tourist season and strip tease carl hiaasen

Since civic leaders refuse to cancel the Orange Bowl Parade or to provide the beauty queen with visible police protection, Al suggests hiring Brian as her undercover bodyguard.

Based on Skip's hints, Brian, Cab, and Al deduce that the terrorists plan to kidnap Miami's much-touted Orange Bowl Queen. Brian's old friend, Detective Al Garcia is appointed head of a task force to catch the terrorists. The terrorists retaliate by triggering several bombs in public places, forcing the authorities to take them seriously. Sun reporter Ricky Bloodworth uncovers the letters and writes an article, but misspells the name of the group as 'Las Nachos'. Since it is the start of the tourist season, the police's initial reaction to Brian's warnings is to engage in a cover-up, dismissing the Las Noches communiques as a hoax. He is returned to Miami and treated in the hospital. Brian tries to stop the murder and is stabbed in the back by one of Skip's followers, a Cuban named Jesús Bernal. He then has Brian watch as their latest victim is fed to Pavlov. Revealing himself, Skip tells Brian to return to Miami and spread the word of the group's demands. After an encounter with his ex-girlfriend Jenna (who is now dating Skip), Brian tracks Skip to the Everglades and is captured by Las Noches. Brian is then hired by Nell Bellamy to find her missing husband (the first tourist victim), and by Sun editor Cab Mulcahy to locate the missing Wiley. Ernesto commits suicide when told by his own lawyer that the case is a lost cause. Brian does not believe that Ernesto killed Sparky, but the Miami police dismiss him. Next, the group starts kidnapping and killing random tourists and Florida residents, many of whom are fed to a giant crocodile nicknamed ' Pavlov'.īrian Keyes, a private investigator and former reporter for the Miami Sun, is hired to help defend petty burglar Ernesto Cabal, who was caught driving Sparky's stolen car. Sparky's body is found stuffed into an oversized suitcase, dressed in a garish tourist outfit, smeared with sunscreen, and with his legs amputated. 'Sparky' Harper, the head of Miami's Chamber of Commerce. Recruiting three comrades with similar vendettas against the Florida establishment, they begin a spree of flashy kidnappings, murders, and bombings to frighten off new arrivals into the Sunshine State. Skip believes that the only way to save Florida's natural beauty from destruction is to violently dissuade tourists from visiting and/or settling in the state. Las Noches de Diciembre ( Spanish, 'The Nights of December') is a small terrorist cell led by rogue newspaper columnist Skip Wiley, calling himself El Fuego.

It was his first solo novel, after co-writing several mystery/thriller novels with William Montalbano. Tourist Season is a 1986 novel by Carl Hiaasen.

Tourist season and strip tease carl hiaasen