Serge returns in Dorsey's 'No Sunscreen'

You just can't keep a good psychopath down, and that's the case as Serge A. Storms returns in the latest wacky Florida noir novel from Tim Dorsey.

"He's kind of my mouthpiece," Dorsey said of Serge. "He evolved into that. If readers ever got bored with him, or if I got bored with him, I'd have dropped him. But that hasn't been the case."

In fact, Dorsey's new novel, "No Sunscreen for the Dead," is his 22nd to focus on the killer with a passion for Florida history and its cheesy roadside attractions.

Florida has a reputation across the country as an oddball state, which Dorsey somehow takes to an even greater extreme in his novels, starting with the aptly titled "Florida Road Kill." Popularized in the works of South Florida writers such as Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen, the so-called "Florida noir" genre now has a following worldwide. However, in-state readers generally perceive it to be non-fiction, Dorsey said.

"If you have a feel for Florida, you can't top reality," he said.

The Tampa-based author will speak twice in Bay County on Wednesday, May 1: 2 p.m. at the Panama City Beach Public Library, 12500 Hutchison Blvd.; and 5:30 p.m. at the Bay County Public Library, 898 W. 11th St., Panama City. The presentations are free and open to the public. Dorsey's books and Serge Storms merchandise will be available for purchase.

In preparation for writing, Dorsey travels the state like a movie location scout. He takes notes and photographs possible sites to use in a plot, then refers to the material later for detail. His most recent tour has taken him to more than 50 cities, including excursions as far as Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

"Whatever I do through the year, that pretty much goes into the next plot," he said. "I use Serge as sort of my alter-ego."

In the new book, Serge and his platonic life partner Coleman are back on the road, ready to hit the next stop on their list of obscure and wacky points of interest. Serge is drawn to one of the largest retirement villages in the world — also known as the site of an infamous sex scandal between a retiree and her younger beau. What starts out as an innocent quest to observe elders in their natural habitats, sample the local cuisine, and scope out a condo to live out the rest of their golden years, soon becomes a Robin Hood-like crusade to recover the funds of swindled residents.

"I used to visit my grandparents and I got a feel for their situation," Dorsey said when asked if Serge's search for a retirement home also reflected the author's life. "Solicitors were always trying to sell them the sun and the moon, and how I felt about that helped inspire this story."

As Dorsey noted, our seniors should be revered and respected — they’ve heroically fought in wars, garnered priceless wisdom, and they have the best first-hand accounts of bizarre Floridian occurrences only Serge would know about.

"It's my homage to our senior citizens and all they've accomplished, all they've come through and sacrificed," he said.

Dorsey considers himself a Florida native, which he maintains is a good thing despite the way he depicts Floridians in his books. His family moved into the state when he was about 1 year old. Born in Indiana, Dorsey grew up in Riviera Beach north of Miami. A former police and court reporter, general assignments reporter, political reporter and copy desk editor for several newspapers, Dorsey covered Tallahassee for The Tampa Tribune, where he later served as night metro editor and news coordinator. He left that position in 1999 to write novels full time.

Not bad for a guy with a bachelor's degree in transportation.

But it was his love of the state's strange, pre-Disney roadside attractions — places his family visited when he was a child — that prompted him to create Serge.

"I love Florida cheese," he said. "Weeki Wachee, Cypress Gardens, all those mom-and-pop motels that were out there before all the chains. They were great. But somebody said, 'Make it a mystery. It'll sell better.'" The result was a story of "dirtbags on a crime spree," Dorsey said. The lead dirtbag was Serge, "a loveable serial killer, the character you hate to love."