Tim Dorsey was born in Indiana, moved to Florida at the age of 1, and grew up in a small town about an hour north of Miami called Riviera Beach. He graduated from Auburn University in 1983 with a B.S. in Transportation. From 1983 to 1987, he was a police and courts reporter for The Alabama Journal, the now-defunct evening newspaper in Montgomery. He joined The Tampa Tribune in 1987 as a general assignment reporter. He also worked as a political reporter in the Tribune's Tallahassee bureau and a copy desk editor. From 1994 to 1999, he was the Tribune's night metro editor and night news coordinator. He left the paper in August 1999 to write full time.

The madness lying beneath the surface of life in Florida today is revealed in this manic tale of murder and mayhem from the acclaimed author of Orange Crush, Hammerhead Ranch Motel and Florida Roadkill -- comic crime at its finest. Triggerfish Lane, Tampa. An idyllic Florida neighbourhood... at least on the surface. When mild-mannered family man Jim Davenport moves in, he thinks his new tropical villa home is a slice of heaven. Then he meets the neighbours, and things rapidly get out of hand. Accidentally killing a notorious bank robber and losing his job is bad enough. But then Serge Storms -- the lovable homicidal maniac with an encyclopedic knowledge of Florida folklore -- decides to appoint himself lucky Jim's friend and protector, and he begins to realise that he is truly in the Neighbourhood from Hell.