Me and John D.
Elaine Viets 
Some 70 years before Travis McGee's houseboat, the Busted Flush, dropped anchor at the Bahia Mar Marina, Florida already had a rich legacy of fictional detectives.
It still does. I'm proud to be part of it.
My mysteries are in a museum exhibition, along with John D. MacDonald, Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard and a slew of other Florida mystery writers.
It's called "Sun, Sand & Suspense: Mystery and Crime Fiction in Florida 1895-2011" and it's at the Bienes Museum of the Modern Book in Fort Lauderdale. The exhibition features 116 years of Florida crime fiction.
The first Florida mystery was probably "On the Suwanee River," by Opie Read. This 1895 novel has a surprisingly modern plot involving Florida real estate and a young woman falsely accused of a crime. Sunshine State mystery writers have been working variations on that plot ever since.
"Place is as important as character in Florida mysteries," Lillian Perricone said, "and Florida is quite a character." Ms. Perricone, Bienes Museum cataloger and reference librarian, curated the exhibition. She's not afraid to show off some of Florida's colorful crime fiction.
The titles range from literary to lurid, including "What a Body!" by Alan Green, a Dell paperback with a lightly-clad lady on the cover.
"Murder shouldn't be fun," the jacket says, "but Sandra was luscious enough to eat, and Hugo's ideas about what to do with her were rather different."
Nothing subtle about that mystery.
Murder was prettily portrayed in pulp fiction. "Blood on Biscayne Bay" has a cover with the head of blond bombshell wearing full makeup and a Betty Grable hairdo. Not a hair is out of place. The mystery has a handy crime map on the back cover.
You'll see John D. MacDonald's mysteries, including his first Travis McGee novel, "The Deep Blue Good-by," and the poker hand that won McGee the Busted Flush.
Charles Willeford's leisure-suited cop, Hoke Mosely, is there. Willeford had a knack for catchy titles, including "Kiss Your Ass Good-Bye" and "New Hope for the Dead."
A boatload of books by your favorite modern Florida authors include Edna Buchanan's reporter-detective Britt Montero; Lupe Solano, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera's Cuban-American private eye, and Randy Wayne White's marine biologist, Doc Ford. Our own Nancy Pickard has found a home in the Florida mystery world with her "Truth" series. If you haven't read it, give yourself a treat.
My Dead-End Job mysteries are there, too. So is a hand-edited manuscript of my first novel in the series, "Shop Till You Drop."
Nowadays, most publishing houses use computerized editing programs. A manuscript marked by real pencils has become a museum piece.
"Sun, Sand & Suspense" runs through Nov. 18 at the Bienes Museum of the Modern Book in the Broward County Main Library, Fort Lauderdale.
Can't make it to Florida? See the exhibition at www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgMmJ5gJAOY
Don't miss the amazing covers at digilab.browardlibrary.org/sunsand/
