Naked Came the Florida Man

Bestseller Dorsey’s outstanding 23rd Serge Storms novel (after 2019’s No Sunscreen for the Dead) finds Serge, a serial killer with a warped moral streak, and his stoner buddy, Coleman, on a tour of Florida, visiting cemeteries around the state so that Serge can make rubbings of the tombstones of celebrities, including Mitzi, the dolphin who starred as Flipper in the 1960s TV series. Along the way, Serge indulges his desire to harm wrongdoers who are beyond the law’s reach by targeting a man who encourages animal cruelty and another who rips off impoverished elderly people. Dorsey builds suspense with a number of cryptic subplots, notably one set in 1928 centered on the discovery of three murder victims in the aftermath of a hurricane. Another one concerns a girl, desperate to join her high school football team, who’s found a hidden cache of rare coins. Dorsey keeps readers guessing about whether the disparate plot strands will connect. Serge’s sadistic methods aren’t for all tastes, but readers with an appetite for gallows humor will be sated. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Assoc. (Jan.)