<DIV>Five years ago, the rock star Joe Merchant committed suicide, yet he keeps popping back into the tabloid headlines like a piece of toast. Spotted everywhere from Cincinnati to Atlanta, the dead guitarist is now more famous than ever. Could he actually be alive?<br> Where is Joe Merchant? For Frank Bama, the quest to find him is just one more excuse to flee Key West and change latitudes. For Trevor Kane, the hemorrhoid-ointment heiress, it is an attempt to unravel the mystery of her brother's death. For Desdemona, Joe Merchant is another missing link in her communication with space aliens as she tries to build a rocket ship, and for yellow journalist Rudy Breno, Joe Merchant makes better headlines than Elvis.<br> Once again, Jimmy Buffett cooks up a fictional gumbo of dreamers, wackos, modern-day pirates, and sharks--as Frank and Trevor embark on a wild chase through the Caribbean Islands to Boomtown, an imaginary tropical oasis where anything can happen and everything does. Welcome to paradise.<br></div>