Caribbean Thriller

When sleeping dogs won't lie, an idyllic island becomes the devil's playground. Nora Sommer is finally living a peaceful existence on the perfect Caribbean island with a boyfriend she adores. But the past is never far behind, and when a killer shows up to even an old score, her world will change forever. Nora must fight her own demons to save herself and the man she loves in the prequel novella to the series. Finding Sommer bridges Nora's story in the AJ Bailey series to her new world wearing a Royal Cayman Islands Police uniform.

Comprising two distinct short novels - Monroe's Nightmare in Paradise and Bad Luck Shadow from critically acclaimed Victor McGlothin - Borrow Trouble is a hot double-feature that perfectly showcases each author's unique style.

Things in the Middle Florida Keys aren’t as idyllic as they seem. If one looks closely, there’s a layer of dirt just below the surface. The butt-ugly kind of dirt that’s hard to get off. Things move slowly in the Keys—locals call it island time—but there are some for whom it seems that time is at a standstill; whose clocks revolve only around the tides, fish migrations, and the rising and setting of the sun and moon. Jesse McDermitt remembers the Keys the way he’d first found them as a young man.

Marine biologist Doc Ford has been known to help his friends out of jams occasionally, but he's never faced a situation like this. His old pal Carl Fitzpatrick has been chasing sunken wrecks most of his life, but now he's run afoul of the Florida Division of Historical Resources. Its director, Leonard Nickelby, despises amateur archaeologists, which is bad enough, but now he and his young "assistant" have disappeared - along with Fitzpatrick's impounded cache of rare Spanish coins and the list of uncharted wreck sites Fitz spent decades putting together.

Jesse McDermitt discovers an environmental nightmare of deception and greed taking place in Central America. A cartel is branching into smuggling things other than drugs. And they’re doing it quite effectively. Having so many moving parts and numerous smuggling routes, can Jesse and the crew of Ambrosia, on a dive vacation in the Bay Islands of Honduras, be able to make a difference? Or will the beautiful reef surrounding the island of Utila be Ambrosia’s grave?

As Miss Marple sat basking in the Caribbean sunshine, she felt mildly discontented with life. True, the warmth eased her rheumatism, but here in paradise nothing ever happened. Eventually, her interest was aroused by an old soldier’s yarn about a murderer he had known. Infuriatingly, just as he was about to show her a snapshot of this acquaintance, the Major was suddenly interrupted. A diversion that was to prove fatal.

A missing child. A ruthless deadline. A family's desperate decision. When a young girl vanishes, trainee detective Nora Sommer is already deep undercover investigating a floating gentlemen’s club in international waters. With her mentor out of action and the authorities at a loss over the kidnapper's cryptic ransom demand, Nora has no choice but to juggle both investigations. Facing two seemingly impossible cases with the clock winding down on a desperate deadline, Nora knows she's in over her head... with too many lives at stake.

Charity Styles had been the catalyst for the demise of many. But in the past that usually meant the end of a human life. As an assassin for the CIA, it came with the territory. But this time she feels responsible for the end of her friend’s relationship. She sets out on a voyage to find one of the partners in the hopes of rectifying the rift she helped create. Along the way, she encounters a deadly foe, bent on becoming rich regardless of how many must suffer or die.

Jesse McDermitt is back, just as he promised. This time, he is thrust into the heart of the Florida Panhandle's Tate's Hell State Forest, where the tranquil surroundings belie a dangerous secret—a network of clandestine meth labs hidden against the backdrop of the Forgotten Coast’s natural beauty. Jesse, a retired Marine turned charter boat captain, has brought his family to Apalachicola “for the oysters.” But being who he is, the leisurely cruise soon spins into a gripping quest to unravel the truth behind the illicit operations threatening the region.

Danger lurks in the sleepy little town of Marathon, in the middle of the Florida Keys, as well as in the swamps of the Everglades. But danger doesn't expect to run into a man like Jesse. A man who will not only respond swiftly in facing it, but with a vengeance unexpected.

After months of recharging and rethinking her position in the Armstrong organization, Charity Styles is on the verge of walking away, returning to what could be a more normal life. But what’s a normal life look like for a former covert assassin? Then she gets two assignments, which have nothing to do with each other. The first is to ferry a group of people out to a large mega-yacht. When it turns out that one of those people is the girl she thinks of as a niece and the mega-yacht is captained by an old friend, she sets her sails and is quickly underway.

Charity Styles has been wandering the Pacific aimlessly aboard her beloved sloop, Wind Dancer, and only recently returned to the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Entering a secluded cove in the Sea of Abaco, in the Bahamas, she runs into an old acquaintance and the woman’s young daughter. The two have a few things in common, not the least of which are four men’s bodies at the bottom of a 600-foot-deep blue hole on Hoffman's Cay.

Charity Styles is a world class sharpshooter, martial arts expert, and government assassin...but after a stressful assignment, all she wants is a little time to unwind on the quiet side of St. Thomas, the picturesque Magens Bay. What does she get? A hurricane, an ex, drug dealers, a psychotic murderer, an amorous developer, and forced to stay in the rowdy tourist town of Charlotte-Amalie. Naturally.

In the jungles of Venezuela, a land baron controls the native population with an iron fist and a security team with over-indulged libidos and quick trigger fingers. The indigenous people live in fear; all but one old shaman, who has a vision of the future. A vision that includes piranha and crocodiles. Charity's target is a single man. But when she learns of the atrocities committed by the land baron, and the carnage inflicted on the defenseless Wanadi people by his security team, will she stop at that? Can she keep her bloodlust in check this time?

Since the recent death of a wealthy, yet perverted, businessman, Charity Styles has been hiding in plain sight, as if challenging anyone to come after her. She’s on her own once more, living day to day on her beloved Wind Dancer, anchored near a quaint little Gulf Coast town in the Florida Panhandle. But when the son of a fishing client ends up dead, the father’s employer hires Charity to find the person responsible.

It’s been three years since food anthropologist and cooking show star Miriam Quiñones-Smith had her last brush with death. Her Spanglish culinary show, Abuela Approved, is topping the charts. Her parents are back in Miami and living with her in Coral Shores. And her kids are great. But when bones start popping up in unexpected places, Miriam’s idyllic life is threatened.

Jesse McDermitt lives alone on an isolated island in the Florida Keys where he runs a charter fishing business. Retired from the Marine Corps for six years, he wants nothing more than to relax, fish, dive and enjoy the laid back lifestyle of the islands. Russ, his former Platoon Sergeant and old friend, dies unexpectedly in a mysterious scuba diving accident and Jesse becomes suspicious.

Where Jerry Snyder goes, trouble follows. Someone tried to kill him and his bride on their honeymoon in the Virgin Islands. And moving there permanently is proving to be anything but tranquil.

Charity Styles is a former Olympian and US Army helicopter pilot. Captured and tortured by terrorists in Afghanistan after the opening blows of the War on Terror, she has a score to settle. Now working for the Department of Homeland Security, she is offered the opportunity to make a real difference.

When her position with the government is eliminated, Charity Styles is faced with an uncertain future. The only part of her previous life that she truly enjoyed was sailing her classic sloop. The cruising lifestyle is wonderful and helps keep her mind centered, as she sails from one anchorage to another, looking for her true calling. But there are hidden dangers: marauding pirates, psychopaths, and drug smugglers run rampant throughout the Caribbean, leaving pain and suffering in their wake. In the Bahamas, someone close to Charity falls victim to the brutality.