Florida Panhandle Mystery

Lily Trulock, owner of Trulock's Grocery & Marine Supply, leads a pretty quiet life until a stranger comes to town. The new guy's not what he appears, but then, some of St. Elmo's residents aren't either. Before she can say, "down the hatch", Lily's at the center of a vicious murder and a no-holds-barred bootlegging war-and a nasty storm's on the way. This is a vibrant, atmospheric, powerful novel-as filled with energy, mystery, and motion as a hurricane.

As intricate as a fisherman's net, Riptide fairly writhes with sinister delights - family secrets, family feuds, lost family fortunes, betrayals, puzzles, sunken treasure...and murder, of course. With a bit of illicit romance and treachery thrown in for seasoning, this rife atmosphere swirls around New York artist Isabel Anders, who's summoned home to tiny St. Elmo, Florida to deal with an emergency: the aunt who raised her has been brutally - and mysteriously - injured. Isabel arrives to find the family mansion in ruins, her aunt living in a trailer, and more.

In all the years of their marriage, Clara Trent's husband failed to mention his involvement in a murder - and now he's not only dead himself, but accused of committing it. When St. Elmo sheriff's investigator Aaron Malone re-opens the 40-year-old cold case, Ronan Trent's named - posthumously - as the killer of his previous lover, a vivacious blonde with a jealous husband. Clara's discovery of sensuous drawings of the woman, unlike any of her husband's other work, reveals a carefully concealed obsession.