If you think rich people live fascinating lives, wait until you see how they solve a murder (or two).

As Hurricane Charlie whirls across the Sunshine State, uprooting palm trees and turning homes into aquariums, the residents of Ibis Island appear to have been spared by Mother Nature. Human nature, however, has taken its toll. Finagler/adulterer Archie Moore is found dead, his million-dollar Clarion statuette gone missing. Meanwhile, in Riviera Beach, 19-year-old Derrick Mason is gunned down in a street shooting.

Three months later, the police seem content to let Derrick's murder add to an already mountainous stack of unsolved felonies, while on Ibis Island, lazy police chief Carlton Hullton pins Archie Moore's death on illegal immigrant looters despite a complete lack of evidence. These circumstances, while mocking Florida's already mockable criminal justice system, are perfect for what Minna Fordham Parkworth has in mind.

Minna, 71, lives in Palm Beach, where she is frequently mistaken for Lauren Hutton. She's been married six times and each of her five husbands (she married one twice, oops) left her richer than the last. Minna's many many millions are held in a trust administered by her nephew (second cousin actually), David Sinclair Fordham, a DC lawyer, who Minna calls Sinky.

One cold winter day, Sinky gets a call from Minna's best friend, Adele Warren, an octogenarian heiress who enjoyed 90-seconds of celluloid fame in a 1960's spy movie.

What Adele and Minna have cooked up, along with their hedge fund/magician neighbor Carter Newport, is that they'd like to solve a murder or two -- specifically, they want to find out who killed that rascal Archie Moore and young Derrick Mason.

So off Sinky goes to sunny Palm Beach, his wife Gretchen and ailing father-in-law Henry soon to follow, to tag along as Minna investigates two Florida murders. Oh, and they also want to write a book about it, maybe a blog, or do a podcast. Unfortunately, they have no idea how to do any of this beyond what they've seen on TV. But what Minna's group lacks in experience, they more than make up for with money, which allows for suspects and witnesses to be grilled, mystified, kidnapped, hypnotized, and bribed in unique ways.

With alternating doses of satire and warmth, the novel skewers the excesses of the 1% (make that .01%), dashes the false hopes of South Florida, and asks the question: why in mystery stories are the bad guys never more sinister than the heroes can handle?

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• Crime, Thriller & MysteryMysteryWomen Sleuths

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• Print Length: 403 Pages
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