Carl Hiaasen Books in Order (Squirm, Squeeze Me, Bad Monkey…)
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All of Carl Hiaasen’s Books in Order!
Who is Carl Hiaasen?
American journalist, Carl Hiaasen (pronounced “hiya-sun”) became a novelist by the late 1970s, writing novels in his spare time. He writes books for adults but also for young-adult readers-and two of his novels were made into films: Striptease with Demi Moore and Hoot with Luke Wilson, Logan Lerman, and Brie Larson.
Most of Carl Hiaasen’s novels-the ones for adults-are crime thrillers set in Florida featuring eccentric characters and (most of the time) talking about environmentalism and political corruption. They are humorous books that often satirize American popular culture.
Also, Hiaasen is a talented fly fisherman!–and a friend of John Sandford, author of the Prey series. He retired from The Miami Herald in 2021.
Apple TV+ is currently producing a series based on his book, Bad Monkey, which is set in the Florida Keys and Bahamas. The show stars Vince Vaughn and is being developed by Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence.
How to read Carl Hiaasen’s Books in Order?
The Black Lizard Books in Order
Co-authored with his friend and fellow journalist William Montalbano.
- Powder Burn (1981) – Chris Meadows’s charmed life as an up-and-coming architect in Coconut Grove has kept him far removed from Miami’s bloody drug trade. But his comfortable existence comes crashing down around him when Chris witnesses the hit-and-run death of an ex-girlfriend by a car full of drug smuggling gangsters. Now caught up in southern Florida’s brutal underground cocaine war, Meadows is in a fight for his life.
- Trap Line (1982) – Though he is one of Key West’s most skilled fishing captains, Breeze Albury barely ekes out a living on the meager earnings of his trade. Meanwhile, Cuban and Colombian drug smugglers thrive all around-and they have their sights set on Albury and his fishing boat. After the smugglers cut his three hundred trap lines and crush his livelihood, Albury is forced to run drugs to survive. But when he gets busted by the crooked chief of police and becomes a target of the drug machine’s brutal hitmen, Albury becomes a vigilante on the seas of Florida.
- A Death In China (1984) – Art history professor Tom Stratton hasn’t seen his former mentor David Wang for years-until they unexpectedly run into each other while Stratton is on a guided tour of China. But the reunion doesn’t last long. After Wang is found dead-and the American embassy fumbles the investigation-Stratton sets out to solve the mystery of the killing on his own. Before long, he’s tangled in a web of corruption that reaches the highest seats of power.
The Skink Series in Order
Ex-governor of Florida (in the 1970s) and a former English professor. The last honest man, he ended up disillusioned by the system and decided to quit. After that, he disappeared and became a wild hermit, living first in Harney County (a fictional Florida county), where he adopted the name “Skink” and survived mostly on roadkill cuisine, but sometimes fresh fish. He later became more of a nomad. He is an experienced hunter, woodsman, and fighter.
For more information about the Skink books, go to the dedicated reading guide.
- Double Whammy (1988)
- Native Tongue (1991)
- Stormy Weather (1995)
- Sick Puppy (2000) feat Mick Stranahan of Skin Tight (1989).
- Skinny Dip (2004)
- Star Island (2010)
- No Surrender (2014)
- Squeeze Me (2020)
The Juvenile Books in Order
- Hoot (2002) – Everybody loves Mother Paula’s pancakes. Everybody, that is, except the colony of cute but endangered owls that live on the building site of the new restaurant. Can the awkward new kid and his feral friend prank the pancake people out of town? Or is the owls’ fate cemented in pancake batter?
- Flush (2005) – Noah’s dad is sure that the owner of the Coral Queen casino boat is flushing raw sewage into the harbor–which has made taking a dip at the local beach like swimming in a toilet. He can’t prove it though, and so he decides that sinking the boat will make an effective statement. Right. The boat is pumped out and back in business within days and Noah’s dad is stuck in the clink. Now Noah is determined to succeed where his dad failed.
- Scat (2009) – Bunny Starch, the most feared biology teacher ever, is missing. She disappeared after a school field trip to Black Vine Swamp. And, to be honest, the kids in her class are relieved. But when the principal tries to tell the students that Mrs. Starch has been called away on a “family emergency,” Nick and Marta just don’t buy it. No, they figure the class delinquent, Smoke, has something to do with her disappearance.
- Chomp (2012) – When Wahoo Cray’s dad-a professional animal wrangler-takes a job with a reality TV show called Expedition Survival!, Wahoo figures he’ll have to do a bit of wrangling himself to keep his father from killing Derek Badger, the show’s inept and egotistical star. But the job keeps getting more complicated: Derek Badger insists on using wild animals for his stunts; and Wahoo’s acquired a shadow named Tuna-a girl who’s sporting a shiner courtesy of her father and needs a place to hide out.
- Squirm (2018) – This summer, Billy Dickens will fly across the country, hike a mountain, float a river, dodge a grizzly bear, shoot down a spy drone, save a neighbor’s cat, save an endangered panther, and then try to save his own father.
Standalone novels by Carl Hiaasen
- Tourist Season (1986) – The first sign of trouble is a Shriner’s fez washed up on a Miami beach. The next is a suitcase containing the almost-legless body of the local chamber of commerce president found floating in a canal… The locals are desperate to keep the murders under wraps and the tourist money flowing. But it will take a reporter-turned–private eye to make sense of a caper that mixes football players, politicians, and one very hungry crocodile
- Skin Tight (1989) – After dispatching a pistol-packing intruder from his home with the help of a stuffed Marlin head, Mick Stranahan can’t deny that someone is out to get him. His now-deceased intruder carries no I.D., and as a former Florida state investigator, Stranahan knows there are plenty of potential culprits. His long list of enemies includes an off point hit man, a personal injury lawyer of billboard fame, a notoriously irritating TV journalist, and a fumbling plastic surgeon.
- Strip Tease (1993) – Only in America could an innocent, if drunken, guest of honor at a strip club bachelor party become a mortal threat against Big Money and Big Government. Only in South Florida, land of roadside honky-tonks and sinister pleasure boats–not to mention blackmail and murder–would a virtuous topless dancer join forces with a cool but clueless cop.
- Naked Came the Manatee (1997) A story of suspense written serially by thirteen of Florida’s most talented writers: Carl Hiaasen, Brian Antoni, Dave Barry, Edna Buchanan, Tananarive Due, James W Hall, Vicki Hendricks, Elmore Leonard, Paul Levine, Evelyn W Mayerson, and Edna Standiford.
- Lucky You (1997) – Grange, Florida, is famous for its miracles – the weeping fiberglass Madonna, the Road-Stain Jesus, the stigmata man. And now it has JoLayne Lucks, unlikely winner of the state lottery. Unfortunately, JoLayne’s winning ticket isn’t the only one. The other belongs to Bodean Gazzer and his raunchy sidekick, Chub, who believe they’re entitled to the whole $28 million jackpot. And they need it quickly, to start their own underground militia before NATO troops invade America.
- Basket Case (2002) – Jack Tagger’s years in exile at the obituaries desk of a South Florida daily haven’t dulled his investigative reporter’s nose for a good story. When Jimmy Stoma, the infamous frontman of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies, dies in a fishy scuba accident, Jack sees his ticket back to page one-if only he can figure out what really happened.
- Nature Girl (2006) – Passionate and willful Honey Santana is taking rude, gullible telemarketer Boyd Shreave and his less than enthusiastic mistress, Eugenie Fonda, into the mangroves of Florida’s Ten Thousand Islands for a gentle lesson in humility. What Honey doesn’t know is that she’s being followed by her obsessed former employer, Piejack, and her still-smitten ex-husband, Perry, with their protective and wise-beyond-his-years twelve-year-old son, Fry. And when they all arrive on Dismal Key, they don’t know the island is occupied by Sammy Tigertail, a failed alligator wrestler trying like hell to be left alone despite the Florida State coed clinging to his side.
- Bad Monkey (2012) – Andrew Yancy-late of the Miami Police and soon-to-be-late of the Monroe County sheriff’s office-has a human arm in his freezer. There’s a logical (Hiaasenian) explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its shadowy owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, the sheriff might rescue him from his grisly Health Inspector gig.
- Razor Girl (2016) – Merry Mansfield, the eponymous Razor Girl, specializes in kidnapping for the mob. Her preferred method is rear-ending her targets and asking them for a ride. Her latest mark is Martin Trebeaux, owner of a private beach renourishment company who has delivered substandard sand to a mob hotel. But there’s just one problem: Razor Girl hits the wrong guy…
Non-fiction books
- Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World (1998)
- Kick Ass: Selected Columns (1999)
- Paradise Screwed: Selected Columns (2001)
- The Downhill Lie (2008)
- Dance of the Reptiles: Selected Columns (2014)
- Assume the Worst: The Graduation Speech You’ll Never Hear (2018)
If you like our article about the Carl Hiaasen books in order, don’t forget to bookmark it! You may also want to see our Elvis Cole and Joe Pike reading order, or the Serge A. Storms reading order.
