without a bit of opposition from the local government. But the celebration is hardly over before Zemmelman finds that he has inadvertently endangered the the lives of himself, his new friend and his ex-wife.
Murray Zemmelman, the famous lingerie mogul, otherwise known as the Bra King, sits in his garage in his running Lexus trying to decide if he's going to work or committing suicide. Suddenly he's got a strong will to live, so much so that he can't even wait for the garage door to completely open before driving out. Then it's nonstop driving until Key West. Popping prozac like its antacid, he calls up his second wife to let her know she can have the house, his company to say he's stepping out and his shrink to get another prescription. He feels like he's finally doing the right thing and now it's time to try to get back his first wife, and he believes he knows how to impress her. Meanwhile he's also found himself a new project. He wants to help Tommy Tarpon, a bitter Native American, who makes his living selling sea shells near the most-southern-point, to become a sovereign nation. Tommy happens to be the only one left of his tribe, so Murray talks him into letting him do the paperwork. And then maybe the two of them can go into business together with a gambling casino.
Of course, these two amateurs have no idea that the gambling business is solely owned by the Mafia in Miami who has been paying a crooked politician lots of money to get an angle on the Florida Keys. And this Matalatchee Indian, Tommy Tarpon, looks to be the key to the whole business. Zemmelman has no idea what trouble will precipitate when the petition passes without a bit of opposition from the local government. But the celebration is hardly over before Zemmelman finds that he has inadvertently endangered the the lives of himself, his new friend and his ex-wife.
April 19, 2015
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November 5, 2023
My second reading of Tropical Depression after roughly 20 years and though I'm giving it a 4 this time instead of a 5 that average 4.5 is about perfect. This is Laurence Shames' 4th Key West book and all are fun, funny, fast paced crime stories populated with mostly likeable characters in tough situations.
In this one, Murray Zemelman, the bra king, is sick of his life and packs it in, leaves his unhappy marriage and drives straight through to Key West, one of the last places he was happy. That was with the previous wife who he stupidly left for wife #2. He meets Tommy Tarpon a native American who's the last living member of his tribe. He convinces Tommy to get certified/recognized by the feds and they could then open a casino. A crooked politician brings in the mob to take over and all hell breaks loose.
It's a rolicking good yarn with people you'll like and want to root for. It's a quick read too. My only complaint was with the reader, Jem Matzan, who mispronounced a number of words that were quite jarring, including Tommy's last name, (he rhymed it with tampon) which comes up repeatedly throughout the book.
In this one, Murray Zemelman, the bra king, is sick of his life and packs it in, leaves his unhappy marriage and drives straight through to Key West, one of the last places he was happy. That was with the previous wife who he stupidly left for wife #2. He meets Tommy Tarpon a native American who's the last living member of his tribe. He convinces Tommy to get certified/recognized by the feds and they could then open a casino. A crooked politician brings in the mob to take over and all hell breaks loose.
It's a rolicking good yarn with people you'll like and want to root for. It's a quick read too. My only complaint was with the reader, Jem Matzan, who mispronounced a number of words that were quite jarring, including Tommy's last name, (he rhymed it with tampon) which comes up repeatedly throughout the book.
November 4, 2012
A fun and easy-to-ready little story that manages to be smart despite the goofy and bumbling characters.
The best part, by far, was the writing. The author manages vivid descriptions of the mundane, for example:
"The glare became a glow that caressed objects and displayed them proudly."
Or metaphors like:
"His high spirits were extremely fragile, less a part of him than an overlay, a cheery suit of clothes that could at any moment detach itself and walk away without him."
Plus an incisive perspective on basic human nature:
"...the baffled misery of the newcomer who doesn't know the rules and is afflicted at every moment by the nauseating fear that he will make some irreparable gaffe and spoil forever his chance of being welcomed."
Worth a read.
The best part, by far, was the writing. The author manages vivid descriptions of the mundane, for example:
"The glare became a glow that caressed objects and displayed them proudly."
Or metaphors like:
"His high spirits were extremely fragile, less a part of him than an overlay, a cheery suit of clothes that could at any moment detach itself and walk away without him."
Plus an incisive perspective on basic human nature:
"...the baffled misery of the newcomer who doesn't know the rules and is afflicted at every moment by the nauseating fear that he will make some irreparable gaffe and spoil forever his chance of being welcomed."
Worth a read.
January 5, 2020
You gotta love Murray: In the middle of his own crisis with depression, he runs away from home to the Keys, retires as the "Bra King" of the rag trade, and undertakes a new life. In attempts to make a sunnier outlook for his chronically bitter new best friend, Tommy, Murray bulldozes his way through racial stereotypes and Mob bosses, mows down everyone's objections and defies the status quo, succeeding at happiness where others have failed to try. It makes for a bracing read. Some of the characters will be familiar; Shames seems not to stray very far from his little coterie of Mafia transplants from the Big Apple, but their doings are not the focus here. That is on the irrepressible Murray, though he is counseled by Bert the Shirt (and the ever-present chihuahua), double-crosses Charlie Ponte and swims in the same water as the other shady denizens of the Key. It's not a new world Shames has created for this installment of the series, but a deeper, more nuanced version of the old one, with familiar landmarks. Light on the violence, for a change, nobody dies in this outing and everyone, as improbable as it may be, seems to feel good in the end.
December 24, 2023
A light, fun Florida escape novel in the Carl Hiaasen vein. Jewish businessman escapes New York, a bad second marriage, and thoughts of suicide for Key West. Main character Murray Zemelman retains a clumsy, ineffectual sweetness throughout the novel, which differs from many such novels, in which the main character is ultimately driven by anger or revenge. In the end, Murray hasn't changed. He's a flat character. If anyone in the book has gone through the transformation that normally denotes a main character, it is Tommy Tarpon, who has returned to his life as a street vendor, but has moved past his anger at the white world and its injustice, and found peace with his chosen way of life. The author manages some startlingly effective descriptions and images, and all in all the book is intelligently written. On the other hand, I'm tired of the mafia's presence in adventure/suspense novels. It's too easy to make them the bad guys; they are not a contemporary enough threat to be taken seriously; and the mafioso as clownish blundering oaf has become cliched.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 2, 2017
Murray Zemelman, the Bra King, is depressed, but the Prozac must be kicking in because suddenly decides to leave his old life behind and drive to Key West to start a new one.
In Key West, he is finding it hard to fill up his days so he decided to take up fishing, and through fishing he meets Tommy Tarpon, the last surviving member of the Matalachee tribe and heir to the ancestral lands — a tiny island off the coast surrounded by mangrove swamps and infested with killer bugs. Murray is a meddler and he makes the connection Tommy = Indian = casinos; unfortunately, a corrupt state senator and Charlie Ponte the Miami mobster also make the connection.
Good characters, especially Murray's ex-wife Franny.
A few of the plot elements are a bit over the top, and I for one, was not completely clear on who was doing what to whom in the final showdown, but a fun read nonetheless.
This was book # 8 on our 2017 Read-alouds list.
In Key West, he is finding it hard to fill up his days so he decided to take up fishing, and through fishing he meets Tommy Tarpon, the last surviving member of the Matalachee tribe and heir to the ancestral lands — a tiny island off the coast surrounded by mangrove swamps and infested with killer bugs. Murray is a meddler and he makes the connection Tommy = Indian = casinos; unfortunately, a corrupt state senator and Charlie Ponte the Miami mobster also make the connection.
Good characters, especially Murray's ex-wife Franny.
A few of the plot elements are a bit over the top, and I for one, was not completely clear on who was doing what to whom in the final showdown, but a fun read nonetheless.
This was book # 8 on our 2017 Read-alouds list.
June 17, 2017
What do you get when you cross a Prozac popping Jewish “Bra King”, an embittered Native American, a crooked politician, the Florida Keys and the Mob? A darn funny story about characters trying to find themselves amongst a plot to start a legal gambling casino on tribal land.
This is the fourth Lawrence Shames book I’ve read, and having read them in order I was delighted to see the characters, ex-Mafioso Bert the Shirt (and his little Chihuahua, too) and reporter Arty Magnus appear from earlier books. The real delight in a Shame’s book is his characters, and new lead characters Murray Zemelman and Tommy Tarpon are overwrought, flawed, complex characters that leap from tragic to comic situations throughout the story. Will Murray and Tommy come out on top or be ground down by the politician and the Mob? Read “Tropical Depression” to find out! (You will be guaranteed to laugh, which is a much better antidepressant than Murray’s Prozac.)
This is the fourth Lawrence Shames book I’ve read, and having read them in order I was delighted to see the characters, ex-Mafioso Bert the Shirt (and his little Chihuahua, too) and reporter Arty Magnus appear from earlier books. The real delight in a Shame’s book is his characters, and new lead characters Murray Zemelman and Tommy Tarpon are overwrought, flawed, complex characters that leap from tragic to comic situations throughout the story. Will Murray and Tommy come out on top or be ground down by the politician and the Mob? Read “Tropical Depression” to find out! (You will be guaranteed to laugh, which is a much better antidepressant than Murray’s Prozac.)
August 7, 2021
Traipsing the fringes of noir fiction, Shames portrays it's fairly familiar gimmick to the tee, a tale of characters who have succumbed to the lowest of moral pursuits or cynicism beyond redemption peppered by caustic wit reminiscent of Chase, Hammett, etc of prime. "Tropical Depression" does it all in the first half, until it comes to the second, the dark, grisly and morally bankrupt world of noir where the climax is about sheer shock value and it fails to deliver. Shames makes it palatable by selling a happy ending without particularly raising the stakes in a highly promising tale, and perhaps that's what you're left with, a sense of what could've been but you won't complain much if you've been longing for a Floridian escape in your backyard hammock.
July 6, 2021
I grew up in Florida. I understand why the state has its own category on Fark. The whole place is batshit crazy and Key West is the rabid bat at the bottom. Lawrence Shames knows Florida and its extreme southern tip. So when he writes about a New York brassiere manufacturer, an Indian who is the sole remaining member of his tribe, and Mafia hoodlums intent on casino wealth, he knows whereof he writes. Oh, yeah. There's also a scumbag Florida state senator, but that's redundant. It's a beautifully written romp set in a unique place and about as much fun as you can have with a book. Shames manages to avoid a mawkishly sentimental ending, but just barely.
May 19, 2018
Dear Mr. Shames: stop trying to imitate Carl Hiaasen, Tim Dorsey and Dave Barry. Also, do your research before writing. Case in point: learn your psychiatric medications. Antidepressants don't work for acute anything. Even a cursory glance at an encyclopedia article would have revealed that. Then there are the characters, like the psychiatrist, whose presence is almost entirely unnecessary, who seem as if they're there just to rack up a word count. Perhaps try reading some Hemingway as an example of how "less can be more." As a whole, the entire novel just came off as some slapdash attempt to capitalize on the following of the three authors I mentioned.
August 2, 2025
Almost 30 years after first published I picked up this paperback for a summer re-read.
So glad I did! I’d forgotten completely the storyline but Bert the Shirt and his frail chihuahua are characters that immediately returned to memory. There’s something about Laurence Shames turn of phrase that instantly capture the vibe of Key West and the Florida locals.
I was amused by goofy Murray the Bra King, held out hope for his ex-wife Franny & Tommy Tarpon with all the future casino shenanigans & klutzy mafia goons.
A perfect summer read that breezed on through.
So glad I did! I’d forgotten completely the storyline but Bert the Shirt and his frail chihuahua are characters that immediately returned to memory. There’s something about Laurence Shames turn of phrase that instantly capture the vibe of Key West and the Florida locals.
I was amused by goofy Murray the Bra King, held out hope for his ex-wife Franny & Tommy Tarpon with all the future casino shenanigans & klutzy mafia goons.
A perfect summer read that breezed on through.
December 21, 2021
Murray Zemelman is the Bra King of Manhattan and one day he gets into the car and drives to Key West, Florida. Maybe he'll learn to fish. Soon he's caught up in Indian rights to sacred grounds. Only Shames could pull this kind of plot off with any credibility and he does. When you look up the word "character" in the dictionary, you see a picture of the people in his books. If you've never met Bert the Shirt and his little dog, go find a Shames and treat yourself. Even if it is set in Florida.
June 10, 2017
I like, don't love Laurence Shames, just enough to keep reading. It's obvious that he prefers the transplanted New Yorker in Key West story. This is like Elmore Leonard lite. Enjoyable, but nowhere near as much as Carl Hiaasen or Tim Dorsey. The characterizations of the protagonists were delightful.
September 18, 2024
I've read several of Shames' books. Always a fun read. Though, if you've read one of his Key West stories you've read one that is mostly just like the others. If that doesn't bother you, then yeah ... it's kinda fun. Shames does write other stuff though, not just Key Westerlies, and I do enjoy his style.
August 18, 2025
This was a pretty fun read. Doesn’t take too much brain power and it was fun around every corner. It was enough to make you smile and wonder what the heck is going to happen next. I know he has a bunch of these and I beg to say I might have to get another one. Thoroughly enjoyed this and left it on a smile. I give it 4.34 stars.
January 15, 2018
Shamus does what he does, taking someone from the tri-state area and butting him up against Key West. Add a native American, a mafioso, a casino, lingerie, and a little dog to that. Smart commentary on the world and silly at the same time.
April 7, 2018
A good fun light read. This book, like the others in the series, is a joy to pick up, with funny, interesting characters and a subtle wit. I'll continue reading this series as a fun diversion to other topics.
June 30, 2017
A light, fun, interesting little tale. This series is like a guilty pleasure with wacky lovable characters inKey West.
July 8, 2017
A good book, great story, wonderful characters. Brings Key West into your living room. As good as a Hiaasen or Dorsey! Definitely worth the time.
August 4, 2017
funny quick read
October 9, 2017
Entertaining. Predictable. Stereotypical characters. While I'll take a Hiaasen first, this is a fun beach read if you appreciate the insanity that is, Florida.
January 1, 2018
The finest dirty realist story I've read in a long, long time. I'm hooked and ready for more.
February 15, 2018
So far the very best in the series.
July 12, 2018
Good Swiming pool read.
One has to keep reading or lose "The Shirt". All 70 plus aged men envy Bert and his acceptance of life he chose6
One has to keep reading or lose "The Shirt". All 70 plus aged men envy Bert and his acceptance of life he chose6
January 27, 2022
Interesting book if you’ve been to keys and can relate to the geography and culture. Good story to start, but tapered off for me.
September 20, 2023
And the fun—and Bert’s shirts—continues!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews