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Key West #10
Tropical Swap
Wanted: NY apartment in exchange for a great Key West house with swimming pool. In February.
Who wouldn’t take a swap like that? Then again, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is, as Meg and Peter Kaplan soon discover. Heading south for a supposed dream vacation, what they find instead is a panic attack waiting to happen. Coconuts crash through windows, bearing cryptic death threats. People fall from palm trees while spying on the pool. Neighbors whisper of Mob connections, leaving the Kaplans to wonder if they’ll get whacked by mistake in the Southernmost City or if their cozy West Side co-op has been transformed into a convenient Mafia morgue.
Enter an FBI agent going rogue, a very good girl determined to be very bad, and the irrepressible Bert the Shirt with his chihuahua, and the cast is complete for this riotous Florida romp. Told with Laurence Shames’ trademark mix of suspense and comedy, mayhem and romance, crackling dialogue and lush description, TROPICAL SWAP is a vacation you can savor without ever leaving home.
Who wouldn’t take a swap like that? Then again, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is, as Meg and Peter Kaplan soon discover. Heading south for a supposed dream vacation, what they find instead is a panic attack waiting to happen. Coconuts crash through windows, bearing cryptic death threats. People fall from palm trees while spying on the pool. Neighbors whisper of Mob connections, leaving the Kaplans to wonder if they’ll get whacked by mistake in the Southernmost City or if their cozy West Side co-op has been transformed into a convenient Mafia morgue.
Enter an FBI agent going rogue, a very good girl determined to be very bad, and the irrepressible Bert the Shirt with his chihuahua, and the cast is complete for this riotous Florida romp. Told with Laurence Shames’ trademark mix of suspense and comedy, mayhem and romance, crackling dialogue and lush description, TROPICAL SWAP is a vacation you can savor without ever leaving home.
188 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 23, 2014
155 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Laurence Shames
40 books238 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 30 reviews
August 29, 2020
Another winner!
Bert The Shirt for president!
Bert The Shirt for president!
November 5, 2023
Tropical Swap, the 10th Key West novel by Laurence Shames was good but not up to his typical high standards. It's a funny crime novel with inncoent people getting caught up in the action though happenstance. The story is good and the characters are too, more than enough to keep me going.
I rounded down because of the reader, Jem Matzan. I thought he was awful seeming to put a tiny bit of extra care into the pronunciation of most words, as if he was a very good but much too careful speaker of a second language, though without an accent. It did bother me less as the audiobook went on. In the only other book I've listened to read by Matzan he was also very annoying, mispronouncing words so badly it was jarring. I'm unhappy that 4 of the next 7 are also read by him, but I like the Shames books so much I just have to bull my way though. Who knows, maybe he'll get better?
I rounded down because of the reader, Jem Matzan. I thought he was awful seeming to put a tiny bit of extra care into the pronunciation of most words, as if he was a very good but much too careful speaker of a second language, though without an accent. It did bother me less as the audiobook went on. In the only other book I've listened to read by Matzan he was also very annoying, mispronouncing words so badly it was jarring. I'm unhappy that 4 of the next 7 are also read by him, but I like the Shames books so much I just have to bull my way though. Who knows, maybe he'll get better?
September 20, 2016
My original Tropical Swap audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
This book is everything that’s good about campy mobster stories, packed in a nice and compact 6-hour audiobook.
The characters in this book are simply delicious; the neurotic and paranoid Peter Kaplan who isn’t at all happy about the situation he’s now found himself in with his wonderful, unfazable wife Meg.
They’ve swapped homes for the spring with what might be the world’s most inept gangster, who’s been sent out on a job by his father-in-law. Understandably, this isn’t quite what the Kaplan’s had in mind for their time away from home and they find themselves drawn in to mob activities and then fixed under police scrutiny.
The characters are all caricatures and highly entertaining, from the gruff police detective just looking to be swept away in a grand romance with a bad-girl, and the would-be assassin who has a secret passion for painting. The story is madcap and fast paced, taking us from one funny misadventure to another before you can blink.
‘Romp’ is definitely the right word for this book, it’s comfortingly predictable but very fun to listen to. As the title might suggest, the setting of the book also plays a large point in this story as it’s the character’s strong accents that make it so fun to listen to.
Jem Matzam performs all of the accents wonderfully, bringing all the colourful characters to life and making the story a pleasure to listen to – though I did initially find it quite difficult to concentrate fully on his non-character narration.
There’s not really a lot I can say about this book that you can’t figure out from the synopsis, other than highly recommend it for a holiday road trip – there’s no swearing in this book that I remember and only mild comic violence and very vague sexual references, so it would be suitable for little ears if you’re going anywhere as a family.
Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.
This book is everything that’s good about campy mobster stories, packed in a nice and compact 6-hour audiobook.
The characters in this book are simply delicious; the neurotic and paranoid Peter Kaplan who isn’t at all happy about the situation he’s now found himself in with his wonderful, unfazable wife Meg.
They’ve swapped homes for the spring with what might be the world’s most inept gangster, who’s been sent out on a job by his father-in-law. Understandably, this isn’t quite what the Kaplan’s had in mind for their time away from home and they find themselves drawn in to mob activities and then fixed under police scrutiny.
The characters are all caricatures and highly entertaining, from the gruff police detective just looking to be swept away in a grand romance with a bad-girl, and the would-be assassin who has a secret passion for painting. The story is madcap and fast paced, taking us from one funny misadventure to another before you can blink.
‘Romp’ is definitely the right word for this book, it’s comfortingly predictable but very fun to listen to. As the title might suggest, the setting of the book also plays a large point in this story as it’s the character’s strong accents that make it so fun to listen to.
Jem Matzam performs all of the accents wonderfully, bringing all the colourful characters to life and making the story a pleasure to listen to – though I did initially find it quite difficult to concentrate fully on his non-character narration.
There’s not really a lot I can say about this book that you can’t figure out from the synopsis, other than highly recommend it for a holiday road trip – there’s no swearing in this book that I remember and only mild comic violence and very vague sexual references, so it would be suitable for little ears if you’re going anywhere as a family.
Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.
March 5, 2022
Laurence Shames, Mafioso, coconuts, Key West, and of course, (I let out a cheer when they appear in another book) Bert the Shirt and his chihuahua. What's not to love?
January 5, 2016
Good
Love Bert
Love story
Ready to re-visit Key West........I have been missing all the action!
And on to the next in the series.
Love Bert
Love story
Ready to re-visit Key West........I have been missing all the action!
And on to the next in the series.
March 29, 2021
Laurence Shames perfectly captures and releases the essence of the Keys: its tropical heat and humidity, the smell of growth and rot, of suntan oil, fish, sand and water, the idiosyncrasy of its human inhabitants and the waywardness of the human heart. To read Shames is to be immersed in that sunny, shady, violent, rapturous environment and to fall in love with the people who come to start over and live life. In this novel, a seasonal home-swap between a couple of middle aged New Yorkers and the daughter of a New York mafioso and her lower level mafia husband ends up causing a great deal of excitement and more lifestyle swapping than was ever contemplated. The meek become brave; the tough become tender, and the cop and the good girl let their inner rebels loose. Bert the Shirt, of course, stays the same Zen master of life, with his chihuahua, Nacho. A great fun story with people that you have to love, dialogue that feels like eavesdropping and some amazing lyrical writing about the tip end of the country where people are transformed to their best selves, or end up dead.
January 31, 2018
3.75
Laurence Shames' Florida books are great companions. They have a unique feel for the peculiar and unique qualities of Key West in particular. There are a few recurring characters but most feature different casts and situations.
"Retired" Mafioso Bert the Shirt and his twitchy little dog are back. They get caught up in an odd situation. Two couples trade homes for a mini vacation -- one pair in New York and one in Key West. Only something is wrong -- the vacationers in Key West end up being threatened and harassed because evidently the real homeowner has Mafia connections. And then suddenly the lady of the house shows up two days into their vacation.
This adventure features a few mob guys, a rogue FBI agent, a women fingered by the mob for elimination and the two couples who started it all. Lots of fun, great writing, and a little introspection thrown in.
Laurence Shames' Florida books are great companions. They have a unique feel for the peculiar and unique qualities of Key West in particular. There are a few recurring characters but most feature different casts and situations.
"Retired" Mafioso Bert the Shirt and his twitchy little dog are back. They get caught up in an odd situation. Two couples trade homes for a mini vacation -- one pair in New York and one in Key West. Only something is wrong -- the vacationers in Key West end up being threatened and harassed because evidently the real homeowner has Mafia connections. And then suddenly the lady of the house shows up two days into their vacation.
This adventure features a few mob guys, a rogue FBI agent, a women fingered by the mob for elimination and the two couples who started it all. Lots of fun, great writing, and a little introspection thrown in.
November 8, 2017
Meg and Peter get an offer from a man in Key West who is offering his home — complete with a swimming pool — in exchange for their apartment in New York... in winter.... It is only when a coconut — complete with cryptic threatening message scrawled thereon — smashes through the window of the Key West house on their first night there, that Meg — and especially Peter — begin to think that there is something not quite right about the set up.
Many echoes from Shames' earlier books (Bert the Shirt is back) and the story was entertaining enough, but it did seem a bit of retread...
TROPIC SWAP was book #58 on our 2017 Read-alouds List.
Many echoes from Shames' earlier books (Bert the Shirt is back) and the story was entertaining enough, but it did seem a bit of retread...
TROPIC SWAP was book #58 on our 2017 Read-alouds List.
July 28, 2023
marriage counseling and double crosses
Shames delves into relationships in this book, whether mob influenced, Manhattan based or concocted in a cheap Key West motel. Flying coconuts with death messages, hypoallergenic Burmese cats and schemes to make you wonder what will happen next. I need some sun!
Shames delves into relationships in this book, whether mob influenced, Manhattan based or concocted in a cheap Key West motel. Flying coconuts with death messages, hypoallergenic Burmese cats and schemes to make you wonder what will happen next. I need some sun!
January 1, 2024
And this is how to end the year! All of Shames’ regular characteristics are on full view—even Burt the Shirt. Although there were a few times Burt made an appearance and Shames didn’t describe his shirt, and that was disappointing. Was it silk? Linen? What color? Piping or no? Monogrammed? So many questions left unanswered. 😔
May 10, 2024
A nice middle-class New York couple rent a Key West house from a low-level Mafioso who's away on a job. The job doesn't go as expected and neither does the house rental. Very likeable and amusing tale told by a real professional. This is one of Shames' Key West series and I liked this one a lot. 4 stars.
December 31, 2019
As with nearly all the books in this series, it is a very good vacation read and rather like reading palate cleansers between other books. Shames always provides slightly wacky characters consistent with the slightly unique Key West setting. Highly recommended as a light read.
March 10, 2021
Conch Chronicles
Shames is a wonderful story teller. I think that makes him a great author...not in he sense that his stuff is literature, but because it is written well. My favorite of the Florida Keys goofy mystery set!
Shames is a wonderful story teller. I think that makes him a great author...not in he sense that his stuff is literature, but because it is written well. My favorite of the Florida Keys goofy mystery set!
May 23, 2022
A quick but fun read in the “Key West Capers” series. Shames does a great job of not only painting a fun picture of Key West but also the eccentric characters that make the Conch Republic a great destination. Great for winter reading when you need a warm escape from the mundane
February 23, 2024
My favorite
It has suspense, humor, Conchs, a New York neurotic. Chihuahuas Bert the shirt, strong women, mobsters and cats. Throughly satisfying book
Only thing is Mr. Shames repeats himself with phraseology too often. Book to book and chapter to chapter.
It has suspense, humor, Conchs, a New York neurotic. Chihuahuas Bert the shirt, strong women, mobsters and cats. Throughly satisfying book
Only thing is Mr. Shames repeats himself with phraseology too often. Book to book and chapter to chapter.
August 1, 2018
Another awesome Adventure in Key West!
June 12, 2021
Very sweet and funny
March 2, 2022
More Shameless humor
By far one of the most entertaining Laurence Shames novels I’ve read. A must read for LS Key West Capers fans!
By far one of the most entertaining Laurence Shames novels I’ve read. A must read for LS Key West Capers fans!
April 2, 2022
well balanced fun
I loved this farcical gangster romp through Key West. I read it in one day, couldn't stop. Had to find out what happened next.
I loved this farcical gangster romp through Key West. I read it in one day, couldn't stop. Had to find out what happened next.
July 30, 2022
A laugh outloud great read.
I especially loved Peter because of his funny logic.
Having Bert the shirt back adds familiarity.
Recommend this to anyone who enjoys fun writing.
I especially loved Peter because of his funny logic.
Having Bert the shirt back adds familiarity.
Recommend this to anyone who enjoys fun writing.
September 9, 2022
Good read
Good book but not as good tome as previous ones in the series. A bit too unrealistic by nevertheless entertaining. Would recommend for a lite read.
Good book but not as good tome as previous ones in the series. A bit too unrealistic by nevertheless entertaining. Would recommend for a lite read.
April 16, 2024
Shames is fun, very fast, light escapist reading, and true to form Key West.
December 31, 2024
Almost a novela, but warm on a cold winter night.
January 6, 2025
I love Laurence Shames's books, especially with Burt the Shirt and his dog!
March 15, 2017
Better Effort
Nice to see a better effort - after the naked detective I was ready to give up, but a last minute plane ride encouraged me to give tropical swap a try and while certainly not an award winning novel, it's a fun read.
Nice to see a better effort - after the naked detective I was ready to give up, but a last minute plane ride encouraged me to give tropical swap a try and while certainly not an award winning novel, it's a fun read.
April 12, 2015
A great weekend read.
Florida and Key West in particular seem to be the birthplace of many stories. Tropical Swap puts you tight in the middle of a tale that pits the mafia, a dog, a cat, and a cast of neat characters against one another to prevent a killing and open a art gallery.
Florida and Key West in particular seem to be the birthplace of many stories. Tropical Swap puts you tight in the middle of a tale that pits the mafia, a dog, a cat, and a cast of neat characters against one another to prevent a killing and open a art gallery.
August 29, 2015
I don't think this author has written a bad book. This was the light funny read I needed. Husband and wife swap their Manhattan apartment for a house in Key West and from the moment they arrive in the tropics nothing works the way they thought it would. Crazy Floridians, shady Key Westers, the mafia, the FBI, and the one constant of this author's series Bert The Shirt. Really a very fun book.
January 6, 2016
Always great.
Shames is a wonderful denizen of the lower Keys. If you've been there, he will bring it all back into your head. If you've never been down there, your next move once done with the book, will be to crank up Kayak and start looking.....
Shames is a wonderful denizen of the lower Keys. If you've been there, he will bring it all back into your head. If you've never been down there, your next move once done with the book, will be to crank up Kayak and start looking.....
January 20, 2015
Always a fun read.
His caricatures are colorful. The northern accents are right on. Key West is just as Laurance shames describes. A wonderland.
His caricatures are colorful. The northern accents are right on. Key West is just as Laurance shames describes. A wonderland.
February 1, 2015
One of my new favorite authors
I would recommend this Key West adventure for all who just want a good time read that will have you laughing and wanting more.
I would recommend this Key West adventure for all who just want a good time read that will have you laughing and wanting more.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews