The Stingray Shuffle is Tim Dorsey's fifth novel, published in 2003.
Plot summary
Sales of The Stingray Shuffle, an older novel written by novelist Ralph Krunkleton, have soared recently. The book's publishers, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, mount a publicity blitz culminating in a train journey with the author from New York to Miami. What they do not realize is that no one is reading the book; dealers are using a bookstore as a front, hollowing out copies of Shuffle to hide drugs. Meanwhile, Serge A. Storms and pothead pal Lenny Lipowicz resume their pursuit of $5 million worth of insurance fraud payout. Thrown into the mix are Johnny Vegas the accidental virgin, Paul the passive-aggressiveprivate eye, Ernest Hemingway lookalike Jethro Maddox, and the world's least competent drug cartel. Most of these characters find their way onto the Stingray Shuffle, the temporarily rechristened train to Miami. The Stingray Shuffle ties up a three-book plot arc that began with Florida Roadkill, continued with Hammerhead Ranch Motel, and was then shelved for two years while Dorsey wrote the only slightly relative Triggerfish Twist and Orange Crush. It is ultimately revealed that Serge's plan for the money is to buy a trip into space from the Russians.
Johnny Vegas
Several of Dorsey's novels features one or more failed attempts by his recurring character, Johnny Vegas, to finally lose his virginity. In this novel:
Johnny takes a girl to a mini-golf course, pretending to be a golf pro; they try to have sex in the range cart, but as it makes its way onto the course, it becomes a target for the other golfers, causing the woman to jump out in fear before getting hit on the head with a ball;
Johnny tries to have sex with a female book reviewer on a train called The Silver Stingray, traveling from New York to Miami; when the train derails, both Johnny and the woman are unharmed, but the woman is too shaken to continue.
On a speed boat, Vegas takes a woman to an off-limits island off the Florida coast. High on cocaine, the woman takes off her clothes and runs onto the island. Just as Johnny follows, the pair are attacked by monkeys, who are kept on the island as test animals.
Johnny also recalls two failures from his past:
*Trying to have sex with a Cuban girl in Little Havana, before being interrupted by the FBI's removal of Elián González from his relatives' home nearby.
*Trying to have sex with a female attorney, who becomes irretrievably distracted by the news of the Supreme Court's ruling against Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election.
