Flowering Judas Book

Shames does a brilliant job of just about everything in this, the first of his Key West series. His characters: pale, menacing NY mobsters, laid-back, tanned counter-culture residents, and sunburned, fat midwest tourists; the setting--palm trees, coral reefs, sketchy apartments and beach-front condos; the plot--Joey Goldman has moved to the keys and attempts to bludgeon self-absorbed Key West into mob culture.
Shames brings his characters alive with dialogue and his setting with simile. I'm only sorry I read 'Sunburn' first; read this one so you don't know who gets killed and who doesn't.