Mr. Churchill in the White House: Robert Schmuhl

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s World War II meetings with American President Franklin D. Roosevelt are the stuff of historical legend.

The special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom is embodied in the friendship between Roosevelt and Churchill.

In his book, “Mr. Churchill in the White House: The Untold Story of a Prime Minister and Two Presidents,” historian Robert Schmuhl digs past the legends of FDR and Churchill’s alliance while also looking at the closer relationship between Churchill and President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Despite the legends and the smiling black-and-white photos, FDR and Churchill’s relationship falls into the “it’s complicated” category. Many books have spelled out some of these complications. FDR and Churchill seemed to be close chums, united in common cause against a common enemy, but they also represented separate nations with differing political concerns.

Churchill pursued Roosevelt while FDR remained aloof. Churchill sent far more messages than Roosevelt sent to the prime minister. FDR never visited Churchill in London while Churchill made numerous trips to Washington, D.C.; however, Churchill often stayed as an invited guest at the White House and Roosevelt rearranged his schedule – even his sleeping habits – to accommodate Churchill’s late night planning sessions and conversations.

Still, FDR savagely teased Churchill in front of Josef Stalin so the American president could create a stronger rapport with their Russian ally.

Schmuhl chronicles the relationship with a laser eye on details. He doesn’t provide an absolute answer on the true nature of the FDR-Churchill friendship. Instead, he raises questions that shine a brighter light on the relationship.

He also delves deep into details surrounding the legends.

For example, all books reviewing the first White House visit after the United States entered the war mention FDR walking in on Churchill rising naked from a bath. As Roosevelt begs his guest’s pardon for the intrusion, Churchill drolly responds, “The Prime Minister of Great Britain has nothing to hide from the President of the United States.”

The scene makes for a charming story that demands inclusion in any narrative about Churchill visiting Roosevelt. Schmuhl spends several pages, reviewing numerous accounts of the visit, weighing how much of this story may be fact and how much is possibly fiction. The author’s examination of the incident brings to mind the line from the movie “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” where a newspaper man says, “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

While hundreds of books recount or heavily reference the World War II relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt, almost no books look at the relationship between Churchill, during his later stint as prime minister, and President Eisenhower. Schmuhl’s book is a rare exception.

Schmuhl makes the case that the relationship between Churchill and Eisenhower was far more genuine and personal than the one between the prime minister and FDR.

As Britain’s war-time prime minister, Churchill worked closely and often with Eisenhower who served as the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe. This deep relationship forged during World War II carried over into their relationship as president and prime minister a decade later. Eisenhower had genuine affection for the aged Churchill. Eisenhower had an open personality, compared to the multi-faceted Franklin D. Roosevelt, and showed his admiration for Churchill.

“Mr. Churchill in the White House” is a wonderful book for readers already familiar with the “special relationship” between two titans of World War II and a detailed account for any newcomers to the subject.

Bad Monkey: Carl Hiaasen

“Bad Monkey,” the Apple+ television series, is the reason I’ve read nearly a half-dozen Carl Hiaasen books in the past few months.

For years, friends recommended Hiaasen’s books. They’re set in Florida, they said. They’re funny, they said. They have interesting characters and engaging plots, they said. You’ll love them, they said.

They were right but I didn’t listen.

Not until Vince Vaughn played Andrew Yancy – a former Miami police detective who becomes a former Monroe County sheriff’s detective who becomes a Key West food inspector.

“Bad Monkey,” the TV show, inspired me to pick up a Hiaasen book. My first Hiaasen book was “Razor Girl,” which features Andrew Yancy in a sequel to “Bad Monkey.” I enjoyed the book and have been picking up various Hiaasen books, in no particular order, ever since.

Which recently led me back to “Bad Monkey,” the book.

If you’ve seen the show, the book is the same, but different.

The essentials: Yancy ends up with a severed human arm in his refrigerator freezer when a favor to the sheriff goes wrong. Yancy ran the arm to a Miami medical examiner with the hopes of getting back in the sheriff’s good graces and getting back his job as a detective.

When Miami refuses the detached limb and the case of why a severed arm was found at sea, Yancy launches his own investigation. He meets the widow of the severed arm, the daughter of the arm, a voodoo woman in the Bahamas and a lovely medical examiner who perks up his love life. He must deal with an ex-lover who is a fugitive from the law, a real estate developer whose monstrosity of a house threatens Yancy’s Key West view, and his loss of appetite from inspecting Key West restaurants.

As noted, a lot of similarities between the book and the TV show. A lot of differences, too.

The argument that the book is better than the movie used to be true. But that’s not always the case with TV. Sometimes, the TV mini-series is better than the book.

That may or may not be the case with “Bad Monkey.”

I enjoyed the book and the TV series. I can’t say the TV show is better than the book but the TV show adds more depth to the story. The book is compact. The TV series offers more three-dimensional characters. We learn more about them and their motivations. Some of the book’s supporting characters are cardboard cut-outs compared to their television counterparts.

Vince Vaughn is note perfect as Andrew Yancy, as is Hiaasen’s characterization of the former detective figuratively and literally wasting away on the “roach patrol.”

Hopefully, Hiaasen’s “Razor Girl” will get a similar treatment from Vaughn and Apple+. Hopefully, Hiaasen has at least one more great Andrew Yancy story to tell.