Sticky, sultry Palmetto had seen its share of hurricanes and evil. But it was an ill wind that blew through the Gulf-coast Florida town in the summer of '52. Diana Landis, well-known in every barroom, and more than a few bedrooms in town, was found beneath the dock, afloat in a fishing net. Her lover, Bo Calhoun, had already seen his family's moonshine still set ablaze by arsonists. Congressman Robert "Snapper" Landis seemed more interested in his tough reelection campaign with Gospel Roy McInnes than in his daughter's murder. And Wesley Stafford, a young seminarian more familiar with salvation than seduction, was in jail when, it seemed, he confessed to the killing. All that was before storekeeper Lily Trulock left her neglecting husband to his beekeeping and ran her skiff to the island of St. Elmo, where an even bigger wind threatened to blow the lid off the whole county!

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, dangerous as a cottonmouth, the lover she left at sixteen just where he used to be. Waiting for her. Except now he’s got a grudge against her, a secret of his own, and some unsavory companions. Just when Isabel’s aunt seems to be getting better (but before she’s able to talk again) she dies just as mysteriously as she was injured. Suspecting murder, Isabel quickly ties her aunt’s death to another. But to find the killer, she has to hack her way through a small-town jungle of intrigue and several generations of interrelated secrets, producing hours of pulse-pounding delight for the confirmed puzzle fan. WHO WILL LIKE IT: Fans of Laura Lippman, Kate Atkinson, intelligent cozies like those by G.M. Malliett, Elizabeth Zelvin, and Gillian Roberts, British puzzlemeisters like the great Dorothy L. Sayers herself, all BBC mysteries, and of course, Michaela Thompson’s own Hurricane Season.

THIRTY YEARS OF MARRIAGE AND NOT ONE WORD ABOUT A CERTAIN LITTLE MURDER… 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. As she tries to reconcile her recently deceased husband with the facts of the brutal bludgeoning, she’s led back to the scene of the crime, a shabby 50s-style motor court where, as befits a dedicated detective, she takes a room to investigate. Aaron tries to warn her she may be stirring up a hornet’s nest, but she proceeds to pursue the truth with the tenacious grip of a drowning swimmer on a lifeline. And the hornet’s nest materializes—folks are definitely riled up; some of them are even turning up dead. Longtime Michaela Thompson readers will be thrilled to return to the scene (and time) of Thompson’s first crime novel, Hurricane Season. Heat Lightning’s Clara Trent has all the same attractions as observant and stalwart amateur sleuth Lily Trulock: an inquisitive mind, a compassionate heart, and a quietly assertive sense of justice… aka the makings of a talented amateur sleuth. In fact, Hurricane Season fans are in for a little surprise: a sweet and satisfying memory from the St. Elmo archives, that’ll remind you that you can’t go back to the 50’s, but you can go back to St. Elmo, Florida—and it’s still the kind of place where a date might be a picnic of tuna sandwiches, and the sheriff the son of an old friend. There’s even an unexpected and alluring romance. Sparks fly when Aaron finds himself strangely drawn to protect the persistent interloper—indeed, he finds her irresistible… and Clara finds it difficult to maintain her early indignance towards the attractive investigator.

WHAT HAPPENS IN FLORIDA… …could only happen in Florida. St. Elmo, specifically. Just like in the 50s, it’s still the kind of place where a date might be a picnic of tuna sandwiches, and the sheriff the son of an old friend. In the hands of mystery author Michaela Thompson, St. Elmo comes alive with a smattering of “only in Florida” puzzlers: a bootleg war in a hurricane, sunken treasure by a trailer park, a handful of illicit love affairs fraught with seaside small town gossip. As vibrant as their Florida Panhandle backdrop, this series is made up of traditional mysteries notable for the kind of delicately-crafted writing that’ll remind you of Golden Age British yarns, now bundled in a single box set. HURRICANE SEASON The 1950s fairly leap off the page in this classic cozy mystery set in northern Florida in the Eisenhower era, complete with Johnny Ray on the jukebox and a Womanless Wedding—this one interrupted by an explosion at a moonshine still. 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. RIPTIDE 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. HEAT LIGHTNING 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.