Riverstone Books and Mystery Lovers Bookshop are excited to bring you author Sharon Short for her next historical mystery! She will be joined in conversation by Riverstone’s owner, Barbara Jeremiah - a lover of both historical fiction and mysteries! We are hosting this event at Riverstone Books in McCandless Crossing, but if interest exceeds store capacity, we will move to an off-site venue. Stay tuned!
Want to pre-order a copy of the book? You can do so here.
About the author:
Sharon Short is the author of fifteen published books. Her newest, Trouble Island, is historical suspense inspired by her family’s history. She is a contributing editor to Writer’s Digest, for which she writes the column, “Level Up Your Writing (Life)” and teaches for Writer’s Digest University. She is also a three-time recipient of the Individual Excellence Award in Literary Arts from Ohio Arts Council and has been a John E. Nance Writer in Residence at Thurber House (Columbus, Ohio). Sharon currently serves as President of the Midwest Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. As Jess Montgomery, she writes the historical Kinship mystery series, set in 1920s Appalachian Ohio and inspired by Ohio’s first female sheriff. When not writing, Sharon enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, swimming, and occasionally hiking.
About the book:
Many miles from anywhere in the middle of Lake Erie, Trouble Island serves as a stop-off for gangsters as they run between America and Canada. The remote isle is also the permanent home to two women: Aurelia Escalante, who serves as a maid to Rosita, lady of the mansion and wife to the notorious prohibition gangster, Eddie McGee. In the freezing winter of 1932, the women anticipate the arrival of Eddie and his strange coterie: his right-hand man, a doctor, a cousin, a famous actor, and a rival gangster who Rosita believes murdered their only son.
Aurelia wants nothing more than to escape Trouble Island, but she is hiding a secret of her own. She is in fact not a maid, but a gangster’s wife in hiding, as she runs from the murder she committed five years ago. Her friend Rosita took her in under this guise, but it has become clear that Rosita wants to keep Aurelia right where she is.
When Rosita suddenly disappears, Aurelia plans her getaway. She goes to the shore to retrieve her box of hidden treasures, but instead finds Rosita’s body in the water. Someone has made sure Aurelia was the one to find her. Aurelia is about to flee, but then the group of criminals, celebrities and scoundrels arrives, and an ice storm makes unexpected landfall, cutting Trouble Island off from both mainlands, and with more than one murderer among them.