JAMAICA ME DEAD

More Caribbean intrigue for ex-football player Zachary Taylor Chasteen, who inherits a bodyguard gig from a friend who thought they’d be serving together.

Even when he’s relaxing with his publisher girlfriend Barbara Pickering at a Gators game, Zack Chasteen just can’t stay out of trouble. First his old roommate Monk DeVane wants him to talk to Libido Resorts founder Darcy Whitehall about a job protecting Libido’s interests in Jamaica; then Whitehall’s VIP stadium seat turns out to be wired with explosives; then, when everybody escapes the mini-bomb and Zack agrees to fly out to the islands, Monk is blown to smithereens before Zack can even unpack his bags. At first the bombs look like the work of Nanny’s People United, the rabble-rousing political party whose candidate is opposing Whitehall’s son Alan in a Parliamentary election. But Zack wonders if the power behind them couldn’t be Freddie Arzghanian, the money-laundering partner Whitehall’s been struggling to shake off. As in Zack’s debut (Bahamarama, 2004), protocol requires that Zack be separated from Barbara, off in Berlin being tempted by a voracious media mogul, so that he can undergo some temptations of his own. Don’t worry: Zack is no more likely to cheat on his ladylove than to figure out the bomber’s identity before you do.

Good-natured rather than comical, with the Jamaica background the biggest plus. Maybe Morris should omit the obligatory plot and just write travelogues.