Marathon, FL: The Ketch & Yawl Press (2009)

First Edition. Signed.

Near fine in dust jacket.

Fans of Tom Corcoran's Alex Rutledge mysteries will enjoy this compelling sixth addition to the series.

It is mid-October in tropical Key West, a break between the summer and winter tourist seasons. Alex Rutledge, home two days from an advertising job in the Bahamas, is asked to investigate the disappearance of a young woman. With few skills as a private eye and no desire to learn the trade, his decision to decline is easy. Until a close friend asks that he reconsider. A freelance photographer who loves beach scenery and easy schedules and who dreads his occasional law enforcement evidence work, Rutledge must confront the private investigator job with little but instinct to guide himself.

Alex digs in only to regret every step, every fact that comes his way on the ocean and in the streets of Key West. To confuse matters, on his first day of the P. I. grind, a man is found dead in a neighboring home. At first considered a suspect, Alex later is asked to take crime scene photos with no body in place. Meanwhile a Lower Keys crime scene is closed to media and local police, open only to secretive federal agents. The questions and perils multiply. And there is still that young woman who never came home...