I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is fast-paced, thrilling and full of twists and turns and links to past and present life in Florida. Murder mystery, drug dealers, corrupt police and a colourful pair of unlikely heroes. Beautifully written.

Schwer in Worte zu fassen, wie lustig und abgedreht diese bizarre Geschichte ist. Lachen und gute Unterhaltung as its best. Dark and funny. Der Vergleich mit Quentin Tarantino stimmt auffallend, wie der Miami Herald ganz richtig schrieb.

For Father’s Day I’ve chosen a book from a series that might appeal more to Dads out there. The Pope of Palm Beach is the latest in Dorsey’s Serge Storms series. Set in Florida, Serge and his sidekick Coleman are travelling through the state on a Literary tour. Irreverent and funny Serge is a character that has no comparison. A historian with a love of stories and books he has a tendency towards a redneck sense of justice and a leaning towards being a full blown serial killer.

This isn’t a book that you can just dip in and out of. The first part alternates between a historic story of surfing and friendship and the modern day book tour of the dastardly duo. You need to pay attention to the time lines and situations or its easy to find yourself a little lost. It is only when the stories tie together in the second part that you realise where Dorsey has been going on some of these tales.

Ultimately this is one of those marmite series that you will either love or hate. Serge and his love of plaid will either leave you cold or laughing out loud. If you are looking for something a bit different with a real flavour of Florida give this a go.

Supplied by Net Galley and Farrago in exchange for an honest review.
#SergeStorms #NetGalley

Serge Storms has quite a sideways view on morality, and what to do with anyone he feels is a wrongdoer - it generally involves making the punishment fit the crime. A good read, with a few laughs along the way.

Brilliantly described in the blurb as ‘part spree killer, part local historian’, Serge A Storms is a man with a strong moral code. He loves his native Florida and is committed to its ecology and culture and does not take kindly to those who undermine either. His version of ‘not taking kindly’ is both brutal and inventive.

In the present day, Serge is on a literary road trip round the state with his stoner friend Coleman, in search of the truth about a writer whose disappearance is a mystery. Meanwhile, there is a drugs gang led by a man with a criminal toupée which is diversifying into new markets. A third story strand takes us back to the Palm Beach of Serge’s childhood, and to the life of the iconic surfer known as the Pope of Palm Beach.

The setting, dark humour and focus on environmental issues mean that inevitably Dorsey has been compared to Carl Hiaasen (there is even a joke that plays on this in the book). Dorsey’s writing, though, has its own unique appeal. His prose is beautifully evocative and I loved the contrast between the languid, loving descriptions of Serge’s childhood home and the energy driving the narrative.

Serge is a man of many passions and encyclopaedic knowledge. He raises everyday griping to an art form. There is poetry in his declamatory style and humour that runs from bone-dry to madcap, but there are also moments of great poignancy.

This is a long-established series but new to me. The book worked well as a standalone but I’m now eager to read more about Serge and Coleman.

This was the first book I have read of Tim Dorsey’s series about his 2 characters Serge and Coleman as they travel throughout Florida on a literary tour crossing paths with a number of different characters. The book combines this with flashbacks to Serge’s childhood and the story of Darby Pope, a local well-read surfing legend.
The Pope of Palm Beach is well recommended however I felt being new to the series I was always missing something. Based on this one I will be definitely picking up the first of Tim Dorsey’s books.

I loved The Pope Of Palm Beach.

Although there are 20 previous books in this series, this is my first Tim Dorsey and it worked fine as a stand-alone novel. Set in Florida, it's a very amusing farce featuring the manically curious and furious Serge Storms and his drug-addled sidekick, Coleman. They are a brilliant pairing, with Serge venting his righteous rage on various scumbags who do things like dump polluting materials in nature reserves or price vital medicines out of the reach of those who need them out of personal greed. They all meet dreadful but appropriate ends, a bit like a modern-day, secular version of Dante's Inferno. There is also an historical story intercut with this, whose relevance we don't discover until the last quarter or so of the book, but which works very well and leads to a thrilling (and amusing) climax which kept me reading well after I should have stopped for the night.

It's excellently done. You really do have to get the tone right if you're going to make gruesome killing funny, and Dorsey gets it perfectly. He writes brilliantly, creating an excellent sense of place, and the balance of excitement and humour in the narrative seemed perfect to me. He also skewers many of the idiocies of modern life and especially in the character of Darby Pope, makes some quite profound human statements below the witty surface.

I'm delighted to have been introduced to Tim Dorsey and I'll definitely be looking into more Serge and Coleman books.

(My thanks to Farrago Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)

I would like to thank Netgalley and Farrago for an advance copy of The Pope of Palm Beach, the twenty-first novel to feature serial killer and local historian Serge Storms.

Serge and his sidekick, Coleman, are on an unorthodox literary tour of South Florida when they discover that Serge's hero, Kenny Reese, needs help.

This is part of a series which I have not read before so I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to try it out. Firstly I will say that the novel works well as a stand alone as there is no missing backstory and no need to have read the previous instalments. It is undoubtedly clever and has some funny one-liners but the madcap antics and reasoning don't do it for me as I just don't find it funny. This is no reflection on the novel, more a sad reflection on my lack of appreciation for situational humour (I absolutely loath slapstick and pantomime). I also found the novel slow to get to the point. The first three quarters are an alternating narrative between Serge's current day activities and musings on his past and Kenny's interactions with the Pope of Palm Beach, a surfing legend, between the 60s and 80s so they only come together in the last quarter.

The novel revolves around Serge and he's a difficult character to categorise. Obviously amoral and probably psychopathic he has no problem killing anyone who offends his strict moral code, notably, given it is Florida, those who damage the ecology. He is smart, geeky and very imaginative in his dispatch methods.

The Pope of Palm Beach is not for me but I think it will appeal to many readers with a better sense of humour.