Zack Chasteen Series by Bob Morris
Zack Chasteen #1
Bahamarama
Bob Morris
Two years in a Florida federal prison on bogus charges has made former Miami Dophins linebacker, Zack Chasteen, stir crazy. The first step toward getting his life back together is meeting up with his beautiful magazine mogul girlfriend, Barbara, on Harbor Island in the Bahamas. But making it out of Florida proves to be more trouble than a gator with a toothache--and even deadlier. Zack barely leaves the state alive before he discovers Barbara's been kidnapped and her ex-lover, a photographer, murdered. Once again trouble has come knocking on Zack's door. But this time he's fighting back, with the help of a Royal Bahamanian police superintendent, his trusted mystical Taino Indian friend Boggy, and a cast of the most colorful characters ever to step into the warm Bahama sun.As unpredictable as island trade winds, Bahamarama twists and turns its way to a stunning conclusion and announces the arrival of a writer who is sure to surprise and delight mystery fans for years to come.From Publishers WeeklyAs Morris's hard-boiled, edgy debut novel opens, former Miami Dolphins linebacker Zachary Chasteen is being released after serving almost two years in a Florida penitentiary on trumped-up charges. Zack longs to be reunited with Barbara Pickering, his velvet-voiced lover, who is busy in the Bahamas shooting a spread for the magazine she owns. He gets ditched mid-journey by the limo driver she's sent ahead to fetch him and is suddenly on his own, penniless and without ID. Zack hitches a ride to his childhood home, but once there, he's ambushed by the violent lackeys of Victor Ortiz, the man who framed him years before. Zack manages a narrow escape, but is faced with even more trouble. Barbara's ex-fiancé, Brice, is found murdered, and she's been kidnapped with a hefty ransom on her head. Police inspector (and former football player) Lynfield Pederson and Zack put their heads together as Hurricane Curt barrels toward them. After the limo driver who originally deserted Zack is identified as a well-known deadly criminal and the probable source of all things bad, Zack gets a lucky break and speeds off to a bat-filled sea cave to confront his nemesis at the novel's bullet-ridden climax. An array of colorful locals gives the story some much-needed texture, while juicy plotting keeps this impressive page-turner simmering. Morris has produced an accomplished first novel with a priceless final scene. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistThe one-word title of journalist Morris' debut novel stands as a hint that something is going on here. Just about every other mystery novelist would feel compelled to name a book about murder in the Bahamas something anatomical and tendentious like Blood on the Sand. But Morris knows how to put some bounce in his writing: his narrator has a fresh, true voice and a lode of comic cynicism. Ex-Miami Dolphin Zack Chasteen (the narrator) invites readers along on a stutter-step saga that starts with his release from a Florida federal prison. Chasteen discovers that his girlfriend has been kidnapped from their rendezvous spot on Bar Harbor Island in the Bahamas and that her ex-boyfriend has been murdered. And things get worse, much worse, from there--with Chasteen serving both as target and as canny tour guide through the rough edges of the Bahamas. This is a series to watch. Connie FletcherCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Read online
Zack Chasteen #1
Zack Chasteen 01 Bahamarama
Bob Morris
Two years in a Florida federal prison on bogus charges has made former Miami Dophins linebacker, Zack Chasteen, stir crazy. The first step toward getting his life back together is meeting up with his beautiful magazine mogul girlfriend, Barbara, on Harbor Island in the Bahamas. But making it out of Florida proves to be more trouble than a gator with a toothache--and even deadlier. Zack barely leaves the state alive before he discovers Barbara's been kidnapped and her ex-lover, a photographer, murdered. Once again trouble has come knocking on Zack's door. But this time he's fighting back, with the help of a Royal Bahamanian police superintendent, his trusted mystical Taino Indian friend Boggy, and a cast of the most colorful characters ever to step into the warm Bahama sun.As unpredictable as island trade winds, Bahamarama twists and turns its way to a stunning conclusion and announces the arrival of a writer who is sure to surprise and delight mystery fans for years to come.From Publishers WeeklyAs Morris's hard-boiled, edgy debut novel opens, former Miami Dolphins linebacker Zachary Chasteen is being released after serving almost two years in a Florida penitentiary on trumped-up charges. Zack longs to be reunited with Barbara Pickering, his velvet-voiced lover, who is busy in the Bahamas shooting a spread for the magazine she owns. He gets ditched mid-journey by the limo driver she's sent ahead to fetch him and is suddenly on his own, penniless and without ID. Zack hitches a ride to his childhood home, but once there, he's ambushed by the violent lackeys of Victor Ortiz, the man who framed him years before. Zack manages a narrow escape, but is faced with even more trouble. Barbara's ex-fiancé, Brice, is found murdered, and she's been kidnapped with a hefty ransom on her head. Police inspector (and former football player) Lynfield Pederson and Zack put their heads together as Hurricane Curt barrels toward them. After the limo driver who originally deserted Zack is identified as a well-known deadly criminal and the probable source of all things bad, Zack gets a lucky break and speeds off to a bat-filled sea cave to confront his nemesis at the novel's bullet-ridden climax. An array of colorful locals gives the story some much-needed texture, while juicy plotting keeps this impressive page-turner simmering. Morris has produced an accomplished first novel with a priceless final scene. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistThe one-word title of journalist Morris' debut novel stands as a hint that something is going on here. Just about every other mystery novelist would feel compelled to name a book about murder in the Bahamas something anatomical and tendentious like Blood on the Sand. But Morris knows how to put some bounce in his writing: his narrator has a fresh, true voice and a lode of comic cynicism. Ex-Miami Dolphin Zack Chasteen (the narrator) invites readers along on a stutter-step saga that starts with his release from a Florida federal prison. Chasteen discovers that his girlfriend has been kidnapped from their rendezvous spot on Bar Harbor Island in the Bahamas and that her ex-boyfriend has been murdered. And things get worse, much worse, from there--with Chasteen serving both as target and as canny tour guide through the rough edges of the Bahamas. This is a series to watch. Connie FletcherCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Read online
Zack Chasteen #2
Jamaica Me Dead
Bob Morris
TOO HOT TO HANDLEFormer Miami Dolphin Zack Chasteen had a short pro career, but he's got a long memory. When his old gridiron pal Monk DeVane asks him to help beef up security at Libido, an X-rated Jamaican resort, Zack agrees. But he soon regrets it when he finds the resort owner quite literally on the hot seat--sitting on a bomb that will detonate if he so much as twitches a muscle…Things get even more explosive at the adult playground of Libido, where tourists indulge in sun and plenty of bawdy fun. From Montego Bay to the island's back country, Zack Chasteen descends into Jamaica's heart of darkness and its bloody political scene, bringing along his inscrutable sidekick Boggy, a Taino Indian shaman. With bullets flying and people dying, Zack must seek out the truth and settle some scores before his own life goes boom."Advertised as a year-round summer read, this is exactly that, thanks to smart, polished prose; an affable narrator; swift, straightforward plotting in bite-size chapters; and a fun, exotic setting." --*Booklist*From Publishers WeeklyMorris's zany sophomore effort features another Jamaican-set crime drama narrated by former Miami linebacker Zack Chasteen, last seen in Bahamarama, the author's rollicking debut. A football halftime party to which Zack has been invited by old Miami Dolphins teammate Monk DeVane is marred by a bomb scare targeted at Monk's white Jamaican boss, Darcy Whitehall, a tycoon of adult-themed resorts. Whitehall thinks that his personal security might improve with Zack on the Libido Resorts payroll, so Zack temporarily bids adieu to British girlfriend Barbara and heads to Jamaica to play bodyguard. Upon his arrival, a violent explosion kills Monk, and it's up to Zack to wade through a bevy of suspects, most of whom are dueling political factions, because in Jamaica "everything is politics." Could the guilty party be Whitehall's slimy, money-laundering associate, Freddie Arzghanian, or possibly Nanny's People United, an aggressive political action group bent on keeping Whitehall's son, Alan, a proponent of shady land developments, from getting elected in a local parliamentary election? Blame shifts and the mystery smoothly unravels itself while both Zack and Barbara (in Berlin with a "Trumpish" entertainment entrepreneur) wrestle with temptation but remain refreshingly monogamous. The tropical backdrop and Zack's wisecracking commentary make for another crackling whodunit for Morris. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistFormer Miami Dolphin Zack Chasteen returns in Morris' enjoyable follow-up to Bahamarama (2004). After Jamaican playboy hotelier Darcy Whitehall's near miss with a chair bomb at a Florida Gators game, Zack heads down to the aptly named Libido resort to help out his old pal Monk with security, only to watch helplessly as Monk disappears in a massive explosion in the airport parking lot. Zack weaves through political unrest, shady land deals, and hot-to-trot tourists to find out whose thumb is on the detonator. Despite some quirky trappings (the sex-sodden setting, Zack's inscrutable sidekick Boggy, who purports to be the last representative of the long-extinct Taino Indians), Morris plays it fairly straight, with an easygoing sense of humor that runs less to the gonzo satire of Hiaasen or Shames than to Westlakean drolleries such as, "he looked shaken but hadn't stirred." Advertised as a year-round summer read, this is exactly that, thanks to smart, polished prose; an affable narrator; swift, straightforward plotting in bite-size chapters; and a fun, exotic setting. David WrightCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Read online
Zack Chasteen #2
Zack Chasteen 02 Jamaica Me Dead
Bob Morris
TOO HOT TO HANDLEFormer Miami Dolphin Zack Chasteen had a short pro career, but he's got a long memory. When his old gridiron pal Monk DeVane asks him to help beef up security at Libido, an X-rated Jamaican resort, Zack agrees. But he soon regrets it when he finds the resort owner quite literally on the hot seat--sitting on a bomb that will detonate if he so much as twitches a muscle…Things get even more explosive at the adult playground of Libido, where tourists indulge in sun and plenty of bawdy fun. From Montego Bay to the island's back country, Zack Chasteen descends into Jamaica's heart of darkness and its bloody political scene, bringing along his inscrutable sidekick Boggy, a Taino Indian shaman. With bullets flying and people dying, Zack must seek out the truth and settle some scores before his own life goes boom."Advertised as a year-round summer read, this is exactly that, thanks to smart, polished prose; an affable narrator; swift, straightforward plotting in bite-size chapters; and a fun, exotic setting." --*Booklist*From Publishers WeeklyMorris's zany sophomore effort features another Jamaican-set crime drama narrated by former Miami linebacker Zack Chasteen, last seen in Bahamarama, the author's rollicking debut. A football halftime party to which Zack has been invited by old Miami Dolphins teammate Monk DeVane is marred by a bomb scare targeted at Monk's white Jamaican boss, Darcy Whitehall, a tycoon of adult-themed resorts. Whitehall thinks that his personal security might improve with Zack on the Libido Resorts payroll, so Zack temporarily bids adieu to British girlfriend Barbara and heads to Jamaica to play bodyguard. Upon his arrival, a violent explosion kills Monk, and it's up to Zack to wade through a bevy of suspects, most of whom are dueling political factions, because in Jamaica "everything is politics." Could the guilty party be Whitehall's slimy, money-laundering associate, Freddie Arzghanian, or possibly Nanny's People United, an aggressive political action group bent on keeping Whitehall's son, Alan, a proponent of shady land developments, from getting elected in a local parliamentary election? Blame shifts and the mystery smoothly unravels itself while both Zack and Barbara (in Berlin with a "Trumpish" entertainment entrepreneur) wrestle with temptation but remain refreshingly monogamous. The tropical backdrop and Zack's wisecracking commentary make for another crackling whodunit for Morris. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistFormer Miami Dolphin Zack Chasteen returns in Morris' enjoyable follow-up to Bahamarama (2004). After Jamaican playboy hotelier Darcy Whitehall's near miss with a chair bomb at a Florida Gators game, Zack heads down to the aptly named Libido resort to help out his old pal Monk with security, only to watch helplessly as Monk disappears in a massive explosion in the airport parking lot. Zack weaves through political unrest, shady land deals, and hot-to-trot tourists to find out whose thumb is on the detonator. Despite some quirky trappings (the sex-sodden setting, Zack's inscrutable sidekick Boggy, who purports to be the last representative of the long-extinct Taino Indians), Morris plays it fairly straight, with an easygoing sense of humor that runs less to the gonzo satire of Hiaasen or Shames than to Westlakean drolleries such as, "he looked shaken but hadn't stirred." Advertised as a year-round summer read, this is exactly that, thanks to smart, polished prose; an affable narrator; swift, straightforward plotting in bite-size chapters; and a fun, exotic setting. David WrightCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Read online
Zack Chasteen #3
Zack Chasteen 03 Bermuda Schwartz
Bob Morris
From the Edgar-nominated, bestselling series that gets better with each book, and an author who constantly surprises, comes Bermuda Schwartz--a tale of hidden treasure, murder, romance, and rum.A young scuba guide, scouting new dive sites in the shipwreck-laden reefs that rim Bermuda, makes a fatal discovery--a treasure more valuable than gold or jewels. And some people are willing to kill for it.Enter Zack Chasteen, knockabout palm-tree farmer, and his inscrutable Taino associate, Boggy, who have been dragged to Bermuda by Zack's ladylove, Barbara Pickering. She needs their help throwing a gala 75th birthday party for her wealthy and eccentric Aunt Trula. While there, Zack drops by the bank to visit his money, a couple of million dollars earned in recent exploits that he has stashed away in one of the country's notorious tax-free offshore accounts. Big problem: Zack's money is gone and his bankers can't seem to explain where it is or who might have it.Zack is...
Read online
Zack Chasteen #4
A Deadly Silver Sea
Bob Morris
The Royal Star, the most exclusive cruise ship in the world, has just set sail from Miami on its inaugural voyage. For the hundred or so notable and well-heeled passengers, including Zack Chasteen, and his wife, Barbara, the itinerary is a secret and the week ahead promises to be an ultra-indulgent tropical sojourn. But just an hour out of port, gunmen take over the Royal Star, killing most of the officers and sequestering passengers throughout the ship. Not only is Zack separated from Barbara, he has another worry --Barbara is eight months pregnant with their first child and could go into labor at any moment. As Zack and his fellow captives struggle to get an upper hand, the ship's hijackers offer few clues to their motives. Maybe it's a simple kidnap/extortion plot. Or maybe the hijackers are bent on more devious ends -- using the Royal Star as a giant torpedo to blow up another cruise ship. Either way, Zack must figure out a way to stop...
Read online
Zack Chasteen #4
Zack Chasteen 04 A Deadly Silver Sea
Bob Morris
The Royal Star, the most exclusive cruise ship in the world, has just set sail from Miami on its inaugural voyage. For the hundred or so notable and well-heeled passengers, including Zack Chasteen, and his wife, Barbara, the itinerary is a secret and the week ahead promises to be an ultra-indulgent tropical sojourn. But just an hour out of port, gunmen take over the Royal Star, killing most of the officers and sequestering passengers throughout the ship. Not only is Zack separated from Barbara, he has another worry --Barbara is eight months pregnant with their first child and could go into labor at any moment. As Zack and his fellow captives struggle to get an upper hand, the ship's hijackers offer few clues to their motives. Maybe it's a simple kidnap/extortion plot. Or maybe the hijackers are bent on more devious ends -- using the Royal Star as a giant torpedo to blow up another cruise ship. Either way, Zack must figure out a way to stop...
Read online
Zack Chasteen #5
Zack Chasteen 05 Baja Florida
Bob Morris
Zack Chasteen’s old friend Mickey Ryser pays a surprise visit to deliver some bad news: doctors tell him he has only a few weeks to live and he plans to spend it on his private-island hideaway in the Bahamas. But Ryser has a favor to ask. He needs Zack to find his estranged daughter, Jen, whom Ryser hasn’t seen in more than twenty years. He wants to make amends and spend what little time he has left with her.When last heard from, Jen had bought a big sailboat and was bound for the Bahamas with some college friends. A private detective hired by Ryser to track her down has gone MIA. One of Jen’s friends has jumped ship, under curious conditions. And there’s the specter of an international piracy ring, known to hijack and plunder private yachts passing through island waters. With little to go on, Zack embarks on a mission that will take him from one end of the Bahamas to the other. It’s home to all sorts of rogues and rascals, with plenty of places to hide---a wonderment of islands that Zack calls Baja Florida.From Publishers WeeklyAt the request of a dying friend, Mickey Ryser, Zack Chasteen goes on a hunt for Ryser's daughter, Jen, in Edgar-finalist Morris's enjoyable if flawed fourth thriller set in Florida and the surrounding waters (after A Deadly Silver Sea). Ryser hasn't seen Jen in 20 years, but she was supposed to be sailing her boat down from Charleston, S.C., with a crew of friends to meet him on Lady Cut Cay, a tiny island in the Bahamas, which Chasteen calls Baja Florida. Chasteen follows the trail blazed by an incompetent detective hired by Ryser, tangles with a ring of boat thieves, and winds up wanted by the Bahamian police. Improbably, neither Ryser, who doesn't know what Jen looks like, nor Chasteen, tries to locate a recent photo of Jen, who's being held prisoner. That readers are privy to Jen's continuing travails lessens the suspense. On the other hand, Chasteen's knack for getting into trouble, his unusual Taino shaman companion, and a rousing ending more than compensate. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistZack Chasteen, the former footballer turned palm tree farmer and sleuth in the Bahamas, is going to regret that he agreed to do a favor for a friend. Granted, the friend, Mickey, is dying, and the favor is heart touching: Mickey wants Zack to find his estranged daughter, who appears to have disappeared, perhaps along with the private detective Mickey hired to find her. But still: doing a favor is one thing, and risking your own life is something else altogether. Zack handles the various adversities he encounters with his usual wit and aplomb, but the big problem is simply this: How do you find someone when you don’t know what she looks like? Fans of the earlier Chasteen novels, including Jamaica Me Dead (2005) and A Deadly Silver Sea (2008), will enjoy this one’s mixture of humor and mystery. Because each novel can be read as a stand-alone, newcomers to the series can jump right in. --David Pitt
Read online