Terrie Farley Moran •
Read to Death •

If you measure a book by how much you’d like to inhabit its world, then Terrie Farley Moran’s lighthearted mysteries set on the Gulf Coast deserve a gold medal. I took to Bridgy and Sassy, the central characters, at once. I want to hang out at their café-cum-bookstore with its ship’s bell beside the front door. I could happily settle in at the Dashiell Hammett table, order a bowl of Old Man and the Sea chowder, and wave to Miguel in the kitchen.

I’m not so sure I want to join their book club, however. Contentious literary arguments aside, members and friends of the Cool Reads/Warm Climate group have a distressing tendency to get themselves bumped off. Investigating their untimely deaths makes a nice little sideline for our heroines.

And, because this is fiction, there’s also plenty of time for sunset strolls on the beach, shrimp fiestas, and excursions to local points of interest such as the Mangoes, Henry Ford’s winter getaway. Because it’s Florida, you get to dress in T-shirts and cutoff jeans year-round, and towel-dry your hair on a balcony while looking out to sea. Even Sassy and Bridgy’s apartment building has a distinctive allure: It’s named the Beausoleil (beautiful sun), and they live on the topmost floor.

Sound good? Let’s make like snowbirds and head to Fort Myers Beach.

See you at the Read ’Em and Eat.