Hoot

From tonight's 60 Minutes feature on writer Carl Hiaasen:

Hiaasen, who says he can't write without his noise suppressors and fishing cap, takes the raw material of South Florida, and then molds and shapes it into comic mystery novels, often with only minor embellishments.

In last year's bestseller, "Skinny Dip," the heroine was flung off the stern of cruise ship, only to be saved by a floating bale of marijuana.

"Are these stories true, or inventions of your imagination?" asks Kroft. "Professional wheelchair thief."

"True," says Hiaasen.

"School board candidate whose legal residence turned out to be a tool shed," asks Kroft.

"True," says Hiaasen.

"The U.S. attorney who bit a stripper during a table dance," asks Kroft.

"It's real," says Hiaasen. "True."

"A South Florida mayor who tried to hire City Hall workers to kill her husband," asks Kroft.

"Yup. Yup," says Hiaasen. "I believe she's gotten a new trial since then. But there was testimony that she solicited for a hit man in City Hall."

"All those are true," asks Kroft.

"I wish I'd made them up," says Hiaasen, laughing. "I wish I made them up."