Florida Keys Mysteries Books

Dying in the middle of the summer in the Florida Keys is sweaty business.Welcome to Tarpon Cove. Madison Westin has inherited her aunt's beachfront motel in the Florida Keys. Trouble is she’s also inherited a slew of colorful tenant's - drunks, ex-cons, and fugitives.Only one problem: First, she has to wrestle control from a conniving lawyer and shady motel manager. With the help of her new best friend, whose motto is never leave home without your Glock, they dive into a world of blackmail, murder, and drugs.

Madison Westin is back with her never-say-no style; smarter and packing an attitude not to mention her Glock. This time, trouble rolls into Tarpon Cove in the form of Madison's ex-husband, Jackson Devereaux, whom she hoped to never see again. His arrival brings unparalleled chaos and an uninvited corpse. Teaming up with her hot friend, Fabiana, the two women go from chasing the usual cast of misfits and weirdos to hunting down a murderer. The action turns deadly serious when they stir up a nasty enemy as they try to stay one-step ahead in a game of cat and mouse that threatens their lives.

What is big news in small town Tarpon Cove? An accidental drowning or perhaps a ruthless murder? When a dead fisherman rolls up on shore, Madison cannot resist jumping into her new role as Private Investigator. But she soon discovers the people in The Cove who normally gossip about everybody's business are unusually tight-lipped. The bad tenant radar still not working, the cottages continue to be full of riffraff and other strange tenants. Madison gets arrested, shot at, and outsmarted. She teams up with her best friend – the Glock carrying Fabiana. Together they take on cases no other investigators would ever touch!

Overlooking the waters of the Biscayne Bay sits a mansion where all hell has broken loose.Madison Westin has found herself and her bombshell best friend, Fabiana Merceau, caught up in deep trouble—yet again. This time, Fab is implicated as the only suspect in a high-profile double homicide on a beautiful private island. The girls have to act quickly and quietly, searching for a way to set the record straight and secure Fab’s freedom. Along the way, Madison must choose between two men, evade an ever-watchful mother, and dodge shady criminals as they try to solve a Murder in Paradise.

Beautiful sandy beaches, hot bodies, and margaritas by the pool; the infamous duo are loving life in paradise! This time, the girls find themselves written into the will of a friend and business partner, although his death seems anything but cut-and-dried. The steamy climate heats up even more as sexual tension skyrockets between Madison and an old family friend, and Fabiana falls even deeper with her French model boyfriend. Once again, the super sleuths are up to their necks in murky water; can they piece things together in time, or will they wind up dead just as suddenly and inexplicably as their friend?

When a man of questionable character’s corpse is found at The Cottages, beaten to death with Madison’s own gardening tools, she and her partner, Fab, set out to prove that the man’s abused girlfriend did not kill him. Along the way, Madison finds herself behind bars twice, held hostage in a mansion, and running from flying bullets. There is no shortage of action, suspense, comedy, or romance in this edge-of-your-seat story of two friends with a knack for getting into—and somehow out of—trouble. This time they must answer one question: Who is responsible for getting their Revenge in Paradise?

In the Florida Keys, trouble is brewing along with the coffee. Friends Madison Westin and Fabiana Merceau search for the mastermind behind gruesome warnings showing up on their doorstep. Fab’s infamous new partner and Madison’s reappearing ex-husband complicate matters in this sexy and humorous action-adventure, the seventh installment of the Paradise series. Can they slip the bonds of protective custody and solve the mystery before they are Kidnapped in Paradise?

Sexy sleuths Madison and Fab race to uncover the truth behind a horrific crime… before a loved one pays the ultimate price.Beautiful Tarpon Cove has everything you’d expect from a paradise retreat: Blue waters, white sand and … murder?With deadly secrets and dark dealings brewing beneath the surface of Tarpon Cove, Madison and Fab are caught in a race against time to uncover the truth behind the murder, which may only be the tip of the iceberg….

When a body turns up at the Cottages, Madison and Fab, the sexy sleuths are on the case. But when the killer makes a habit of discarding bodies on Madison’s property… it’s personal. While on the hunt for the killer, the duo track down a double-crossing bail jumper, repossess a Lamborghini, and Madison lands her first case. As more bodies pop up, the cops are eager to name a suspect. When a close friend is arrested as the prime suspect, Madison and Fab will stop at nothing to prove her innocence, but will they be too late? Executed in Paradise, the ninth book in the scorching Paradise series about best friends who maintain the peace in the paradise of Tarpon Cove through unconventional ¬– and highly entertaining – measures.

Set against the steamy backdrop of Tarpon Cove's sun-kissed, tropical waters, sexy sleuths and best friends Madison and Fab are at it again dealing with the occasional dead body. Hidden just below the surface of the small town lies an underworld, one steeped in deceit, corruption, and deadly secrets. It's only a matter of time before Madison and Fab find themselves on a collision course with the police, who consider them likely suspects in a murder. Ride along on their adventures when the duo realizes that a family member is missing and pull themselves away from all jobs to track him down. Theories: walked away, freak accident, kidnapped? If so, then why no ransom demand?Hurricane in Paradise is book ten in the thrilling and humorous provocative Paradise series, which finds the two waist-deep in mystery and romance. It is a smart, adventurous read that delivers heart-thumping, non-stop action. Join Madison and Fab as they solve the most twisted of cases, through unconventional – and highly entertaining – measures… sometimes in flip-flops.

Meet the crime-solving duo of the Florida Keys: Madison who has all the charm of the girl next door, not to mention a deadly aim and Fab, her best friend, a femme fatale private investigator with a taste for danger and stilettos. When their neighbor is found dead, the headlines read, “It doesn’t pay to be a lottery winner.” It gets you nothing but an endless line of crazies at your door, greedy relatives and acquaintances. Sleuths Madison and Fab don’t have time to be concerned about the latest murder; they have problems of their own trying to figure out why their house has suddenly become the focus of several attempted break-ins. The duo are off on more adventures –– what could go wrong chauffeuring a limousine full of college girls? Or chasing after a custom Ferrari? Along the way, there’s a break-up, a wedding, and the usual run-ins with the law.If you like sassy, exciting crime novels, then you’ll love Lottery in Paradise, the eleventh book in the scorching Paradise series about two seductive ladies who use unconventional and highly entertaining measures to maintain the peace in the steamy and twisted paradise of Tarpon Cove.

The Keys is a great place to hide a seashell bucket full of secrets.Creole…shot…dead. Three words Madison Westin never thought she’d hear in the same sentence. Creole promised. He pinky swore on it.But even through a blur of tears fed by prescription-strength margaritas, Madison can tell when things are shady. Sure, Creole was undercover, but she deserves more than sketchy non-answers, an urn of ashes, and a secret life crawling out of the woodwork.Nothing’s adding up, nothing that remotely sounds like the Creole she knew and loved. Calling in every one of her IOU’s—only to find some of her most reliable information sources drying up—Madison sets out to dig up what really happened to Creole. She never thought the truth would wrap its arms around her and make her wonder if she’s chasing a ghost… or taking a vacation from sanity.Ambushed in Paradise is book #12 in the action-packed Paradise series. Come along with Madison and Fab as they dig up the truth and share more than one hair raising adventure.

My name is Madison Westin. Unless it’s Christmas, in which case my official title is “Holiday Cheermistress.” Nothing stops me from getting my ho-ho-ho on, not even my friends’ Grinch-worthy attitude toward sparkling tinsel, twinkling lights, and tinkling bells.Hey, if Creole, Fab, and Didier wind up with coal in their stockings, it won’t be my fault.When some bah-humbug bandit makes the rounds of Tarpon Cove, Fab and I are on the case. It’s the least we can do for our loyal friends. Seasonal crime-victim disorder seems to be on the rise.Some guy in a Santa suit—well, the top half of one anyway—is robbing local banks. The cops are fingering the wrong guy. And you can bet your light-up Rudolph boxers that if we can’t track the real thief down, one of my merry band of miscreants could be spending the holidays behind bars.

I’ve come a long way since inheriting my Aunt Elizabeth’s Tarpon Cove house and her beach cottages full of quirky residents. I strap a Glock to my thigh as easily as I slip into flip-flops. Even Fab is going legit… mostly. When she’s hired to investigate some high-end boat thefts in Biscayne Bay, I go along to do what I do best. Chat up the help to get the real story. Neither of us expected the case to explode—literally—and take out one of Miami’s richest men. And possibly a mistress, though no one’s found her body floating among the bits and pieces. Somewhere in the Miami upper-crust’s phony smiles and even phonier alibis there’s someone who wanted to see Marshall Sacks dead. Someone willing to ruin Fab’s and my lives to keep their secret. It’ll take calling in every favor I’m owed to keep us out of trouble.

In the Florida Keys, you have to take the shady with the sunny. And Tarpon Cove has more than fifty shades of shady going on.Shady No. 1: When Brad is framed using the dead body of his crazy ex-girlfriend, the Westin family—which now includes Fab, Didier, and Creole by default—gathers to plan a strategy. Shady No. 2: Fab is having a hard time keeping her promise to go legit. It’s not her fault she tends to attract clients who want their problems solved without getting the cops involved. Trying to keep her reined in is a full-time job, and a thankless one, since Madison keeps getting roped in on “easy” jobs that wind up getting the kind of messy that requires specialized cleanup. Shady No. 3: Ferreting out the info needed to save Brad means using sources so deep in the friend-of-a-friend network they’re anonymous even to Madison. The only thing not shady is Creole’s love. Madison’s kept her promise never to lie to him. Mostly. But when the killer wafts like smoke through the cracks in the investigation, the danger reminds her she should’ve eaten dessert first more often. Because once he’s through with her, the mess that’ll need cleaning up will be her.

A woman’s been found dead in Dr. A’s beach house, facedown in enough cocaine to put him away for life. It’s going to take more than trading a couple of favors to help the doctor, who’s always been there for Madison, no questions asked, no blood left behind. Hard as Madison and Fab have tried to keep their promise to stop playing sneak-around-chick, prying up the evidence that could set their friend free requires a skillset from their shady past. When they open up this set of Pandora’s boxes, it’s too late to mind their own business. Plus being on the radar of a big-time drug dealer, shoots up the street value on their lives a million-fold. They could be in a felonious hot mess.Nice things about living in Tarpon Cove? Favors are traded like cryptocurrency. If anybody asks, nobody saw anything. And even the worst day can end with a pitcher of margaritas—glass optional.

Margaritas, mangroves, murder. Just another day at the office. One minute, Madison Weston and her bestie, Fab, are tailing Creole and Didier to figure out what they’re hiding. The next, a hail of bullets sends them swamp slogging for their lives. So much for cute shoes. Eventually, Creole and Didier come clean: Bodies are turning up in shallow graves, and they didn’t want their women catching wind of it. Too bad, boys, this mystery is too juicy to pass up.

There’s always one party crasher in the crowd. But Madison Weston and her bestie, Fab Merceau, could have never guessed that the plus-one at their newly renovated hotel’s grand opening would be a dead body.This isn’t the first unsolved murder in Beachside’s colorful past. While a ghost haunting the premises might be a selling point to some customers, fresh pools of blood generally aren’t.So much for their promise to put personal safety at the top of their to-do list. Pretty tough when trouble gets dropped on their doorstep like the proverbial baby in a basket. Especially when the baby is packing a Smith & Wesson.But this murder was on their turf, on their watch. And they’ll call in every shady character, every IOU, and anything short of a felony to lay this ghost to rest—even if it risks them becoming ghosts themselves.

Ah… life in Tarpon Cove, at the top of the Florida Keys. Sand, surf, sun-washed breakfast and… handcuffs? That’s new, especially when they’re slapped on Fab’s wrists and she’s accused of murder. If Creole and Didier think Madison is going to “leave it to the professionals” while her best friend ruins her designer heels in a Miami lockup, they don’t know Madison. At. All. Madison leaves no stone unturned to find out who wants her bestie dead. Fab doesn’t need some clean-hands, designer suit, spotless-reputation attorney on her case. She needs someone who’ll play as dirty as the bottom-feeders framing her for murder. Someone who may or may not be holding a grudge because Madison allegedly let his grandmother get her bump-and-grind on at The Cottages. Allegedly. Madison vaguely remembers promising Creole she’d stay out of trouble. But what’s a girl to do when trouble smacks her in the face like a deployed airbag and dangles her over a watery grave? Naturally, a girl pulls up her tankini bottoms and swims with the sharks.

Madison Westin lives by the Unbreakable Rule of IOUs: When it’s time to collect, no whining allowed. So, when the four kids of an undercover Miami detective temporarily land in her care, she doesn’t panic. She raises a village—more accurately, the motley crew of The Cottages—to lend a hand.Things are going swimmingly, and home schoolingly, and alligator-farm field trippily, when Madison learns the apartment building next to The Cottages is about to be sold to a crime kingpin known as Trigger. Crossing Trigger is a very good way to wind up dead, but with the neighborhood poised to go to hell in a handbasket, Madison and her bestie, Fab Merceau, figure out a way to swipe the done deal right out from under his grabby paws.But Trigger isn’t going away quietly, especially since Madison and Fab have unwittingly disrupted a much larger scheme. Madison and Fab find themselves neck-deep in alligators. And the danger of losing everyone they love is rising.

Don’t you ever stay out of trouble? I get that question a lot. It’s fair—weirdness and nutjobs cling to Tarpon Cove like seagrass in a tangle of mangrove roots. And a dead body found near The Cottages is an excuse to line up the lawn chairs, pass the margaritas, and indulge in the Cove’s favorite pastime—speculation. But this time trouble has followed me home. My own husband—Creole. They said the head injury he suffered when he was kidnapped might change him. Getting him back won’t be as easy as partnering up with Fab to find a purloined pooch or repo a not-exactly-stolen car. What am I saying? Somehow the simplest jobs wind up going south in a hurry. Sometimes the easy answer is the right one.

Luck – and a few well-placed IOUs – can take you a long way in the Florida Keys. In the case of a young woman that stumbles onto a remote beach road, practically in front of Madison Weston and her bestie, Fabiana Merceau, it saves her life. Fab and their guys, Creole and Didier, know Madison’s do-gooder heart can get her in trouble faster than a margarita blender. But when she encounters yet another young girl, this one just trying to survive the mean streets of Tarpon Cove, Madison’s determination to help could solve a crime… but draw the wrong kind of attention. Because when you mess with the wrong people, you could wind up as alligator kibble.

In the Florida Keys, the tops are down, the margaritas are cold, and water is murder. Madison and Fab’s morning coffee comes with a side dish of witnessing two bodies being dumped at the end of their boat dock. And gossip is flying around Tarpon Cove faster than a cigarette boat. When yet another “easy” job turns up more dead bodies, the smell is making Madison barfy, and the girls’ “I know nothing” faces are getting a workout. So is the hotline to their lawyer. Madison just wants happy endings all around, but evidence is piling up that they’re all being watched. If they don’t play their cards right, they could be someone’s loose end—and all wind up dead.

It sucks to be caught off guard, especially before coffee on what’s otherwise a perfect, sunny, Florida Keys day. Luckily, Madison and Fabiana have friends who owe favors on speed dial.Travis West, a shady Miami lawyer with a swanky address, is dead, and the prime suspect is Tarpon Cove’s very own Professor Crum (first name none of your business). Crum is a lot of things—including a major pain in the booty—but he’s no murderer. Mad and Fab set out to prove he’s innocent—as long as they stick to their promise to Creole and Didier to stay out of trouble.Like that’s going to happen.Before the sand settles, someone’s gun is going to end up in an evidence box—and someone’s flip-flopped foot may end up with a toe tag.

When Madison Westin’s phone rings before dawn, it usually means something smelly has hit the fan, and today is no exception. Young Kyle Dow wants out of his sketchy job as a snitch. But the thugs holding his leash aren’t about to let him go without a little help from Tarpon Cove’s resident do-gooder. Only this time, it's not Madison. It’s her bestie, Fabiana Merceau. Unfortunately, the kid is as tight-lipped as a Florida Keys clam about his past. Digging too deep risks stirring up the kind of bottom-feeders that give Madison and Fab’s men, Creole and Didier, premature gray hair. But when have the girls ever shied away from a little trouble? That’d be never . You can bet your slightly used pontoon boat that when the past comes back, aka big-time trouble that it could not only bite Madison and Fab in the back but the friends who stuck out their necks to help.

If Madison Westin and Fabiana Merceau have learned anything about living in the Florida Keys, it’s that nothing is ever what it seems. Every good deed goes on someone’s favor-trading tab. And always check your used furniture finds for dead bodies. When Madison spots a familiar face over a cup of bad coffee, she should have known the universe is throwing her another curve ball. She remembers Keely as a street-smart survivor hiding her innocence under a tough-cookie veneer. Now she’s wearing a look of fear… right before she disappears. Keely’s in trouble; Madison’s do-gooder spidey sense is sure of it. But prying the girl free of a rip current of legal sinkholes and bottom feeders with murky morals isn’t going to be easy. And that shiny new promise she made to Creole to stay out of trouble? She’s never going get all the scuffs and scrapes buffed out…

Hoping for the best, armed for the worst. A woman has dropped out of sight. Her family loathed her boyfriend. This latest case for Fabiana Merceau and, by extension, Madison Westin, is waving more red flags than a hurricane warning. After a quick review of The Rules with their men, Creole and Didier (no car chases, shootouts, or dead bodies—basically, nothing fun), Madison and Fab hit the Overseas Highway to check on the missing woman and her loony boyfriend. Hoping for the best, armed for the worst. It’s enough to make Madison actually look forward to Creole’s lecture about staying out of trouble. If she and Fab manage to dodge the bullets…

There’s trouble brewing in the Cove. And it’s not the world’s worst coffee. Madison Westin doesn't need much to start her morning off right. Just a cute skirt covering the Glock strapped to her thigh and a daily promise to Creole to stay out of trouble. It definitely doesn't include her bestie, Fabiana Merceau, shouting, "Cover me!" before Madison's had her first hit of caffeine. With the opening of the newest business venture, Cove Storage, the one rule for renters: no shady stuff. And the thing about shade? It can hide a whole nest of rats, and the mess they leave behind can be more than just unpleasant. It can be lethal. Especially when one of those rats is plotting revenge… Be prepared for an action-packed ride.

Madison’s trouble smells like a setup. Madison Westin has become adept at navigating Tarpon Cove’s sandy back streets and shady residents. If she’s not doing anything illegal, her hubby Creole doesn’t have to worry about her relationship with trouble. Naturally, the one-time Madison’s kick-butt bestie, Fab, isn’t at her side, she steps right in the middle of a heaping pile of trouble that’s parked outside her storage business. Trouble that wears FBI badges, slaps handcuffs on, and talks about counterfeiting and forgery charges that could put her away for a very long time. Between diverting unhappy customers, dealing with the usual antics at The Cottages, and wracking her brain about who’s the anonymous tipster who tried to send her to prison, Madison has her hands full—which could be a problem when trouble careens out of the past like a hurricane, and she needs to reach for her Glock.

There’s nothing like a speedboat gunfight to shake up a peaceful morning. When the chase ends with an explosion right in front of Madison and Fabiana’s peaceful beachfront compound, their first call isn’t to 911. It’s to their husbands, Creole and Didier. A promise is a promise, after all. Besides, if they’re tagged as witnesses, they’ll be targets for whoever wanted the occupants of that boat dead. So they ping their network of insiders and sit back, blissful in their mistaken impression that they’ve given trouble the slip. But trouble has a long reach. The bombed-out boat is only the first clue a new crime boss is trying to muscle into Tarpon Cove. And a face from Fab’s former life-on-the-edge is back, wanting to pick up where they left off. Giving this creeper the cold shoulder won’t stop the inevitable. And the path of destruction could include the entire town.

In the Florida Keys, it’s never too early for a drink. Or criminal activity. Madison Weston is on a roll. Not only is she one warehouse closer to owning a whole block of Tarpon Cove, but she and her bestie, Fabiana Merceau, have perfected the art of staying out of trouble. Or, at least, delegating it. Everything’s as smooth as a top-of-the-Keys breeze—until they watch Fab’s beloved Porsche race away with a thief at the wheel. Tarpon Cove is no stranger to the occasional carjacking joyrider. But only an expert could get past Fab’s security system, which means some high-end Miami chop shop is testing the waters. Or it’s already entrenched and digging deeper.

Lockpicks, lies, and a risky favor gone wrong. In and out. That’s the plan when Madison Westin and her bestie, Fabiana Merceau, fire up the SUV to do a favor for their resident IT guru (read: hacker) Xander. His friend, Dixon Holmes, a financial advisor with a snazzy new beach-view condo in Miami, bragged about the hot swipe-right date he had lined up. Then disappeared. The trouble with mixing business with family? Good luck keeping secrets. When the situation implodes, they’ll need their guys’ muscle—and a boatload of banked favors. One truth about life it’s full of sharks. Some of them armed—and cray-cray.

If it reeks of mayhem, it’s either a pitcher of margaritas…or trouble. Jake’s Bar is more than just a piece in Madison Westin’s business portfolio. It’s a Tarpon Cove institution where the margs never stop flowing, and today’s special comes with an aromatic side of…dead body? Madison and her bestie, Fabiana Merceau, have no idea who would leave this particularly gruesome (and smelly) calling card. But if the goal is to ruin business, the culprit is clearly clueless about the siren song of crime scene tape. Jake’s will be packed to the rafters before the crime scene cleaners are a cloud of dust on the horizon. The girls and their hottie husbands, Creole and Didier, tap into their extended network of shady friends (and owed favors) to dig for clues. But before Madison can unearth who is out to steal everything she holds dear, she could run into a very, very dead end.