Las Vegas Review-Journal - The Book Nook

Tampa author Tim Dorsey has been writing about Florida’s lovable serial killer, Serge A. Storms, for more than 10 years.
 
His new book about Storms and his drug-addled sidekick, Coleman, comes out this month. Its title features another tropical theme: “Pineapple Grenade.”
 
But Dorsey fans — and readers of zany crime fiction — got an early Christmas present in late October in the form of “When Elves Attack,” a special Christmas tale starring Storms and Coleman.
 
And it is special, in a comedic type of way. Dorsey’s novels often skirt at the edge of spinning out of control, with Serge & Co. running wild around the Sunshine State and crashing into a cavalcade of crazy characters.
 
“When Elves Attack” is a kinder, gentler story. But it still has plenty of mayhem, sex and, yes, death. Even during the holidays.
 
The story largely takes place in the city of Tampa. With the holidays fast approaching, Serge and Coleman decide to dress up as elves to spread some cheer around the area, including at a large mall, where they have an unpleasant run-in with a mall cop. Also at the mall are the Davenports, a family first featured in Dorsey’s 2002 novel, “Triggerfish Twist.”
 
Thus, the plot is set into motion. It ultimately settles in around the Davenports and their middle-class Tampa neighborhood, which is about to experience a turbulent Christmas season it won’t soon forget. But despite his psycho-killing tendencies and a slobbering sidekick who tends to weigh him down, Serge shows he has a big heart in “When Elves Attack.” It shines brightly, even when things look dim.
 
Dorsey, a former editor at the Tampa Tribune, now has joined a host of other best-selling novelists in recent years to publish a holiday-themed story, including John Grisham, David Baldacci and others. “When Elves Attack” is a hilarious, off-kilter contribution to that collection. After all, what would Christmas be if everything went right?
 
“I love this time of year,” Serge says as he and Coleman drive around Tampa in a ’72 Chevelle. “Like every year, newspapers run the exact same menu of holiday stories: family hospitalized for smoke inhalation trying to keep warm by barbecuing indoors, seven crushed in Black Friday holiday shopping spree, needy family evicted from apartment just days before Christmas, moms arrested fighting over last Xbox, employees laid off just days before Christmas, man dies watering Christmas tree with lights on, depression soars during holidays … It’s a special time of year.”
 
Special indeed.