Laurence Shames

Peter Barton

Some people are born to lead and destined to teach by the example of living life to the fullest, and facing death with uncommon honesty and courage. Peter Barton was that kind of person. Driven by the ideals that sparked a generation, he became an overachieving Everyman, a risk-taker who showed others what was possible. Then, in the prime of his life — hugely successful, happily married, and the father of three children — Peter faced the greatest of all challenges. Diagnosed with cancer, he began a journey that was not only frightening and appalling but also full of wonder and discovery. With unflinching candor and even surprising humor, Not Fade Away finds meaning and solace in Peter’s confrontation with mortality. Celebrating life as it dares to stare down death, Peter's story addresses universal hopes and fears, and redefines the quietly heroic tasks of seeking clarity in the midst of pain, of breaking through to personal faith, and of achieving peace after bold and sincere questioning.

A Short Life Well Lived

Not Fade Away

In Key West for the summer, New York wiseguy Joey Goldman teams up with his half-brother, Gino--who is on the lam from the mob--and foolishly agrees to be the fall guy in Gino's latest scheme. Reprint.

Florida Straits

A mystery set in tropical Key West, Florida, features a hapless bed-and-breakfast owner whose girlfriend disappears in tandem with the murder of a Russian playboy

Mangrove Squeeze

A comedy on a tourist mistaken for a mobster. Both men are called Big Al and both are on holiday in Key West, Florida, their names prominently displayed on the license plate of their cars. The bouncers sent to rough up Al become confused.

A Novel

Welcome to Paradise

Meet Pete Amsterdam, the world's most reluctant sleuth. Naked in his hot tub, Pete is idly reviewing his morning tennis game when trouble arrives in the form of the inevitable blonde. This being Key West, the blonde is not quite what she seems, and it's useless to explain to her that he's not a real detective--that, in fact, he got his P.I. license strictly as a tax dodge, a way to pretend his new wine cellar is an "office." She's got troubles of her own--big troubles that are utterly foreign to the cozy little paradise Pete has crafted for himself. Why, then, does the unwilling gumshoe take the case? Why does he allow himself to be squeezed ever tighter against Key West's humid underbelly--involved with the likes of local bully Lefty Ortega, his nympho daughter, and the sleazeball who controls the island's gambling boats? And why does he feel that his life is being taken over by the demands and traditions of the detective story? Could it be that Pete, in spite of his best efforts not to be, is a bit of a hero after all?

The Naked Detective

FACT: In September 1964, the Beatles, their private flight diverted by Hurricane Dora, made an unplanned visit to Key West. FICTION: Poolside at their motel, the Fab Four fell into conversation with a snappy-dressing local named Bert the Shirt, who listened as the band worked out a harmony to the most beautiful song he'd ever heard--and wouldn't hear again for over half a century. FACT: That night, the Beatles played an unannounced free concert in the motel bar. Everyone was welcome. Local musicians showed up with guitars and keyboards, and had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of jamming with the Beatles till 4 am. This legendary event has forever after been known to Key West locals as THE PARADISE GIG.FICTION: Next day, hung over and exhausted, the Beatles left for the airport, having somehow lost a stained and battered notebook that held a priceless stash of unrecorded songs. NOW CUT TO THE PRESENT: A beautiful woman is doing a yoga headstand on a Key West beach when she's abducted by a pair of thugs. An aspiring young singer is offered a recording deal that seems a bit too good to be true. Bad things happen to a couple of one-hit wonders...And old Bert hears a new song that is hauntingly familiar, but that he can't quite place.Could it possibly be the same song he'd heard at poolside so many years before? Could it be that all the present mayhem circles back through the decades to THE PARADISE GIG? Could the precious, even sacred, Beatles notebook possibly turn up after all these years? Could Bert be the hero who would rediscover that stash of unheard songs for music lovers everywhere-and save a young singer's life in the process? With Nacho, his intrepid Chihuahua, at his side, and with no one but bumbling detective Pete Amsterdam for an ally, the undaunted Bert the Shirt sets out through the Florida haze to piece it all together, learning along the way how much the world has changed-and how much it has not. In equal parts suspenseful and nostalgic, funny and romantic, this time-bending caper celebrates the power of music and the many tricks of memory, the joys of youth and the comforts of age, and the free and funky spirit of Key West.

The Paradise Gig

Welcome to Manhattan, where the paychecks are the biggest, the egos even bigger, and nice guys finish last. Or do they? When Robert Maxx, billionaire real estate mogul and world-class bully, hires low-key, bookish David Collins as his ghostwriter, he thinks he's taking on one more flunkey he can push around. And, for a while, that's exactly what he does. But in relationships defined by power, the leverage has a way of shifting... As Max's empire, built on lies and debt, begins to wobble, Collins realizes that what had seemed a mere hack assignment might turn out to be his last best chance to write a book of real importance. And the stage is set for deadly conflict between a fallen idol desperate to conceal the truth and a writer obsessed with an inside story only he can tell.

Money Talks

"As enjoyable as a day at the beach." That's how USA TODAY summed up this hilarious and big-hearted romp in the Florida sunshine. When Murray Zemelman, a.k.a. The Bra King, pops another Prozac and heads to the Keys, he has nothing much in mind beyond a quixotic hope of winning back his first wife, Franny, whom he dumped years before. But when he forms an unlikely friendship with Tommy Tarpon, the last remaining member of an obscure Indian tribe, another plan also starts shaping up in his fevered brain. Why not open up Key West's first casino? Why not? Well, how about because the Mafia, in league with some of the nastiest politicians you will ever meet, is determined to kill anyone who tries? Somehow, Murray, Tommy, and Franny didn't think of that until they were in way too deep. Laugh along as they improvise a manic and ever more desperate campaign to keep their casino dreams--and themselves--alive.

Laurence Shames

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