65 pages 2 hours read

Carl Hiaasen

Bad Monkey

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

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Chapters 1-8

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

A tourist, James Mayberry, reeling in a catch on a charter fishing boat in Key West, unexpectedly pulls in a human arm.

Meanwhile, Andrew Yancy, a suspended police officer, broods over the partially constructed speculative (spec) house next door. The oversized building, far larger than Key West’s building codes allow, obstructs his once-perfect view of the sunset, deepening his frustration.

Sonny Summers, the local sheriff, assigns Yancy the unenviable task of delivering the arm to the Miami morgue, hoping they can identify the body it belongs to. Yancy, who has bad blood with the Miami Police Department, initially tries to refuse but has no choice. Sheriff Summers orders his team to keep the discovery quiet to protect Monroe County’s vital tourism industry. However, Mayberry’s enthusiastic posts on social media quickly ruin Sonny’s plan to hush the incident.

Despite Yancy’s warnings that the arm likely came from outside their jurisdiction, Sonny insists that he turn it over to Miami-Dade County Police. Yancy presses Sonny to reinstate him as a detective, but Sonny refuses, reminding Yancy that his reinstatement must wait until after his trial. Yancy is facing charges for allegedly sexually assaulting Dr. Clifford Witt, a dermatologist, with a vacuum cleaner.