The Smuggler's Daughter by Claire Matturro

The Smuggler's Daughter by Claire Matturro

Ray Slaverson, a world weary Florida police detective, has his hands full with the murders of two attorneys and a third suspicious death, all within twenty-four hours. Ray doesn’t believe in coincidences, but he can’t find a single link between the dead men, and he and his partner soon smash into an investigative stonewall. Kate Garcia, Ray’s fiancé, knows more than she should. She helped one of the dead attorneys, just hours before he took a bullet to the head, study an old newspaper in the library where she works. Kate might be the only person still alive who knows what he was digging up—except for his killer. When Kate starts trying to discover what’s behind the murders, she turns up disturbing links between the three dead men that track back to her family’s troubled past. But she has plenty of reasons to keep her mouth shut. Her discovery unleashes a cat-and-mouse game that threatens to sink her and those she loves in a high tide of danger.

"Though I've long been a fan of Claire Matturro, her latest blew me away. Her lyrical depictions of the Gulf Coast landscape, the densely layered story where the intertwining of past and present creates a resonance that only our best novelists achieve, the narrative that is at once, scary, gripping, moving, and populated by unforgettable characters, combine to make Smuggler's Daughter as good a novel as I've read in years." ~ James W. Hall, Edgar and Shamus winning author.

"This no-holds-barred, tell-Florida-like-it-is tale is as rich as buttery lobster. Brilliantly drawn characters, totally believable dialogue, suspense until the very end: You'll be glad you read The Smuggler's Daughter, even if it gave you the shivers." ~ Southern Literary Review's September Read of the Month

"THE SMUGGLER'S DAUGHTER pulls you in and under, revealing a time and place both familiar and remarkable. Coastal Florida, unique and dangerous, is one of the stars of Claire Matturro's complex and thrilling mystery. The story is an environmental mystery wrapped tightly in a distinct narrative and a landscape of unforgettable characters. The stakes are high, for all involved, but most especially for the Florida ecosystem. Once I started the book I couldn't put it down." --USA Today bestselling author Carolyn Haines

"... a tightly-paced thriller with authentic and engaging characters that the reader will find it hard to say goodbye to. Reminiscent of the work of novelists like Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey, it's a can't miss for fans of old Florida noir..." Dennis Maley, The Bradenton Times