What are your favorite books set in Florida?
 

I've been reading a couple of series set in Florida that are quite enjoyable. Electronic versions of both are free with Kindle Unlimited.

The Pineapple Port Mysteries by Amy Vansant. Eleven books so far. The protagonist is a young woman who was raised by her grandmother in a retirement community, and all her friends are seniors. It has a lighthearted and humorous tone -- the most recent book is set during a hurricane and someone is (perhaps) killing grocery store panic buyers and hoarders. And maybe even those danged snowbirds!

The other is The Forgotten Coast Florida Suspense Series by Dawn Lee McKenna. Ten books so far. The series is very atmospheric and immersive of the Gulf Coast and Florida in general. No sex or graphic violence. Features a female police lieutenant in a small town and is more of a character study than a twisty whodunnit. A recurring theme throughout the books is her cat and mouse interactions with a local crime boss.

McKenna has two other series in the early stages: The Still Waters Suspense Series, and The Dismal, Florida Suspense Series, which are both just as good.

Pretty much any book by Carl Hiaasen is set all or mostly in Florida and also happens to be a great read. On a non-fiction side, Dave Barry's Florida: Best. State. Ever. is all set in Florida and one chapter in The Villages. Both authors, along with several other Florida authors, collaborated on Naked Came The Manatee, where each author wrote a single chapter. Wickedly fun reading.

Try Devil In The Grove by Gilbert King. The story takes place in Lake County. Old FL 70 years ago. You will not be able to put the book down.

I have enjoyed Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford books. Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford books in order

A few years back I enjoyed "Early Bird". Robot Check

Pulitzer winner for nonfiction, nice! I just got the Audible version from the library (it also won an Audie for the narration). Thanks for the recommendation.

A Land Remembered by Patrick Smith
and Alas Babylon by Pat Frank

Excellent and illuminating. Anybody who wants to understand what blacks had to live through pre-civil rights legislation should read this.

“Carl Hiaasen is Wickedly fun reading”

You’ve got that right!

The Doc Ford books by Randy Wayne White

A Land Remembered which can be downloaded from the Sumter Library is a wonderful historical fiction describing a generation of a family settling in central Florida.

If you read only one book about Florida make it A Land Remembered.


In this best-selling novel, Patrick Smith tells the story of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family who battle the hardships of the frontier to rise from a dirt-poor Cracker life to the wealth and standing of real estate tycoons.

I found this book impossible to put down. Great read and a good history of Florida.

Hiaasen’s books are all fantastic especially if youre familiar with the area of Fl hes writing about.

Great post, thanks.

Try Tim Dorsey. He has 24 books in his series featuring Serge Storms—a psychotic Florida murderer with a bizarre sense of humor whose goal is to view and photograph and revere every historical landmark sign in the state—and his pal Coleman—one of the stupidest people alive. Carl Hiassen is the best (if you like bass fishing, you MUST read “Double Whammy”), but Dorsey is the best at combining shockingly violent retribution on idiots who disfigure the state of Florida with outrageous humor.

I taught popular classes in “Comic Crime Capers” at a university for a number of years, and after the first semester, I just taught Florida writers, as there were so many. Dorsey was usually the favorite.

A Land Remembered, by Patrick Smith