Hiaasen, Carl

(US, 1953– )

Carl Hiaasen is a columnist for the Miami Herald who has single-handedly created a new school of modern crime writing that could be characterized as Florida comic noir. Passionately opposed to the destruction of the Florida ecology by tourism and building speculation, Hiaasen sides with the eco-terrorists and often bungling crooks who muddle their way through his novels to darkly comic effect. A satirist with a keen eye for sleaze, Hiaasen has attacked the greed of developers, bass-fishing competitions, theme parks, plastic surgery gone too far, insurance scams, and the strip-tease trade with much gusto in novels like Tourist Season (1986), Double Whammy (1987), Skin Tight (1989), and Strip Tease (1993). Many of his books feature an ex-governor of Florida, Skink, who has returned to nature and campaigns against the despoliation of his native state in most bizarre ways; he clearly attracts the author's sympathy.

Charles Willeford, Sara Paretsky.

See CRIME  MJ