[.ca] June Keith's Key West & The Florida Keys (ISBN 0974352403)

Great writer, but you'll need another guide book:
This book includes lots of interesting history and background on the Florida Keys. But you won't be able to use this as your only guide book for the Keys. No useful maps or directions are included. Also, she doesn't include prices for lodging or dining. This book was fun to read and had good suggestions, but we definitely needed more information that was not included in the book.

Great Travel Book for the Keys:
This author really knows the area and gave great tips and tidbits of history and information to make our trip more interesting. Her restaurant reviews were right on target. We ate incredibly well the entire trip! If you go to Key West, take her suggestions - ours too, and try the following restaurants: Louie's Backyard, Camilles, Blue Heaven (a must for breakfast or a fabulous lunch). As for tours and excursions, we tried the following based on information in her book and had a great time: Tall ship dinner cruise; The Butterfly conservatory (Wings of Imagination); Truman's Little White House; Hemmingway House; Audubon House. These restaurants and tours were not all we tried but they topped the list. Go enjoy the Keys - and don't leave without this book.

A Witty Guide Book:
I like using guide books, and have used others when visiting Key West, but this one is the ultimate. I felt like the author was sitting in the back seat of our rental car, providing a narration as we wandered around looking for sights and scenes that we had never seen before. The restaurant reviews were right on, and funny even. My husband and I liked the discussion of Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and, believe it or not, we'd never heard of a wonderful movie, 'The Rose Tattoo,' filmed in Key West - which we never, ever miss when they show it late at night. We read about it in this book. Also, she recommends lots of books about Key West which we will read in preparation for our next trip. There are free sights to see on the road between Key West and Miami, and we'd never have known about them, either. Along the Overseas Highway there are some terrific beaches, libraries, a Pioneers Cemetery - on a beach! - a Hurricane Monument - that you don't know about unless you read about them in this book. Anytime someone we know is headed for the Keys, we give them this book. It's a winner.