Bob Morris is a fourth-generation Floridian who forsook the family farm —a fernery in Lake County, to be exact —to pursue a career in journalism. It was an indirect route, actually. After flunking two consecutive terms of organic chemistry, Morris decided he was not cut out to be a marine biologist and set out to travel around the world instead. He eventually landed at a farming commune in Israel where his responsibilities included shoveling out the daily deposits of 12,000 chickens and 12,000 turkeys. It was an experience that later served him well as a newspaper columnist when he shoveled out such stuff on a daily basis.

After eventually graduating from the University of Florida, Morris went on to work at a number of newspapers, including the Florida Keys Free Press, the Fort Myers News-Press, the Orlando Sentinel, and the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group. Among his most dubious achievements—founding the annual Queen Kumquat Sashay, a parade in downtown Orlando for people who would not be permitted in any other parade. Morris and his family spemt two years in Santa Barbara, California, where he created and launched AQUA, an international travel magazine for watersports enthusiasts. Upon returning to Florida in 1999, he was editor in chief of Caribbean Travel & Life magazine and Gulfshore Life magazine.

Now a freelance writer and editor, Morris continues to travel widely and contributes to a number of publications, including National Geographic Traveler, Bon Appetit, Islands, Robb Report, Latitudes and Men's Fitness. These travels have inspired his recent series of mystery novels from St. Martin’s Press, each of which takes place on a different Caribbean island. The first one, BAHAMARAMA, was released to wide acclaim in November 2004 and was a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Mystery Novel and chosen by the Library Journal as one the year’s Top Five Mysteries. Morris’s second novel, JAMAICA ME DEAD, was released in October 2005 and was a BookSense Pick by the American Booksellers Association. His next book, BERMUDA SCHWARTZ, will be released in February 2007.