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Key West #17
Relative Humidity
Ever notice that things get sticky when family comes to town?
Pete Amsterdam, world’s most reluctant private eye, is living the bachelor dream in Key West, Florida. Then his mother, the undaunted Gertie, shows up with her new hip, her large suitcase, and her gift for cutting remarks.
Penelope Calabro, world’s most fetching pickleball instructor, has been managing to outrun her troubled, secret past. Until her Uncle Gianni appears one humid day with a mysterious hit-man following much too close for comfort.
Before long, Gertie has guilt-tripped Pete into taking on Gianni’s very complicated problems, since Gianni is her last best hope for a scintillating late-life romance. But Pete has fallen for the irresistible Penelope…and run headfirst into a perplexing Who’s the hit-man really after—the uncle or the niece?
With a midnight deadline to solve the puzzle looming, Pete finds himself with only the most improbable of allies—an ancient Mafioso named Bert the Shirt and his neurotic chihuahua, Nacho, along with a couple of ragged locals who live in an old food truck in the mangroves. Can this ill-assorted team beat the odds and save a couple of lives?
Told with Laurence Shames’s trademark mix of comedy, suspense, and romance, Relative Humidity raises the temperature with crackling dialogue, steamy Key West atmosphere, and achingly on-point observations about the genetic accidents known as families.
Pete Amsterdam, world’s most reluctant private eye, is living the bachelor dream in Key West, Florida. Then his mother, the undaunted Gertie, shows up with her new hip, her large suitcase, and her gift for cutting remarks.
Penelope Calabro, world’s most fetching pickleball instructor, has been managing to outrun her troubled, secret past. Until her Uncle Gianni appears one humid day with a mysterious hit-man following much too close for comfort.
Before long, Gertie has guilt-tripped Pete into taking on Gianni’s very complicated problems, since Gianni is her last best hope for a scintillating late-life romance. But Pete has fallen for the irresistible Penelope…and run headfirst into a perplexing Who’s the hit-man really after—the uncle or the niece?
With a midnight deadline to solve the puzzle looming, Pete finds himself with only the most improbable of allies—an ancient Mafioso named Bert the Shirt and his neurotic chihuahua, Nacho, along with a couple of ragged locals who live in an old food truck in the mangroves. Can this ill-assorted team beat the odds and save a couple of lives?
Told with Laurence Shames’s trademark mix of comedy, suspense, and romance, Relative Humidity raises the temperature with crackling dialogue, steamy Key West atmosphere, and achingly on-point observations about the genetic accidents known as families.
212 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 26, 2023
156 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Laurence Shames
40 books238 followersLaurence Shames has been a New York City taxi driver, lounge singer, furniture mover, lifeguard, dishwasher, gym teacher, and shoe salesman. Having failed to distinguish himself in any of those professions, he turned to writing full-time in 1976 and has not done an honest day’s work since.
His basic laziness notwithstanding, Shames has published more than twenty books and hundreds of magazine articles and essays. Best known for his critically acclaimed series of Key West Capers--14 titles and counting!--he has also authored non-fiction and enjoyed considerable though largely secret success as a collaborator and ghostwriter. Shames has penned four New York Times bestsellers. These have appeared on four different lists, under four different names, none of them his own. This might be a record.
Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1951, to chain-smoking parents of modest means but flamboyant emotions, Shames did not know Philip Roth, Paul Simon, Queen Latifa, Shaquille O’Neal, or any of the other really cool people who have come from his hometown. He graduated summa cum laude from NYU in 1972 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. As a side note, both his alma mater and honorary society have been extraordinarily adept at tracking his many address changes through the decades, in spite of the fact that he’s never sent them one red cent, and never will.
It was on an Italian beach in the summer of 1970 that Shames first heard the sacred call of the writer’s vocation. Lonely and poor, hungry and thirsty, he’d wandered into a seaside trattoria, where he noticed a couple tucking into a big platter of fritto misto. The man was nothing much to look at but the woman was really beautiful. She was perfectly tan and had a very fine-gauge gold chain looped around her bare tummy. The couple was sharing a liter of white wine; condensation beaded the carafe. Eye contact was made; the couple turned out to be Americans. The man wiped olive oil from his rather sensual lips and introduced himself as a writer. Shames knew in that moment that he would be one too.
He began writing stories and longer things he thought of as novels. He couldn’t sell them.
By 1979 he’d somehow become a journalist and was soon publishing in top-shelf magazines like Playboy, Outside, Saturday Review, and Vanity Fair. (This transition entailed some lucky breaks, but is not as vivid a tale as the fritto misto bit, so we’ll just sort of gloss over it.) In 1982, Shames was named Ethics columnist of Esquire, and also made a contributing editor to that magazine.
By 1986 he was writing non-fiction books. The critical, if not the commercial, success of these first established Shames’ credentials as a collaborator/ghostwriter. His 1991 national bestseller, Boss of Bosses, written with two FBI agents, got him thinking about the Mafia. It also bought him a ticket out of New York and a sweet little house in Key West, where he finally got back to Plan A: writing novels. Given his then-current preoccupations, the novels naturally featured palm trees, high humidity, dogs in sunglasses, and New York mobsters blundering through a town where people were too laid back to be afraid of them. But this part of the story is best told with reference to the books themselves, so please spend some time and explore them.
His basic laziness notwithstanding, Shames has published more than twenty books and hundreds of magazine articles and essays. Best known for his critically acclaimed series of Key West Capers--14 titles and counting!--he has also authored non-fiction and enjoyed considerable though largely secret success as a collaborator and ghostwriter. Shames has penned four New York Times bestsellers. These have appeared on four different lists, under four different names, none of them his own. This might be a record.
Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1951, to chain-smoking parents of modest means but flamboyant emotions, Shames did not know Philip Roth, Paul Simon, Queen Latifa, Shaquille O’Neal, or any of the other really cool people who have come from his hometown. He graduated summa cum laude from NYU in 1972 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. As a side note, both his alma mater and honorary society have been extraordinarily adept at tracking his many address changes through the decades, in spite of the fact that he’s never sent them one red cent, and never will.
It was on an Italian beach in the summer of 1970 that Shames first heard the sacred call of the writer’s vocation. Lonely and poor, hungry and thirsty, he’d wandered into a seaside trattoria, where he noticed a couple tucking into a big platter of fritto misto. The man was nothing much to look at but the woman was really beautiful. She was perfectly tan and had a very fine-gauge gold chain looped around her bare tummy. The couple was sharing a liter of white wine; condensation beaded the carafe. Eye contact was made; the couple turned out to be Americans. The man wiped olive oil from his rather sensual lips and introduced himself as a writer. Shames knew in that moment that he would be one too.
He began writing stories and longer things he thought of as novels. He couldn’t sell them.
By 1979 he’d somehow become a journalist and was soon publishing in top-shelf magazines like Playboy, Outside, Saturday Review, and Vanity Fair. (This transition entailed some lucky breaks, but is not as vivid a tale as the fritto misto bit, so we’ll just sort of gloss over it.) In 1982, Shames was named Ethics columnist of Esquire, and also made a contributing editor to that magazine.
By 1986 he was writing non-fiction books. The critical, if not the commercial, success of these first established Shames’ credentials as a collaborator/ghostwriter. His 1991 national bestseller, Boss of Bosses, written with two FBI agents, got him thinking about the Mafia. It also bought him a ticket out of New York and a sweet little house in Key West, where he finally got back to Plan A: writing novels. Given his then-current preoccupations, the novels naturally featured palm trees, high humidity, dogs in sunglasses, and New York mobsters blundering through a town where people were too laid back to be afraid of them. But this part of the story is best told with reference to the books themselves, so please spend some time and explore them.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 29, 2023
Another Masterpiece!
Laurence Shames is the master of putting the reader in the scenes with smells, tastes, people and beach descriptions, quirky family dynamics, etc. No detail is omitted including making you feel the humidity. His characters are delightful as is everything about his writing. My favorite writer ever who makes me guffaw loudly and chuckle whimsically. MORE!
Laurence Shames is the master of putting the reader in the scenes with smells, tastes, people and beach descriptions, quirky family dynamics, etc. No detail is omitted including making you feel the humidity. His characters are delightful as is everything about his writing. My favorite writer ever who makes me guffaw loudly and chuckle whimsically. MORE!
October 29, 2023
Pickleball???
Yup, the Mafia, bad drugs, bad drug guys, Pete Amsterdam, a hot Pickleball instructor with a past, our buddy Bert and Nacho. Oh, and Pete’s mom. Throw in a windscreen from hell, a wise guy with kids, a couple of mob operations, a restaurant owner with an interesting past, Fred and Piney, and, well, Pickleball. All makes for a good escape in Key West.
Yup, the Mafia, bad drugs, bad drug guys, Pete Amsterdam, a hot Pickleball instructor with a past, our buddy Bert and Nacho. Oh, and Pete’s mom. Throw in a windscreen from hell, a wise guy with kids, a couple of mob operations, a restaurant owner with an interesting past, Fred and Piney, and, well, Pickleball. All makes for a good escape in Key West.
April 27, 2023
I have read several of Shames' books and found most of them charming in an easy-to-read way, with mildly quirky characters and plots, but sorry, this one is a dud. I found it hard to keep reading to the end, but kept going, hoping that he would come up with a game-saving twist, but no dice. The climax was so bland and random I was tempted to go back a few pages to see if I had missed something, some key detail that hinted that it had been earned in some way, but no, I was glad enough just to be done with it all. If you're just starting to read Shames, go back to the beginning and skip his later books. It feels as if he's banking on readers loving his characters so much that they'll return time and again, but sorry, it feels as if he's just phoning it in in his later books. Old characters whose charm has worn thin, especially without a very interesting or surprising plot for them to navigate. Nothing new here, and that's a shame.
February 19, 2025
Love this series
Some I have enjoyed more than others, of course (but that’s just as it should be and it’s only down to changing story lines so that they can be read as ‘stand alone’ books) and this one has been one of my favourites in the series. The characters are so funny with their dysfunctional, ‘outsider’ views of the world, but always kind and helpful to others (even if some more reluctantly than others!) and always step up to the plate to do the ‘right’ thing - well the ‘right’ thing from an outsider perspective - when they see injustices being perpetrated on others by bad guys. Also (and most importantly for me), there’s always a happy ending whereby things are brought to a satisfactory conclusion thanks to the help of the main protagonists. Plus, did I mention, they’re ‘FUNNY’! WNTL??!
Some I have enjoyed more than others, of course (but that’s just as it should be and it’s only down to changing story lines so that they can be read as ‘stand alone’ books) and this one has been one of my favourites in the series. The characters are so funny with their dysfunctional, ‘outsider’ views of the world, but always kind and helpful to others (even if some more reluctantly than others!) and always step up to the plate to do the ‘right’ thing - well the ‘right’ thing from an outsider perspective - when they see injustices being perpetrated on others by bad guys. Also (and most importantly for me), there’s always a happy ending whereby things are brought to a satisfactory conclusion thanks to the help of the main protagonists. Plus, did I mention, they’re ‘FUNNY’! WNTL??!
May 6, 2023
Shames captures the Key West vibe with his descriptions and characters to craft heart warming feel good stories. Bert the Shirt and company are fun and unique and form a fantastic vacation/beach read. Always looking forward to the next one in this series even if they are predictable in certain aspects. 3.5 stars and a recommended series if you just want to feel better. This series is a solid Kindle Unlimited value.
March 28, 2023
Good stuff
I’m a huge fan of Laurence Shames having read all of the Key West series. I’m also a big fan of the Florida Keys; they have a sleazy, nautical charm all their own which Mr. Shames seems to capture in all his Key West adventures—including his latest in the series. Although I don’t think Relative Humidity is his best effort by far, it’s still a good read. Bert lives!
I’m a huge fan of Laurence Shames having read all of the Key West series. I’m also a big fan of the Florida Keys; they have a sleazy, nautical charm all their own which Mr. Shames seems to capture in all his Key West adventures—including his latest in the series. Although I don’t think Relative Humidity is his best effort by far, it’s still a good read. Bert lives!
October 9, 2023
Another fun book from Laurence Shames - loved the characters, glad too see Pete, Burt and Nacho continue to thrive in Key West. This series is just so much fun, you can read the dialogue and picture the characters and can almost hear Burt's accent, imagine Gertie's hair and picture Gianni limping around in a cast. Thanks Laurence for another enjoyable read.
February 10, 2023
I have been a fan of Laurence Shames since the 90s. I adore his books and this one didn’t disappoint. My only criticism is that I wish it was half as long again, as I wasn’t ready for the story to be over and to have to say goodbye to the characters yet again.
February 20, 2023
As usual, a delightful Key West vacation
Mr. Shames never fails to deliver and he’s done it again with a lighthearted visit with some of our favorite friends at the end of the road. The only issue is I get so involved that the journey it’s over before I want it to be!
Mr. Shames never fails to deliver and he’s done it again with a lighthearted visit with some of our favorite friends at the end of the road. The only issue is I get so involved that the journey it’s over before I want it to be!
February 7, 2023
If you are a fan of Mr. Shames tales from Key West then you will enjoy this one. It is a really good series and you do not have to read them in order, but it will help some if you do.
February 20, 2023
Key West meets Jersey to solve the mystery of why someone is following Uncle Gianni.
February 28, 2023
Crime in Key West - hilarious romp through the islands of Key West.
March 16, 2023
Excellent read. A bit of humour, a bit of suspense and well rounded characters. I love this series…and Bert the Shirt and his chihuahua
March 21, 2023
Bert the Shirt saves the day, again
Love this book series. Love that there is a mix of Key West reality and fiction. Hope there is a new one soon.
Love this book series. Love that there is a mix of Key West reality and fiction. Hope there is a new one soon.
April 26, 2023
Predictable Florida keys mystery, fun to read with clever dialog and crazy characters.
May 30, 2023
Laurance never disappoints.
August 7, 2023
A surprisingly good book
Found this by accident and thoroughly have enjoyed it. Maybe not laugh out loud funny, but definitely has wet and humor.
Found this by accident and thoroughly have enjoyed it. Maybe not laugh out loud funny, but definitely has wet and humor.
August 14, 2023
Another great Bert the Shirt tale
A great story with delightful characters that you want to know and care about. Funny story with enough twist to keep it interesting.
A great story with delightful characters that you want to know and care about. Funny story with enough twist to keep it interesting.
December 1, 2023
oh no !!! it’s all over.
Last book in the series (at current count). And was just getting to know everyone. I’ll wait patiently for any new developments.
Last book in the series (at current count). And was just getting to know everyone. I’ll wait patiently for any new developments.
January 1, 2024
Enjoyable, entertaining, fun
May 22, 2024
Nacho sings again
Bert the Shirt and Nacho save the day again. Enjoyed this book. Not my favorite but all my favorite characters are present.
Bert the Shirt and Nacho save the day again. Enjoyed this book. Not my favorite but all my favorite characters are present.
November 10, 2024
Currently next to last in the series. Never disappointing. The best of any Florida series.
October 2, 2025
I ran across this series many years ago and now eagerly look forward to each book in the wacky world of the retired mobster Bert the Shirt and his chihauhau Nacho. down in Key West.
No matter what problem crops up with the locals and visitors in Key West, there is nothing Bert the Shirt can't fix.
Although this is a series, each book is a stand-alone story with some of the same characters interweaving through-out. Bert the Shirt and Nacho are essentially our main heroes.
Next in the queue is Key West Capers #18, Sunset Bluff.
No matter what problem crops up with the locals and visitors in Key West, there is nothing Bert the Shirt can't fix.
Although this is a series, each book is a stand-alone story with some of the same characters interweaving through-out. Bert the Shirt and Nacho are essentially our main heroes.
Next in the queue is Key West Capers #18, Sunset Bluff.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews