Showing results by author "Wayne Stinnett" in All Categories

Things in the Middle Florida Keys aren’t as idyllic as they seem. If one looks closely, there’s a layer of dirt just below the surface. The butt-ugly kind of dirt that’s hard to get off. Things move slowly in the Keys—locals call it island time—but there are some for whom it seems that time is at a standstill; whose clocks revolve only around the tides, fish migrations, and the rising and setting of the sun and moon.

In this fourth installment of the Jesse McDermitt series, Jesse faces an antagonist unlike any he's faced before, post-traumatic stress. A friend's son, who was dishonorably discharged from the Corps, is suffering from nightmares, brought on by the incident that was the catalyst for his discharge. With Jesse's help he learns to cope with his demons and gets his discharge overturned, so that he may once again serve the country he loves.

Paradise isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. Few people know this as well as Jesse McDermitt, retired Marine and former government operative. In the aftermath of an intense mission in coastal Mexico, Jesse wants nothing more than to get back to his boat; to just sail away and forget all about the firefight and his warrior past. Jesse is forced to don the warrior’s mask once again. This time to catch a ghoulish killer who is stalking the villages and jungles outside Belize City.

Charity Styles is a former Olympian and US Army helicopter pilot. Captured and tortured by terrorists in Afghanistan after the opening blows of the War on Terror, she has a score to settle. Now working for the Department of Homeland Security, she is offered the opportunity to make a real difference.

In this fourth installment of the Jesse McDermitt series, Jesse faces an antagonist unlike any he's faced before, post-traumatic stress. A friend's son, who was dishonorably discharged from the Corps, is suffering from nightmares, brought on by the incident that was the catalyst for his discharge. With Jesse's help he learns to cope with his demons and gets his discharge overturned, so that he may once again serve the country he loves.

An evil spirit murdered a two-bit hustler preacher on French St. Martin. At least, that’s what a conspiracy obsessed Vodou priest would have Jerry Snyder and DJ Martin believe, when they’re called in to investigate the preacher’s stabbing and the kidnapping of his underage girlfriend.

When a small homemade boat drifts under the Seven Mile Bridge, Jesse McDermitt doesn’t hesitate to jump in and pull the boat ashore on Pigeon Key with an injured boy aboard. The boy provides more questions than answers. He’s believed to be a Cuban refugee, yet when he regains consciousness, he speaks perfect English, but can’t even remember his name.

After a terrible defeat in Key West, where the subject of Jesse McDermitt’s identity fraud investigation gets away, and which almost costs him dearly, Jesse returns home to his island in the Content Keys, determined to keep those he loves safe from harm. He makes plans to fly his family and friends to the Leeward Islands for a very special occasion, unaware of events taking place on one small uninhabited island located a short distance from his destination—events that will suck him right back into the fray, as a past nemesis rears their head.

Miles from the laid-back lifestyle of No Name Key, and just shy of the raucous nightlife of Miami and South Beach, lies Coconut Grove, a tropical oasis with a distinct Bohemian flair. Lately, a seedy underside has emerged along the Grove's waterfront, preying on adventurous young women. Somewhere amid all the glitz and glamour, hides a thief who stole a fortune in Aztec emeralds. Or did he? Jesse McDermitt must first determine if the victim herself is a thief. The trail of clues leads him to evidence that the thief may be involved in a string of more heinous crimes.

Charity Styles has been wandering the Pacific aimlessly aboard her beloved sloop, Wind Dancer, and only recently returned to the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Entering a secluded cove in the Sea of Abaco, in the Bahamas, she runs into an old acquaintance and the woman’s young daughter. The two have a few things in common, not the least of which are four men’s bodies at the bottom of a 600-foot-deep blue hole on Hoffman's Cay.

Jesse McDermitt discovers an environmental nightmare of deception and greed taking place in Central America. A cartel is branching into smuggling things other than drugs. And they’re doing it quite effectively. Having so many moving parts and numerous smuggling routes, can Jesse and the crew of Ambrosia, on a dive vacation in the Bay Islands of Honduras, be able to make a difference? Or will the beautiful reef surrounding the island of Utila be Ambrosia’s grave?

After watching his yacht burn to the waterline in a fiery explosion, Jerry Snyder is forced to make a deal with the only devil who can help track down a lead—his estranged, mob-connected father figure, Arlen Burkhart.

A lifelong friend finds something deep in the Everglades that is so very odd, that when he calls Jesse McDermitt, at first the semi-retired former special operator is in total disbelief. But he is also very intrigued, and the duo set out on another adventure reminiscent of their childhood days. But their youthful quest had been all about fun and make-believe. This one was real, waiting nearly a century to be discovered.

In the jungles of Venezuela, a land baron controls the native population with an iron fist and a security team with over-indulged libidos and quick trigger fingers. The indigenous people live in fear; all but one old shaman, who has a vision of the future. A vision that includes piranha and crocodiles. Charity's target is a single man. But when she learns of the atrocities committed by the land baron, and the carnage inflicted on the defenseless Wanadi people by his security team, will she stop at that? Can she keep her bloodlust in check this time?

A Spanish treasure ship is driven by a hurricane onto the rocky shoreline of Elbow Cay in September of 1566. Few of the crew survive, but they manage to salvage most of the treasure and bury it on the island, leaving a clue to its location in a chest placed in the boughs of a young mangrove tree. Four hundred forty years later, Jesse McDermitt and his friends solve the riddle that was hidden inside a chest found encased in the now-ancient mangrove.

On a kayak outing with friends, Jesse's daughter finds and rescues a manatee suffering from respiratory problems. The red tide has returned, and fish are dying by the thousands, along with dolphins, manatees, and sea birds. The algal bloom is a naturally occurring phenomenon, but this time it's much worse. Theories abound; it's something left over from the previous spring's coronavirus outbreak, it's caused by pollution, someone is intentionally creating a super-algae....But there's something far more sinister at work, and it's up to Jesse to find out what it is and put a stop to it.

Charity Styles is a world class sharpshooter, martial arts expert, and government assassin...but after a stressful assignment, all she wants is a little time to unwind on the quiet side of St. Thomas, the picturesque Magens Bay. What does she get? A hurricane, an ex, drug dealers, a psychotic murderer, an amorous developer, and forced to stay in the rowdy tourist town of Charlotte-Amalie. Naturally.

Charity Styles had been the catalyst for the demise of many. But in the past that usually meant the end of a human life. As an assassin for the CIA, it came with the territory. But this time she feels responsible for the end of her friend’s relationship. She sets out on a voyage to find one of the partners in the hopes of rectifying the rift she helped create. Along the way, she encounters a deadly foe, bent on becoming rich regardless of how many must suffer or die.

Since the recent death of a wealthy, yet perverted, businessman, Charity Styles has been hiding in plain sight, as if challenging anyone to come after her. She’s on her own once more, living day to day on her beloved Wind Dancer, anchored near a quaint little Gulf Coast town in the Florida Panhandle. But when the son of a fishing client ends up dead, the father’s employer hires Charity to find the person responsible.

When her position with the government is eliminated, Charity Styles is faced with an uncertain future. The only part of her previous life that she truly enjoyed was sailing her classic sloop. The cruising lifestyle is wonderful and helps keep her mind centered, as she sails from one anchorage to another, looking for her true calling. But there are hidden dangers: marauding pirates, psychopaths, and drug smugglers run rampant throughout the Caribbean, leaving pain and suffering in their wake. In the Bahamas, someone close to Charity falls victim to the brutality.