List of characters in novels by Tim Dorsey

The following is a list of recurring characters in novels written by Tim Dorsey, most or all of which take place in Florida.

Serge A. Storms

Blaine Crease

First appearance: Florida Roadkill

A former stuntman, Crease is now the lead reporter for the small, "upstart" Florida Cable News network, based in Tampa, which compensates for its limited resources by aggressively pursuing new stories and presenting them in the quickest and most sensationalist manner possible. At the time of his introduction in Florida Roadkill, Crease's favorite means of reporting the news is being filmed while dangling by a harness from whatever is available, whether it is a helicopter, a pier, or a bridge.

Johnny Vegas

First appearance: Florida Roadkill

Johnny Vegas is 6-feet tall, tan, fit, and lives a life of leisure thanks to a trust fund set up by his father. Despite being young, handsome, and moderately wealthy, Johnny is known throughout the narrative as "The Accidental Virgin". Every time he encounters a willing woman, something happens to ruin the situation. The intervening occurrences are frequently highly improbable or outlandish, such as finding floating corpses while on a speedboat or witnessing an apparent suicide from a bridge. Often the corpse, accident or crime Johnny happens to witness turns out to be the primary focus of the novel in which he appears. With each failure, Johnny's desire to lose his virginity becomes an obsession and he goes to increasingly absurd lengths to overcome what he sees as a jinx.

According to Dorsey's initial description (in Florida Roadkill), Johnny is unsympathetic, being somewhat stupid, arrogant, vain, addicted to cocaine, and obsessed with sex to the point of blatant insensitivity (for instance, in Florida Roadkill, wishing that his latest would-be conquest could stop vomiting, after their discovery of a floating corpse at sea, long enough for him to "score"). Yet his neighbors in his condominium complex seem to like him, regarding him as harmless, endearing, and worthy of their protection because of his stupidity (similar to a pet).

City and Country

First appearance: Hammerhead Ranch Motel

LaToya Olsen ("City") and Ingrid Praline ("Country") are two college-aged women and inseparable best friends. LaToya is a Navy brat, originally born in The Bronx but who traveled all over the world as a young girl, including to London, where she developed a British accent. Ingrid is from Alabama, and though described as "far from stupid," is handicapped by her upbringing with a sheltered rural family. The contrast between her and LaToya leads to each one pinning the other's nickname on her. Both women are so naturally attractive that they inspire slavish devotion from men, and seething envy from women, wherever they go.

After being fired from their jobs at a Piggly Wiggly in Alabama, City and Country are drowning their sorrows at a bar, when a woman accidentally kills herself in their presence by falling on a knife in a cocaine-induced stupor. Afraid that they will be implicated in the woman's death, City and Country steal the woman's car and hastily drive to Florida, where they meet Serge Storms.

Detective Mahoney

First appearance: Orange Crush (in order of publication), Triggerfish Twist (in chronological order)

Detective Mahoney often speaks in the bizarre, now anachronistic lingo of film noir-style detective movies from the 1940s.

Mahoney is deeply interested in serial killers in general, and has focused on Serge Storms in particular to the point of near-obsession. A map on Mahoney's office wall is covered in push pins representing sightings both of known killers and his ex-wives. Storms and Mahoney have crossed paths at least three times, and they appear to maintain a certain respect for each other.

A running gag is that Mahoney calls every bartender he meets "Louie", and takes "your money's no good here" as a compliment. In fact, the first bartender he meets in Orange Crush really is named Louie, and uses "your money's no good here" as a compliment; on other occasions, the references have been less appropriate.

By 2004, the setting of Cadillac Beach, Mahoney's mind has broken. Trying to understand Serge has driven him insane, and a pair of FBI detectives tracking Serge find Mahoney in a mental institution, speaking entirely in complex detective slang.

By 2007, the setting of Hurricane Punch, Mahoney was free from the institution, but seeing a therapist, because his mind had trouble distinguishing fact from pulp fiction.

The end of Electric Barracuda reveals Mahoney is actually Serge's older brother, who was put up for adoption before Serge's birth.