Book picks similar to
Beach Shoot: Jake Stellar (A Jake Stellar Series Book 2) by Rodney Riesel
beach-mysteries
florida-fiction
jake-stellar
Key West Camouflage - Hide In Plain Sight
Wayne Gales - 2012
Spanish Treasure, Greek mobsters, Racing in Baja a near fatal dive in England and a dangerous train ride across Europe make for "Cant put it down" mystery reading.
Crime Almost Pays: Starring Key West's "Bumsnoops"
Tom Corcoran - 2015
Both longtime fans and newcomers to Corcoran are sure to enjoy Crime Almost Pays, starring an offbeat pair of private eyes. Dubbie Tanner, a man of substance who used to live in his car, and Wiley Fecko, who once drank and slept in the weeds, are now Southernmost Aristocratic Investigations. While they call themselves The Aristocrats, certain members of law enforcement have been heard calling them the Bumsnoops. Introduced in The Quick Adiòs (Times Six), Tom Corcoran’s most recent Alex Rutledge novel, the rookie investigators have a case in their tropical in-box—and they are over their heads from the start. Rutledge plays no part here—but his friend Key West Detective Beth Watkins must deal with murders, street fights, an attempted kidnapping and a flaky federal agent. The Aristocrats—who now live in and work out of a home bought by Tanner—are hired for a simple task, but the pay is far too generous and the job goes haywire. By helping a stranger, Tanner draws Fecko and their lovely friend Kim Salazar, a Key West cab driver, into a crossfire of intrigue, dirty tricks, scams and potential double-cross. It gets worse. It gets ugly. Cuban tourism, island crazies, typical greed, wealthy fathers, good cops, fearful cops and—okay—there’s a car chase… As in previous Tom Corcoran novels, Key West, with its characters, history, natural beauty and isolation, plays a fundamental role in the story.
The Key West Caper
L. Lee Watkins - 2014
I grew up in Small Town, Tennessee, joined the Army after graduation, now live in North Miami, tend bar for a living, and the right girl has not come along yet. Sounds dull, so most people lose interest. That is just fine with me, because the rest of the truth isn’t the least bit dull. My name is Dallas Kincade, and I have this guy living with me, well, more like coexisting with me. He is really an alter ego that camps out back in the recesses of my mind and lives for one purpose, that purpose being to come out and give me a hand when I get in a spot of trouble. That doesn’t sound too bad, except that the other Dallas has a single-minded tire-iron kind of mentality, thinks that every problem can be solved by committing mayhem on everyone in reach. Needless to say I try to keep my Demon in check. The best way to do that is to live a peaceful and uncomplicated life, one that keeps me as far away from trouble as I can get. Unfortunately, fate considers peaceful and uncomplicated to be its mortal enemy, so it lobs trouble my way every chance it gets. And somehow there always seems to be a good looking woman involved. In this case, the woman’s name is DeeDee Malone. We met at a party a few months ago, talked a while, became party-induced friends, and then we parted with the assumption that our paths would never cross again. But fate has other plans for Dallas Kincade and DeeDee Malone. It all started when I received a note from an old friend, Stanley Morrissey, who seemed to be in a spot of legal trouble down in Key West. Although I would rather pet a rabid skunk than get messed up in one of Stanley's capers, I felt obligated to go see what was going on. Turned out Stanley was charged with murdering a shipmate and two passengers on a charter boat out of Key West, but a high placed cop in the Key West PD was convinced that Stanley had been set up. To prove his theory, the cop needed someone to snoop around the water world of Key West to see what could be stirred up, and that someone was me. My cover was a 32 foot sailboat that had been confiscated from a drug suspect, and it would be all mine if my little team could find the real killers. So I ended up in an unlikely alliance with Bunning, the cop, DeeDee Malone the gal from the party, a hillbilly iceman named Bobby Ray Lewis, and a cathouse madam names Marilou Zirkle. To say this was an unusual group of characters would be an understatement, but we got the job done.
Island Intrigue (Mango Bay Mysteries)
Marty Ambrose - 2009
Between boring town hall meetings and tedious elementary school events, the island seems to be settling into a deep freeze. But when a local boy disappears, Mallie swings into investigative mode much to the dismay of sexy island cop Nick Billie. To complicate matters, the newspaper’s pseudo-psychic becomes Mallie’s unwitting sidekick, offering unwanted advice from the astral world. When the boy’s father turns up dead, Mallie unfortunately finds herself once again tracking down a killer. As Detective Billie’s reserve finally begins to melt, Mallie starts to wonder if the murderer will put her on ice as well.
Tampa Bait
Edgar Winner - 2012
Because if you do, you may find out what happens when a former cop with a gun and nothing to lose decides to push back
Subtropical High
Gregory S. Dew - 2014
With a street value over eight million dollars, the grungy duo sets up a buyer then rumbles through Florida in their 1973 El Camino to unload the square grouper and end their financial woes. Unfortunately, in their efforts to make the rendezvous, they become unexpectedly entangled with a host of unsavory characters, including an expatriate haunted by his single testicle, a destitute real estate developer with a penchant for GMILFs, a toupee-wearing pederast, Florida’s first closet-gay Governor, and a game warden turned eco-maniac, all of whom must be dealt with as a Category 5 hurricane, Cyclone Tyrone, spins ashore.
Theena's Landing
Gretchen Craig - 2011
Fearing the taint of her mother’s scandalous past, she strives to live a life of virtue and integrity, yet is pulled toward a love that can never be hers. From a girl too desperate to be wise she becomes, through pain and heartbreak, a woman who at last finds her honor and her dreams.Once again, Gretchen Craig presents a page-turning historical novel of insight and compassion. Theena and her sisters are flawed, engrossing, and totally believable.
The Untold Story of Kim
Ed Robinson - 2014
It will lead you to hate doctors, lawyers, and insurance companies. By the time you finish, you’ll have fallen in love with Kim. This deeply inspiring tale is destined to become the most important book ever written about chronic pain and pain management in today’s healthcare environment.
Cap's Place
Robert Tarrant - 2015
Suddenly his world was knocked out of orbit and he found himself living with his Uncle Mickey above Mickey's bar in South Florida. Mickey's untimely death leads to Jack becoming a bar owner. Jack's protective approach to his life includes staying emotionally uninvolved with everyone around him, those who work at the bar, customers, and the objects of his frequent one-night stands. Without warning Jack finds himself struggling to protect his beautiful bartender from unknown forces intent on killing her. Jack is confronted with decisions that require him to ignore rules he had previously deemed unbreakable. The characters who inhabit Cap's Place turn out to be much more complex than Jack ever anticipated. Each book in the Cap’s Place Series is a snapshot into the adventures and evolving lives of Jack Nolan and those who are a part of his South Florida Bar. As is true in real life, no single snapshot answers every question. In Jack’s case, no single glimpse ever clearly reveals to him all of the unfolding puzzles.
Zero Duval
Elizabeth Hilleren - 2013
Dead women can't talk. But to vacationing Professor of Forensic Psychology Rex Jamison, it’s just a matter of figuring out how the dead are going to tell you what they want you to know. Newly promoted to Detective, David Sharkey entices Rex to team up with him to solve his first murder case. Secrets, lies, jealously, and greed will soon take center stage and everyone becomes a suspect. When another victim appears, the town’s people are sent into a tail spin and the summer heat is turned up on Sharkey and Rex to end the terror now.
Deadly Drifts
M.W. Gordon - 2012
He’s been Macduff Brooks for only a few years and often wants to return to his earlier existence as the happily married law professor Maxwell Hunt in Florida. It is not to be ― his wife El died in a horrible accident on the Snake River in Wyoming. Depressed, he was increasingly willing to accept “special work” for a federal agency, which resulted in near death from a beating in Guatemala. Saved and returned to Washington by embassy persons, his death from a stroke was announced in the press, and he was placed in a federal protection program with a new identity and location. As Macduff Brooks, he moves between his new homes in Montana and Florida, but cannot escape his Guatemalan assailants who increasingly doubt that he died. A client on his drift boat is killed - shot from the shore by a sniper, and his cabin is rigged with bombs, not helping his new relationship with a New York investment banker lady, who owns a ranch next to Brooks’ Montana cabin.
Life and Death on the Tamiami Trail
Sheila Marie Palmer - 2012
The year is 1985, but this incident has pulled her thoughts back to a simpler time full of happy chldhood memories and loving family and friends. A piece of those memories is missing, and though she struggles to bring it to the surface, it may be forever lost in the murky shadows of the past. Bernie enlists the help of her friend Sheriff Buck Davis, and the two soon find themselves immersed in a mystery as complicated and unpredictable as the clan of Gypsies that seems to be manipulating their destinies.
Jack And Di Rum Song (Di Island Song Series, Volume 2)
Anthony Bjorklund - 2011
The adventures of Jack Danielson continue right where they left off, when our hero inherits a dilapidated rum factory on a tiny island in the Caribbean. Filled with more colorful characters than you can shake a limbo stick at, "Jack And Di Rum Song" is a perfectly mixed concoction for an escape from the ordinary. Just be sure to keep a weather eye open for pirates...
Allapattah
Patrick D. Smith - 2012
“Allapattah” means alligator or crocodile, a creature which becomes Toby Tiger’s obsession, and he must wrestle it to set himself free.
The Burnside Mystery Series, Boxed Set #2 (Books 4-6)
David Chill - 2018
But nothing is the way it seems in this gripping mystery, and as the close calls evolve into murder, the drama grows and the tension mounts. Private Investigator Burnside, the former football star and LAPD officer, enters into a confounding world that gets murkier as the probe deepens. From former clients to spurned lovers to angry underworld figures, there are an inordinate number of people who harbor reasons to kill. With many avenues to go down, Burnside doggedly pursues an investigation that mystifies everyone involved, and also leads the police to suspect Burnside himself of a capital crime. Combining an intricate plot with compelling characters, Burnside goes down yet another treacherous path. Fraught with wry humor, the unexpected climax of the story will take readers by surprise -- in more ways than one. CORNER BLITZ (Book 5):The Governor of California's teenage daughter has gone missing, and it's happened right in the middle of a nasty re-election campaign. Adamant about keeping the investigation quiet, the governor brings in Burnside to find her. But when the case evolves into murder, everything changes and Burnside is plunged into a scenario where things are not what they appear to be. Cobbling together the world of politics, sports and teen romance, Corner Blitz moves through the wealthy canyon enclaves to the mean streets near downtown Los Angeles. And as Burnside overcomes the many obstacles in the investigation, he also comes face-to-face with his own past, one that haunts him to this day.The fifth Burnside mystery continues to deliver the witty banter and unexpected surprises that readers have enjoyed in this series. Corner Blitz follows Burnside on another tightly written mystery, loaded with plot twists, and finishes with an unforeseen, yet very satisfying ending.NICKEL PACKAGE (Book 6):A vicious killer is on the loose. Their targets are connected, but the motives are unclear. Brought in by a Fortune 500 company to do a simple background check, Private Investigator Burnside is suddenly thrown into the middle of a sea of carnage. And as he moves forward into this harrowing case, his own life is placed in mortal danger.Desperate to find the culprit before they strike again, Burnside faces his biggest challenge yet, and one in which a single wrong move -- or an ill-timed quip -- could prove to be very deadly.Filled with unexpected obstacles in his journey, the story leads Burnside into the glitz of the entertainment industry, but as he pushes forward, he discovers the harsh corruption that lies seething beneath the surface.Nickel Package embarks on another vivid tour through the eclectic world that is Los Angeles. From the tony corporate suites to the seemingly peaceful middle-class neighborhoods to the gritty urban neighborhoods, the reader is introduced to intriguing new areas and fascinating characters.And it wouldn't be a Burnside novel if it weren't loaded with irreverent humor! Nickel Package delivers an exciting mystery that is both compelling to follow -- and marvelous to read.