Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Blood in the Boat: An Excerpt from Flotsam & Jetsam: the Amelia Island Affair



An Intriguing Excerpt from my new cozy mystery Flotsam & Jetsam: the Amelia Island Affair:


Three corpses strewn across the sand. Who are they and how did they get to the shore of Amelia Island? Two State Park rangers must find the answers, while contending with a mysterious cabal and mutual affection.


Excerpt: Cocaine

She clambered over the side and started examining the bow. “Nothing here.”
“Check the stern. I’m going below.”
Ellie systematically searched the stern, lifting up seat cushions soaked from the rain and opening storage lockers. A rope sat in a jumbled heap by the cockpit wall. Under a small fold-out table, she noticed a red stain and bent down. It was dry. She scraped her fingernail in it and brought it to her nose. “Blood. I found blood, Simon!”
“A lot?”
“Puddle about six inches in diameter.”
“That’s nothing. I found a lot of blood. Oh, and a body.”
Before Ellie could make it to the gangway, Simon came up, his phone to his ear. “Yes, we’re at the Panther Point Marina. Boat named…” He raised an eyebrow at Ellie who dutifully looked over the side.
Mercy Louise.”
Mercy Louise. What? Oh, I’d say quite a while. Yes, we’ll wait here.”
Ellie tried to peer past him. “Who is it?”
“I’m guessing it’s Captain Goodwine.”
“How did he die?”
“Can’t tell. Don’t want to disturb the crime scene. Better wait.”
Two hours later, Virgil and Iggy carried a stretcher out to an ambulance. A detective came up from the cabin.
Simon held up a hand. “So? What does the forensics guy say, Zack?”
“He died from loss of blood.”
“And how did he lose this blood?”
“When a sharp object, maybe a Bowie knife, passed through his right side. Bled out.”
“Any sign of the knife?” When Zack shook his head, he asked, “Did he die right away?”
“Don’t think so. From the trail of blood stains, he was probably stabbed up on deck, then stumbled down into the galley.”
“But…” Ellie seemed puzzled. “If he was at sea when he died, how did he manage to get back here?”
Zack gave her an odd look. “What makes you think he was at sea?”
Before she could answer, a chubby man in a T-shirt marked Nassau County CSI rounded the wheelhouse, stuffing a small brown envelope into his tote bag.
“Any trace of the murder weapon?”
“Not yet.” He yelled down the gangway. “Steve? Find anything below?”
A disembodied voice called, “Blood. Looks like several sets of fingerprints…”
“What about the hold?”
“Opening it now…Wait a minute. Oh, yum.” A head topped by fiery red hair and freckles that clashed with his grim expression popped up in the hatch. He lifted a fist, in it a square package wrapped in cloth and tied with string. Simon could make out the words Cane Sugar, Product of Costa Rica.
“That the only one?”
“I’ll wager we had a bumper crop of sugar cane recently.”
Ellie pushed past Simon. “What is it?”
“Cocaine, ma’am. Lots and lots of it.”


The Mercy Louise

Mainstream Cozy Mystery; Romantic Suspense; Humorous/Romantic Comedy

Keywords: Amelia Island, Cozy mystery, Florida romance, Humorous romance, Romantic comedy, Romantic suspense, Mystery/Suspense
Rating: Spicy (PG13) 
Paper 430 p.; Ebook 97,578 words 


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