Remembering best-selling Florida author Tim Dorsey, who added humor to his crime stories

Don Bruns
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Tim Dorsey wrote about a chaotic backstory of Florida, using serial killer Serge A. Storms as his vehicle/protagonist. The Tampa-based novelist, the author of twenty-six novels passed away at age sixty-two in Islamorada.

Tim was a friend, a comrade who once asked me if he could use part of one of my novels as a source for one of his.

Dorsey explored dive bars, one being the Crescent Club on Siesta Key. His protagonist drove through the underbelly of Florida in a Firebird Trans am and found unique ways to kill, murder, mutilate and destroy the bad guys.

Author Tim Dorsey, who wrote many stories about the fictional serial killer Serge A. Storms, poses at the Derby Lane Greyhound Track in St. Petersburg, Fla. in 2007. The author of 26 published novels died Nov. 26 at age 62.
Author Tim Dorsey, who wrote many stories about the fictional serial killer Serge A. Storms, poses at the Derby Lane Greyhound Track in St. Petersburg, Fla. in 2007. The author of 26 published novels died Nov. 26 at age 62.

Tim was first a journalist with the Tampa Tribune, then took the crime writing to a new, fictional level.

He was down to earth, funny both in his personal and literary life. When I wrote “Stuff To Spy For,” I asked him to read the novel. He asked me if he could blurb the book and of course I said yes. His review was as follows.

“This is the stuff of side-aching laughs: Hiaasen meets grown-up Spy Kids. With another winner under his belt, Bruns has proven he’s definitely got Florida down for the count.”

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Tim once told me that he was stopped by a highway patrol officer who informed him he was doing ninety in a sixty speed zone. When the officer saw his license, he smiled and said…”Serge, slow down and keep it close to the limit, okay?”

Tim Dorsey’s writings were famous and did a lot more for readers merriment than just keep him out of a speeding ticket.

RIP, buddy. We will miss you.

Sarasota-based novelist and mystery writer Don Bruns is the author of numerous books, including the Detective Quentin Archer series, and the editor of the mystery collections “Hotel California” and the upcoming “Thriller.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: A tribute to best-selling Florida-based crime novelist Tim Dorsey