Stormy Weather

Written by Paula Woods

Narrated by Patricia R. Floyd

Stormy Weather was chosen by the Los Angeles Times as one of the best books of 2001. In it, Macavity Award winner and Edgar Award nominee Paula L. Woods crafts a masterful mystery featuring Charlotte Justice, a scrupulous detective in the LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide Division. During the tense aftermath of the Rodney King riots, pioneering African American filmmaker and social activist Maynard Duncan dies of natural causes--or so it seems. But Charlotte uncovers a possible connection to a nurse recently convicted of killing several elderly black men. Her investigation becomes more complicated when she digs up secrets from Duncan's past that cast light on the darkest sides of Hollywood. As Charlotte sifts through the scandals and hidden truths, narrator Patricia R. Floyd provides a determined voice that further enhances this riveting tale.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781980019312

Reviews for Stormy Weather

[La Homer Holmes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The subject matter is still relate.
Was a nice listen.
Thanks

[bjkelley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A few too many characters, which made the book longer than it needed to be, otherwise, a good story with some true facts mixed in with the fictional story. Not my favorite Hiaasen, but still well worth the time to read.

[carolfoisset · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not one of my favorite Hiaasen books - but still a fun, entertaining summer read.

[al9g · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

By far I think this is the best of the "Skink" books to date. It has a little of everything - great characters, suspense, plot twists and turns, bad guys & gals, good guys & gals who are just regular folks, and to top it off a hurricane and the associated carnage that goes with it. Death, destruction, murder, and mayhem. What more could you ask for? Skink continues to evolve as a charater along with his friend Jim Tile who are the two recurring characters in this series. I have yet to pick a Hiaasen book that wasn't a compelling read and this one is no exception.

[drapple_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A hurricane provides the opportunity for lots of strange, and mostly unsavory, characters to come together in one location. Hilarity ensues.

[susandennis-139327 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When a devastating hurricane hits Miami, all hell breaks loose and create the perfect environment for Hiaasen characters. Twists and turns and hilarity abound in this great story. I only have one Hiaasen that I haven't read yet... I sure hope he's busy writing more.

[punxsygal · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Typical Hiaasen, a mixed bag of crazy characters come together with their schemes in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew.

[bicyclewriter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My first Carl Hiaasen book. My son's been telling me for a long time to read them, and I have to say he was exactly right. I guess this is a typical Hiaasen book, in that it has good guys and bad guys, and the good guys are underdogs in one way or another. Yet, in the end, good triumphs. All the elements that make a great story for me, and very well-written. I'll be reading more soon.

[etxgardener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Why no one has made a movie out of any of Carl Hiaasen's hilarious novels is a mystery to me. His writing is so cinematic, that you can visualize the plot unfolding on as movie or TV screen as you turn every page. This volume centers around a Hurricane that hits south Florida and its aftermath and is populated by Hiaasen's usual cast of Florida misfits and oddball characters: a honeymoon couple from New York who are looking to see what a hurricane is like, a sexy con artist who gets herself involved in way more than she bargained for, a slimy trailer salesman who meets his fate at the hands of the son of a woman who was killed in one of the stats shoddy trailer courts, a law school drop-out who is tying to track down the escaped animals from his uncle's exotic wild animal park, and our favorite ex-governor who lives in the swamps only emerging to meet out justice against those who contiunally ravage Florida's fragile ecosystem.There's no point in trying to summarize the hilariously convoluted plot. Just settle in for a ripping yarn with a lot of laughs thrown in.

[tulsatv · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very readable as usual, but I don't love the Skink character as much as Hiaasen does. Skink is a little too consciously a free-spirit embodiment of the Florida wilderness that the author want to protect from amoral greedheads.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The best yet! This author paints such a vivid picture of the most amazingly far-fetched characters that you can't help but believe in them. This is his most intricate plot of the books I've read thus far, but he juggles it all magnificently. There is never a moment when I lost track of his characters, situations, etc. Skink becomes more and more outrageous. That his other characters take it in stride doesn't surprise me or confound me -- it just seems right and natural with Hiaasen's humor, rhythms and wacky pathos.

[berly_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love Carl Hiaasen! His books are guaranteed fun. This one involves honeymooners, insurance con artists, lost monkeys, a mobile home salesman and a law school dropout. And our favorite ex-governor madman. A thriller filled with black humor.

[ecw0647 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Virtually everyone and everything is corrupt, except perhaps the deranged ex-governor of the state, in Carl Hiaasen's marvelously funny Stormy Weather.

Bonnie and Max Lamb are on their honeymoon at Disney World when the one-hundred year hurricane hits. Max, being a good red-blooded American, immediately grabs his video camera and heads for the path of destruction to tape all the gore and devastation. Bonnie is not happy, feeling this is somehow disrespectful, but when Max is kidnapped by Skink, the ex-governor, who had tied himself to a bridge to enjoy the storm, and Max uses the phone calls allowed him by his abductor to phone his firm and check up on his advertising accounts, Bonnie begins to reexamine her new marriage. Especially, after she meets Augustine, the wealthy survivor of a plane crash, who had inherited his uncle's wild animal zoo. The wild animals, released during the fury of the storm, proceed to wreak havoc on some of the low-lives who populate the novel. And there are plenty of them, from the building inspectors who hadn't examined the buildings they had certified as windproof, to the salesman who sold the homes knowing they were unsafe, to the county prosecutor literally caught with his pants down in a compromising position.

Hiaasen makes scornful fun of Florida society. Ultimately, it's the ex-governor who may be the sanest of the bunch. Here's an example of Hiaasen's wit. He's describing seven missionaries from the Church of the High Pentecostal Rumination who immediately proceed to Miami after the hurricane as they make a practice of witnessing to all natural disasters.

"Every morning, the missionaries preached, consoled and distributed pamphlets. Then they stood in line for free army lunches at the tent city, and returned to the motel for two hours of quiet contemplation and gin rummy. The Ramada offered free cable TV, which allowed the Ruminators to view a half dozen different religious broadcasts at any time of the day. One afternoon,in the absence of a pure Pentecostal preacher, they settled on Pat Robertson and the 700 Club. The Ruminators didn't share Robertson's paranoid world view, but they admired his life-or-death style of fund-raising and hoped to pick up some pointers."

Another episode concerns a father's despair for his son, a notoriously inept hunter. The father resolves to give up trying to teach h is son the more subtle hunting techniques, particularly after th e son mistakes a bald eagle for some less illegal bird and blows his father's left ear off. The son is captivated by the hurricane, for it has turned loose hundreds of cattle and other farm animals into a land formerly devoid of animals worth hunting. Unfortunately, he mistakes a Cape Buffalo from the wild animal farm for a cow ....

A wild, hysterical romp through society's peccadilloes.

[kimsmyth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I laughed out loud at this book. Having worked on the insurance side during the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, I found the descriptions in this book of the almost post-apocolyptic Miami and Homestead bring back some memories.

[nelliemc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've only recently begun reading the Hiaasen books, and love them all. They are just kinky enough to draw you on, but some of the characters are surprisingly sympathetic so it's not just a cynical picture of Florida. This was one of the best, especially given the heroine's coming of age.

[marient_5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Wild and wooly plot of slightly crazy people.the book has con artists, scams of all sorts taking place in the Florida Keys during hurricane season.

[tacoperez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a fantastic book. It is one of his best. It was so true even though it was fiction. it was funny, but sad because some of this really happened. His writes fiction, but based on true events and even true things, makes you think about what we are doing to this state.

[tasker_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once again, this is another satirical look (although dated by fifteen years) by Mr. Hiassen into the wackiness and absurdities of the culture of southern Florida. It has it all - scam artists, strong women, principled male characters, dopey criminals and dialogue that's never dull and frequently amusing.

[sonicquack · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When a major hurricane wrecks havoc in Florida it attracts two groups of people. The law enforcement and rescue workers, who are peripheral in this is tale, and crooks. Be they conmen roofers or insurance writers, there are a myriad of people trying to make a quick buck from the distressed people of Florida. Hiaasen has imagined the ideal story for his usual embellishment of crime and fraudulence. As one would expect, the cast is made up entirely of fruitcakes and criminals high on ideas and low on intellect. He is masterful in his weaving of plotlines, each carefully crafted to elicit a smirk, a chuckle or at very least a wry grin - Hiaasen is one of the masters of comedic crime fiction after all. Stormy Weather is a good solid read, a little long, however it's easy to recommend.

[elliezann · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Carl Hiaasen is a much better person than I am. Living in Florida, I just get mad at the rape of this beautiful land. Mr. Hiaasen has the ability to turn this anger into stories about justice and this book is one example. It is a mystery set during a hurricaine and features Skink, a crazy ex-governor, who saves the day.Every once in a while, I need to get some perspective so turning to to this author is always a treat.A wonderful mystery with quirky characters and a satisfying ending.Keep writing,Mr. Hiassen, please!

[andyray_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

the ex-governor of florida (skink) reappears as a major charcter in this work, and helps balance out the equations, as it were. the way carl handles the governor's retribution for his friend jim is in direct contrast to tom dorsey's attempts to emulate hiaasen. i'll try dorsey again, but how one can identify with a hit man as protagonist is beyond me.

[jepeters333 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Two honeymooners, a con artist, a dishonest mobile home salesman, a law school dropout chasing a troop of monkeys, a former Florida politician living off the land, and many others make up the cast of characters in this Hiaasen book. It's always interesting to see how the characters interact in Hiaasen's books - this one isn't my favorite but it was still pretty good.

[madamejeanie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Max and Bonnie Lamb are two honeymooners from New York with acamcorder. Edie Marsh is a nice looking con artist trying to locate andbed a young Kennedy for fun, frolic, and future litigation. Snapper,the man with the broken jaw that healed crooked and marked him forever,is just out for whatever he can get and if someone gets hurt in theprocess, oh well. Tony Torres is the salesman of the year at thetrailer sales, telling everyone who buys from him that these trailerswill stand up to a storm. Augustine is a millionaire law school dropoutchasing after his uncle's exotic pets. Skink is the one-eyed, feralformer governor with the wild hair and the flak jacket who lives by hiswits in the woods, eating road kill and smoking venomous toad sweat.People with not much in common, except for one thing. A south Floridahurricane throws them all together and paths collide.Hiaasen is one of the funniest, wittiest, most satiric authors I've comeacross in a long time. His characters are unique and multi-faceted andhe writes dialogue better than just about any contemporary author. Younever know what is going to happen in a Hiaasen novel, but I've not readone that disappointed me yet. Watching the bad guys get theirs in theend is a true delight. This one gets a 5

[fingerpost_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A hurricane destroys Miami and a wide array of scum tries to profit from the loss of the residents. I always feel a little guilty when I read a Hiaasen book, because I end up laughin at things that are really too horrible to be funny.

[stpnwlf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hiaasen novel set in the aftermath of a hurricane.

[paradiso_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very funny, typical Carl Hiaasen. Not as good as Skinny Dip

[miketroll · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Splendid black farce. Hiasson is a huge comic talent. He has the gift of leading the reader down very plausible paths. The absurdity is apparent only when one steps back to view the broad canvas. Beneath the comedy is hard political edge. One sometimes wonders whether Hiasson’s depth of cynicism is too glib, but in the context of Florida it seems wholly appropriate. But along with the cynicism comes a rich measure of hope and humanity. Read it!

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Max Lamb's honeymoon was going well until the hurricane interrupted things and he decided to start filming. Skink takes offence at this and kidnaps him. His wife, Bonnie goes looking for him but finds that searching for just one person in a crowd of hundreds of lost people is not easy. Augustine helps. A riot of characters, a lot of guns and pain and charcters at the ends of their tethers typifies this book, all of the characters learn from their experiences and come out of the book knowing more about themselves or being dead.