Laurence Shames Books in Order

In Key West, two overworked ghostwriters meet in a bar and impulsively swap clients, one taking a gambling king's memoir, the other a book for a supposedly dead novelist. Their simple switch erupts into fraud, romance, and life threatening blowback from people who hate being rewritten.

Reluctant detective Pete Amsterdam is enjoying sunny idleness until his sharp tongued mother Gertie arrives in Key West and volunteers him to help charming Uncle Gianni. With pickleball pro Penelope Calabro in danger and a hit man circling, Pete leans on Bert, Nacho, and two food truck drifters.

Two broke friends quietly tow away an abandoned hot dog truck, not realizing a sleepless New Yorker and a fortune in smuggled goods are hidden inside. As criminals close in, homeless philosopher Pineapple and aging mobster Bert the Shirt race to untangle the mess before anyone gets hurt.

In 1964 the Beatles briefly land in Key West, play an unannounced hotel bar set, and somehow misplace a notebook full of songs. Decades later a kidnapped yogi, an eager singer, and a trail of bodies convince Bert the Shirt that the long lost treasure has resurfaced.

Nacho, a tiny but fearless chihuahua, adores his master Bert the Shirt and falls hard for wisecracking newcomer Rita Janneau. When Rita's bartending job at a waterfront rum distillery exposes a shady operation and a reclusive scientist, Nacho becomes the unlikely hero who has to save her.

Renita Daughtry is young, romantic, and seemingly easy to fool, which makes her a tempting mark for professional liar Richie Pestucci. As their cat and mouse courtship deepens, friends and family, including a devoted twin brother and Bert the Shirt, scramble to keep the game from turning deadly.

Out of work television writer Lenny Sullivan flees New York for Key West to recharge at his friend Pat's struggling comedy club. When a ruthless investor and a pair of bumbling mobsters move to burn the place down, Lenny and ninety something Bert the Shirt improvise a rescue.

Fresh from prison after playing the wrong kind of girlfriend, Phoebe Goodyear lands in Key West determined to make a go of a shabby sno cone truck. When a sleazy lender threatens to repossess it, she and musician Nicky Angelo bumble into the cross hairs of rival crime bosses.

Manhattan couple Meg and Peter Kaplan swap their apartment for a Key West house with a pool, expecting a lazy escape from winter. Instead they inherit a panicked low level mobster, coconut delivered death threats, nosy neighbors, and a mounting suspicion that their home exchange could be fatal.

Ghostwriter David Collins is hired to craft the life story of Robert Maxx, a bullying New York real estate tycoon obsessed with plastering his name on skyscrapers. As David uncovers corporate crimes and a suspicious death, staying honest, employed, and alive becomes nearly impossible.

In this short Key West story, a furious neighborhood rooster squares off against retired gangster Bert the Shirt and his undersized chihuahua. What starts as a noisy nuisance becomes a small, funny lesson in fear, pride, and the courage it takes to stand your ground.

A hit reality show brings a Hollywood production to the Keys, complete with a tantrum prone star, an exhausted showrunner, and a bitter ghostwriter. When insurance scams, stunts, and mob money intersect, locals like Bert the Shirt help keep the whole shoot from ending in disaster.

In a story that moves between Santa Barbara and a wryly imagined afterlife, gifted chef Darcy Barnett and burdened winemaker Paul DeFiore edge toward love. Meanwhile Darcy's late parents, and an elderly pair of long separated soulmates, try to repair old damage from the other side.

Political insider Mike Berman tells the story of a life spent overweight, successful, and determined to be both honest and content. With Laurence Shames, he unpacks diets, doctors, shame, and small triumphs, arguing for acceptance and realistic health instead of endless self punishment.

Private investigator Paul Artisan finally lands an intriguing case when a dutiful heir hires him to track down his reckless identical twin. The search leads through family scandals, powerful corporations, and hints of something much larger, forcing Artisan to question what loyalty and identity really mean.

Media entrepreneur Peter Barton, diagnosed with terminal cancer in his early fifties, looks back on a fast life of risk, work, family, and adventure, while Laurence Shames shapes those reflections into an honest, unexpectedly hopeful meditation on how to face death.

Early retired Pete Amsterdam lives quietly in Key West with a sham private eye license he uses as a tax dodge. When a mysterious blond visitor turns up dead after begging for help, he is forced into real sleuthing amid bartenders, thugs, and a very literal paper trail.

Furniture salesman Al Tuschman wins a Key West vacation at the Paradise Hotel, only to discover it is a barely disguised nudist resort. Worse, two dimwitted hit men mistake him for a mobster nicknamed Big Al, turning his prize trip into a weeklong, increasingly dangerous prank.

Former Wall Street deal maker Aaron Katz buys a crumbling Key West guesthouse, dreaming of a slower life. Ambitious ad seller Suki Sperakis instead uncovers a Russian mob racket hidden behind tourist T shirt shops, and soon she, Aaron, and his eccentric father are running for their lives.

Angelina Amaro, daughter of a Brooklyn mob boss, secretly loves Sal Martucci, the man who informed against her father. When she spots Sal tending bar in a Key West home video, she chases him south, setting off a chaotic mix of romance, revenge, and family payback.

Depressed bra magnate Murray Zemelman walks away from his New Jersey life and heads to Key West in search of meaning. Teaming up with Native American fishing guide Tommy Tarpon on a tribal casino plan, he collides with crooked politicians, mob bosses, and his unresolved first marriage.

A lifetime of secrets is crushing aging godfather Vincente Delgatto, so son Joey arranges a tell all memoir with a naive local editor. As the project spooks mobsters, law enforcement, and jealous heirs, loyalties fray and the family business turns very dangerous, very fast.

When painter Augie Silver disappears in a Key West boating accident, his friends mourn him and watch the value of his work soar. Then Augie limps back to town, and someone starts trying to kill him for real, forcing the whole bohemian circle to choose sides.

Low level New York mob gofer Joey Goldman bolts for Key West with his girlfriend, hoping to reinvent himself as a big time gangster. When half brother Gino arrives with stolen emeralds and furious rivals, Joey must finally grow a spine or go under.

Looking back at the boom years of the 1980s, Shames examines how workaholism, celebrity worship, and an obsession with wealth shaped American life. He urges readers to think about what might replace that restless hunger with more grounded ideas of success and service.

This examination of Harvard Business School's class of 1949 follows its graduates into the executive suites, showing how their values and decisions influenced corporate America. Through individual portraits, Shames weighs the promise and limits of a generation that seemed to catch every economic break.