Key West has always interested people. So there is no wonder that there are so many books about Key West, both fiction and non-fiction. Here is a list of many of those books, albeit this is by no means a fully comprehensive one. I have bolded some of the books that I have read so I can personally recommend them.
If you are an author of a book about Key West and would like it listed here, feel free to contact me at islandgenn@me.com.
007 Exotic Location, Key West – Reel Art
A Fool’s Death – John Cooney
Air Dance Iguana – Tom Corcoran
Airports in Monrie County, Florida – Books LLC
Alexis’ Island: Growing up in the Tropical Paradise of Key West – David Lee Hemmel
An Appetite for Murder: A Key West Food Critic Mystery – Lucy Burdette
A Season in the South – Marci Alborghetti
A Sketch of the History of Key West – Walter Maloney
Bad Monkey – Carl Hiaasen
Back on the Road to Key West – Michael Reisig
Between Man and Woman Keys – Rosalind Brackenbury
Beyond Paradise – Rosalind Brackenbury
Beyond the Reef – Todd Strasser
Bone Island Mambo – Tom Corcoran
Callahan’s Con – Spider Robinson
Callahan’s Key – Spider Robinson
Calypso Cafe: Cooking up the Best Flavors from the Keys and the Caribbean – Bob Epstein
Cedar Key – James West
Chasin’ the Wind: Mick Murphy Key West Mystery – Michael Haskins
A Chivalrous Fray for Melinda’s Key West Sunset Irises – Justin Schlosberg
Choke – Stuart Woods
Christmas in Key West – Cynthia Thomason
Cold Case Killer – Dorothy Brenner Francis
Completing the Circle – Carol Lynne
Conch Salad – Tracy McDonald
Conch Shell Murder – Dorothy Brenner Francis
Confessions of a Key West Cabby – Michael Suib
Cooking in Key West – Ed Ochester
The Cypress House – Michael Koryta
Dead Run – Erica Spindler
Death in Four Courses – Lucy Burdette
Death in Key West: A Brad Fairfax Murder Mystery – Jeffrey Round
Death with All the Trimmings – Lucy Burdette
Don Balasco of Key West. A Novel – Archibald Clavering Gunter
Doorstop On A Houseboat in Key West – Wayne Gales
Doubloon – Jan Amberg
Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret – Leila Rupp
Dream of Orchids – Phillis Whitney
Driftwood Houses: A Key West Story Sequence – Jon Miller
Eden Palms Murder – Dorothy Francis
End of A1A: Key West Reader – Dave Ferneding
Ernest Hemingway in Key West: A Guide – Marsha Bellavance-Johnson
Farewell, Conch Republic – Hiaheah Jackson
Fatal Reservations – Lucy Burdette
Florida Keys Bucket List – David Sloan
The Florida Keys: Miami to Key West – Jonathan Edwards
Florida Keys Paddling Guide: From Key Largo to Key West – Bill Keogh
Florida Straits – Laurence Shames
Florida’s Key West – Bruce Morris
The Funerals of Key West – Edgardo
Ghosts of Key West – David Sloan
Ghost Moon – Heather Graham
Ghost Memories – Heather Graham
Ghost Shadow – Heather Graham
Grits and Grunts: Folkloric Key West – Stetson Kennedy
Gumbo Limbo – Tom Corcoran
Haunts and Homes: a Tour of Key West Writer’s History – Gail Duerfeldt Hinand
Hemingway’s Girl – Erika Robuck
Hemingway’s Key West – Stuart B McIver
Her Last Seven Days in Key West – Joe Wells
Hidden Florida Keys and Everglades: Including Key Largo and Key West – Candace Leslie
The Houses of Key West – Alex Caemmerer
If You’re Ever in Key West – Jane Dawkins
Insiders Guide to Florida Keys and Key West – Juliet Gray
Insiders Guide: Key West in Your Pocket: Your Guide to an Hour, a Day, or a Weekend in Key West – Nancy Toppino
Inside Route Pilot – New York to Key West – Anon
The Jews of Key West – Arlo Haskell
June Keith’s Key West and the Florida Keys – June Keith
Keyguide to the Florida Keys and Key West – George Stevenson
Key Waste: Swinging with the Savages in the Conch Republic – Jag Allen
Key West – Lynn Coleman
Key West – Alan Austin
Key West – Demi Alex
Key West – Jefferson Browne
Key West – Jon Michael Miller
Key West – Stella Cameron
Key West Writers and Their Houses – Lynn Kaufelt
Key West Color – Alan Maltz
Key West Companion: Views of Six Nobel Laureates – Christopher CoxKey West, Florida – Lynn HomanFishing Key West and the Lower Keys – David Conway
Key West and the Florida Keys, Florida – Lynn Homan
Key West (Hot in the City #3) – Lacey Alexander
Key West Connection – Randy Wayne White
Key West: A Tropical Lifestyle – Leslie Linsley
Key West Short Stories – Island Joe
Key West Connection – Randy Wayne White
Key West: City of Colors – Talmadge Hayward
Key West: History of an Island of Dreams – Maureen Ogle
Key West, Florida – Frederic Miller
Key West: A Guide to Florida’s Southernmost City – Sarah Goodwin-Nguyen
Key West Conspiracy – Steve Gerson
Key West Dreams – Nancy Julian
Key West Florida: Black America – Norma Jean Sawyer
Key West Gardens and Their Stories – Janis Frawley-Holler
Key West Heat – Alice Orr
Key West Hemingway: A Reassessment – Kirk Cunutt
Key West Houses – Leslie Linsley
The Keys and Way Out West – Philip Kram
Key West: A Max Clevland Mystery – Alan Austin
Key West Luck – Laurence Shames
Key West Magic – Ciar Cullen
Key West Tales – John Hersey
Kidnapped in Key West – Edwina Raffa
Killer in Control – Dorothy Francis
Killer Take Out – Lucy Burdette
The Last Resort – Alison Lurie
The Last Ruble : A Story is Born – Joe Wells
Life Along the Inner Coast: A Naturalist’s Guide to the Sounds, Inlets, Rivers, and Intracoastal Waterway from Norfolk to Key West – Robert Lippson
The Lighthouse, the Cat and the Sea – Leigh Rutledge
The Literary Sands of Key West – Patricia Altobello
Living withFlorida’s Atlantic Beaches: Coastal Hazards from Amelia Island to Key West – David Bush
Loitering with Intent – Stuart Woods
Louie’s Backyard Cookbook: Irresistible Island Dishes and the Best Ocean View in Key West – Michael Stern
The Mango Opera – Tom Corcoran
Mangrove Squeeze – Laurence Shames
Mile Marker Zero: The Moveable Feast of Key West – William McKeen
The Monarch of Key West – David Paule
The Mountains of Key West – Sandra McDonald
Murder in Key West – William Freeman
Murder with Ganache – Lucy Burdette
Nacho Unleashed – Laurence Shames
The Naked Detective – Laurence Shames
Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West – Shannon McKenna Schmidt
Old Key West – L. P. Artman, Jr.
One Big Joke – Laurence Shames
One Strange Date – Laurence Shames
Out Around Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Key West – Thomas Cook
Over Key West and the Florida Keys – Chuck Feil
Papa: Hemingway in Key West – James McLendon
Postcards from Paradise: Romancing Key West – June Keith
The Princess – Jude Deveraux
The Quick Adios – Tom Corcoran
The Road to Key West: A Caribbean Adventure Novel – Michael Reising
The Road to Key West Ink – Boe Mencarelli
Scavenger Reef – Laurence Shames
Set Up on Front Street – Mike Dennis
Shot on Location – Laurence Shames
Slack Key West – Jim West
Slave Ship: the story of the Henrietta Marie – George Sullivan
Stolen Fury – Elisabeth Naughton
The Streets of Key West: A History of Street Names – Willis Burke
Sunburn – Laurence Shames
Surviving and Thriving: Key West During the Zombie Apocalypse – Esther Domian
To Have and Have Not – Ernest Hemingway
Topped Chef – Lucy Burdette
Trap Line – Carl Hiassen
Traveler’s Guide to the Key West; See the Nature, Museums, Bars, and More – Julie Cloud
Tropical Depression – Laurence Shames
Tropical Swap – Laurence Shames
Turtle in Paradise – Jennifer L Holm
The Unauthorized Guide to Carnival Cruise Line Ports of Call: Key West, Florida – Jo Burns
Virgin Heat – Laurence Shames
Welcome to Paradise – Laurence Shames
West of Key West – John Cole
A Winter in the West Indies and Florida … with a particular description of St. Croix, Trinidad de Cuba, Havana, Key West and St. Augustine, as places of resort for northern invalids. By an Invalid. – Anon
With Hemingway: A Year in Key West and Cuba – Arnold Samuelson
The Wrong Man – Kate White
More About Key West
Before deciding where you are going to eat while visiting Key West, be sure to read my restaurant reviews; check out our restaurant review section of this blog as well as our previous restaurant reviews.
And, to see what is happening on Key West during your visit, check out our Key West Events Calendar to see other upcoming special events. For more information about the fun side of Key West… things to do and see in our island city, go to our Key West Web Site.
Feel free to Email Me if you have any questions about Key West!!
Island Genn – Your Island Concierge
