Laurence Shames: Mangrove Squeeze (USA 2015)

From the Publisher:
"Nutty... [with] plenty of sly, sunny sass." -- The New York Daily News
Key West seduces people -- then asks them to leave in the morning. Take Aaron Katz. He chucked his NY nine-to-five to restore the Mangrove Arms, a rotting wreck of a guest house. Suki Sperakis, aspiring journalist, sees opportunity in Florida, too, though in the meantime she's peddling ad space for a third-rate freebie paper. Then she stumbles upon a nefarious plot revolving around a handsome Russian and his string of T-shirt shops. Can't a guy manufacture plutonium in peace?

Now, with the Russian mafia on her trail, freewheeling Suki is running for her life -- and leaving in her wake a mix of sunken Cadillacs, abandoned Cold War missile silos, and the occasional corpse. With only the mild-mannered Aaron, his slightly demented father Sam, and an old gangster named Bert the Shirt as allies, can she possibly survive the squeeze?

Laurence Shames: Mangrove Squeeze. CreateSpace Independent Publ., ISBN: 9781508435464 (February, 2015), 334 p., $12.99, eBook $4.99.

Laurence Shames: Mangrove Squeeze (UK 1999)

From the Publisher:
To mix a Mangrove Squeeze:
1 part Susi Sperakis, following her dreams
1 part Aaron Katz, escaping a stressful Wall Street job and a bad marriage
1 part of Russians out to make some easy money. (Blue jeans! Gold chains! And a beautiful warm spot close to the richest source of criminal income they could imagine)...

Combine with a Key West setting and laugh-out-loud wit that recalls the best of Carl Hiassen; the quirky dialogue and tough-mindedness of Elmore Leonard; and the solidly evocative settings that have already gained Laurence Shames a cult following in the US.
Now prepare to shake (with laughter) and read in one sitting.

Laurence Shames: Mangrove Squeeze. Mixing it with the Russians can shorten your life. Orion Paperbacks; ISBN: 0752816810 (September, 1999), 384 p., £5.99.

Laurence Shames: Mangrove Squeeze (USA 1999)

From the Publisher:
Key West seduces people -- then asks them to leave in the morning. Take Aaron Katz. He shucked his nine-to-five to restore Mangrove Arms, a rotting wreck of a guest house. Suki Sperakis sees opportunity in Florida too. In the meantime she's peddling ad space for a third-rate freebie paper. Then she stumbles upon a nefarious plot revolving around a handsome Russian and his string of T-shirt shops. Can't a guy manufacture plutonium in peace?

Now, with the Russian mafia on her trail, freewheeling Suki is running for her life -- and right into the safety of Aaron's Mangrove Arms. As dead bodies sully the Key West scenery, a secret society of killers puts the squeeze on Suki and Aaron -- and conspires to turn an island paradise into a tropical death-trap

Laurence Shames: Mangrove Squeeze. Fawcett Books, ISBN: 0345433068 (May, 1999), 343 p., $6.99.

Laurence Shames: Mangrove Squeeze (UK 1998)

From the Publisher:
To mix a Mangrove Squeeze:
1 part Susi Sperakis, following her dreams
1 part Aaron Katz, escaping a stressful Wall Street job and a bad marriage
1 part of Russians out to make some easy money. (Blue jeans! Gold chains! And a beautiful warm spot close to the richest source of criminal income they could imagine)...

Combine with a Key West setting and laugh-out-loud wit that recalls the best of Carl Hiassen; the quirky dialogue and tough-mindedness of Elmore Leonard; and the solidly evocative settings that have already gained Laurence Shames a cult following in the US.
Now prepare to shake (with laughter) and read in one sitting.

Laurence Shames: Mangrove Squeeze. Mixing it with the Russians can shorten your life. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752810022 (July, 1998), 384 p., £16.99.

Laurence Shames: Mangrove Squeeze (USA 1998)

From the Publisher:
People go to Key West for lots of different rea-sons. Not all of them are legal, sane, or in the interests of public safety.
Suki Sperakis went to Key West for a better life -- even though the tradeoff was a series of lousy jobs, the latest of which is selling ad space for a third-rate freebie paper.

Aaron Katz went to Key West to escape the double hell of a Wall Street job and a soured marriage. And to pursue a dream he'd caught, like a bad cold, from his ex, of restoring a doomed and rotting wreck of a guest house.

Then there were the Russians they came to Key West for the opportunity. Blue jeans! Gold chains! Harley Davidsons! And a cozy, unprotected spot that harbored the richest, most explosive stash of contraband they could possibly imagine.

When Suki starts sniffing around a story that could really make a difference to the town she loves, and Aaron falls for her as the blithe spirit who could turn his life around, and Aaron's senile father joins forces with retired mafioso0 Bert the Shirt, and the Russians start to worry that too many nosy Americans are too curious about their business, Mangrove Squeeze takes off. It is the most suspenseful and oddly touching novel yet in Laurence Shames's unique collection of "funny, elegantly written, and hip" South Florida thrillers. (Robert Ward, Los Angeles Times Book Review).

Laurence Shames: Mangrove Squeeze. Hyperion, ISBN: 0786863013 (March, 1998), 309 p., $22.95.