Cover of the novel Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen’s Florida: A Reading Order for Fifteen Novels

ByWeFoundFlorida September 21, 2026September 25, 2026

Carl Hiaasen joined the Miami Herald in 1976, worked the city desk, the Sunday magazine and the investigative team, and wrote a column from 1985 until he retired in March 2021. That is the useful thing to know before you open any of the novels. The developers, the sham charities and the men who quietly dump things in the water were reported first and fictionalized second.

Where to Start

Double Whammy (1987). Competitive bass fishing and the cheating that comes with it. It also introduces Skink, the former governor who walked away from the job and now lives off the grid, and who turns out to be the most durable character Hiaasen ever built.

Skinny Dip (2004). The one to start with if you want the comedy first. A woman goes overboard on a cruise ship, survives, and decides not to mention that to her husband. Everything else follows from that decision.

The Run of Novels

Tourist Season (1986) was the first solo novel and set the template. Native Tongue (1991) takes apart a fraudulent theme park. Stormy Weather (1995) follows the opportunists who show up after a hurricane. Lucky You (1997) turns on a stolen lottery ticket. Sick Puppy (2000) starts with a man tossing litter out a car window and escalates for three hundred pages. Basket Case (2002) is the newsroom book and the closest to his own working life. Star Island (2010) goes after celebrity culture and Razor Girl (2016) after reality television. Bad Monkey (2013) is now an Apple TV series with Vince Vaughn.

The Books for Younger Readers

Hoot (2002), Flush (2005), Scat (2009) and Chomp (2012) carry the same argument in a smaller frame, with kids doing what the adults will not. Hoot sends them after burrowing owls and a pancake franchise. They work as well for adults as anything else he has written.

Five More

Five more adult novels are not covered above: Skin Tight (1989), Strip Tease (1993), Nature Girl (2006), Squeeze Me (2020) and Fever Beach (2025). The columns were collected three times, as Kick Ass, Paradise Screwed and Dance of the Reptiles.