Laurence Shames: Scavenger Reef (USA 2015)

From the Publisher:
"In this business, nothing is as good as dead..."
The business in question is the high-end art world, and everyone in this darkly comedic mystery wants a piece of it.

When painter Augie Silver is lost at sea in a sailing accident, his many friends among Key West's artists, writers, and hangers-on mourn--until, that is, they realize that Augie's death has sent the prices for his pictures skyrocketing. What at first seemed a tragedy turns out to be a windfall--until, that is, Augie, rescued at sea, limps back to town alive. Not everyone is thrilled by the artist's resurrection. Someone, in fact, is upset enough to start trying to bump off Augie for real.

Full of steamy Key West atmosphere and sometimes brutal insights into the wacky world of creative types, SCAVENGER REEF is both a taut whodunit and a wise meditation on loyalty real or faked, friendships sincere or toxic.

Laurence Shames: Scavenger Reef. CreateSpace Independent Publ., ISBN: 9781508409151 (February, 2015), 284 p., $12.99, eBook $4.99.

Laurence Shames: Scavenger Reef (USA 1995)

From the Publisher:
"WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A RENOWNED ARTIST, FRIEND TO MANY, CASH COW TO SOME, REAPPEARS SEVERAL MONTHS AFTER BEING PRESUMED DROWNED? THIS CLEVER PREMISE IS EXPLORED WITH DELICIOUS DARK HUMOR AND HEALTHY CYNICISM." -- San Francisco Chronicle

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...
What is an Augie Silver painting worth? It depends. Dead, the Key West artist is hot. Alive.. that's another story.
Augie's grieving widow wants her husband back. A down-and-out wharf rat could turn Augie's paintings into a ship of his own. A poseur in hock to the mob, a poet going off the deep end, and Augie's own New York agent all have very good reasons-money reasons-for hoping Augie stays dead and the price of his art goes through the roof.

Some say Augie drowned in a shipwreck out past Scavenger Reel. Some say he's alive, a Lazarus returned from the dead and ready to paint again. And the ones who really know-they know this: if Augie Silver's not dead yet, he better get dead soon....

"A DELIGHTFUL ATMOSPHERIC MYSTERY FULL OF COMPELLING CHARACTERS." -- Chicago Tribune
"SHAMES DELIVERS ANOTHER DOSE OF CRIMINAL HIGH JINKS IN RELENTLESSLY BOHEMIAN KEY WEST." -- Publishers Weekly

Laurence Shames: Scavenger Reef. Dell, ISBN: 0440217970 (February, 1995), 325 p., $4.99.

Laurence Shames: Scavenger Reef (USA 1994)

From the Publisher:
When Augie Silver disappeared at sea dur-ing a sudden storm, it was a loss felt initial-ly by his young wife and by his crew of drinking cronies.

When word of his apparent drowning extended beyond the Key West world Augie had made his home, however, his loss was felt by a greater number of people. For Augie Silver was a painter, or more precise-ly an artist, waiting for recognition. And his death proved to be the event necessary to turn a lifetime of eccentricity into a career of genius. Suddenly Augie was hot.

While his wife, Nina, continued to mourn, his friends began to awaken to the realization that all those paintings Augie had given them over the years might have been worth holding on to. In fact, accord-ing to the New York art dealer who was also Augie's agent, they might be worth a whole lot.

So when Augie returns from the "dead," having been shipwrecked on an island off Cuba, it is with somewhat mixed emotions that he is welcomed home. His wife is jubilant, but all those who had read dollar signs in Augie's obituary aren't too sure how happy they are to have him back, especially since each of them seems to need an influx of cash in the worst way.

Laurence Shames: Scavenger Reef. Simon & Schuster, ISBN: 0671864939 (February, 1994), 274 p., $21.00.