Archie Newton stepped off the river steamer in 1880 with a letter of introduction and a secret. Seeking refuge, the young Newton hoped for a new life on the Florida frontier. Samuel McMillan was a miserly Sanford bachelor who carried large sums of "greenbacks" and trusted no one. The ambitious Newton had his eye on purchasing McMillan's profitable orange grove. But on his way back from Newton's home one evening, McMillan disappeared, and he wasn't seen again until his headless, mutilated corpse was pulled from a nearby lake. Newton's trial was sensational and the evidence gruesome, and local legends grew of a headless ghost rising from the lake. Author Andrew Fink chronicles the twists and turns of this shocking story.
"Guy Bradley's colorful life and violent death have always seemed the stuff of myth. . . . Death in the Everglades is both compelling history and a heart-tugging drama."--Audubon "An eye-opening, informative account of the rise and demise of the cruel plume hunting trade and of Guy Bradley's heroic dedication to protect a beautiful and valuable natural resource: the egrets and flamingoes, roseate spoonbills and herons that still grace the Glades and our shorelines."--Miami Herald "Rescues from obscurity a key chapter in the history of American environmentalism. . . . With great finesse, McIver evokes Bradley's tumultuous world, chronicles the pitched battle to save wild birds, and resurrects a true folk hero."--Booklist "Reminds us that Glades once was so wild that armed men quaked with fear."--St. Petersburg Times Guy Bradley, born in Chicago in 1870, was killed in 1905 only three years into his tenure as game warden in a south Florida that was still very much a frontier. His murderer, never prosecuted, was a one-eyed former Civil War sharpshooter who made his living supplying exotic plumage for women's hats. At the time, an ounce of feathers was worth more than an ounce of gold. Bradley's death sent shock waves across America and helped give impetus to the burgeoning environmental movement.
By the author of The Snow Leopard, The Tree Where Man Was Born and On the River Styx, this novel is based around the circumstances of the death of a man in Florida 1910, who had terrorized his community in the Florida Everglades. It explores whether it was murder, exorcism or sacrifice.
In Ivory Shoals, twelve-year-old Gussie Dwyer--audacious, resilient, determined to adhere to the morals his mother instilled in him--undertakes to trek across the sumptuous yet perilous peninsula of post-Civil War Florida in search of his father, a man who has no idea of his son's existence. Gussie's journey sees him cross paths with hardened Floridians of every stripe, from the brave and noble to a bevy of cutthroat villains, none worse than his amoral shark of a stepbrother. Rich in visceral details and told with a pulse-quickening pace, Ivory Shoals is a distinctly American story, in the tradition of Mark Twain and Cormac McCarthy. The novel is also a timeless epic, tracking Gussie's odyssey from childhood toward adulthood. Will he survive his quest, and at what cost?
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • “Altogether gripping, shocking, and brilliantly told, not just a tour de force in its stylistic range, but a great American novel, as powerful a reading experience as nearly any in our literature.”—Michael Dirda, The New York Review of Books Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man’s River, and Bone by Bone—Peter Matthiessen’s great American epic about Everglades sugar planter and notorious outlaw E. J. Watson on the wild Florida frontier at the turn of the twentieth century—were originally conceived as one vast, mysterious novel. Now, in this bold new rendering, Matthiessen has marvelously distilled a monumental work while deepening the insights and motivations of his characters with brilliant rewriting throughout. Praise for Shadow Country “Magnificent . . . breathtaking . . . Finally now we have [this three-part saga] welded like a bell, and with Watson’s song the last sound, all the elements fuse and resonate.”—Los Angeles Times “Peter Matthiessen has done great things with the Watson trilogy. It’s the story of our continent, both land and people, and his writing does every justice to the blood fury of his themes.”—Don DeLillo “The fiction of Peter Matthiessen is the reason a lot of people in my generation decided to be writers. No doubt about it. Shadow Country lives up to anyone’s highest expectations for great writing.” —Richard Ford “Shadow Country, Matthiessen’s distillation of the earlier Watson saga, represents his original vision. It is the quintessence of his lifelong concerns, and a great legacy.”—W. S. Merwin “[An] epic masterpiece . . . a great American novel.”—The Miami Herald
Nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel! In 19th century Bombay, Captain Jim Agnihotri channels his idol, Sherlock Holmes, in Nev March’s Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut. In 1892, Bombay is the center of British India. Nearby, Captain Jim Agnihotri lies in Poona military hospital recovering from a skirmish on the wild northern frontier, with little to do but re-read the tales of his idol, Sherlock Holmes, and browse the daily papers. The case that catches Captain Jim's attention is being called the crime of the century: Two women fell from the busy university’s clock tower in broad daylight. Moved by Adi, the widower of one of the victims — his certainty that his wife and sister did not commit suicide — Captain Jim approaches the Parsee family and is hired to investigate what happened that terrible afternoon. But in a land of divided loyalties, asking questions is dangerous. Captain Jim's investigation disturbs the shadows that seem to follow the Framji family and triggers an ominous chain of events. And when lively Lady Diana Framji joins the hunt for her sisters’ attackers, Captain Jim’s heart isn’t safe, either. Based on a true story, and set against the vibrant backdrop of colonial India, Nev March's Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning lyrical debut, Murder in Old Bombay, brings this tumultuous historical age to life.
A captivating, often hilarious novel of family, loss, wilderness, and the curse of a violent America, Dave Eggers’s Heroes of the Frontier is a powerful examination of our contemporary life and a rousing story of adventure. Josie and her children’s father have split up, she’s been sued by a former patient and lost her dental practice, and she’s grieving the death of a young man senselessly killed. When her ex asks to take the children to meet his new fiancée’s family, Josie makes a run for it, figuring Alaska is about as far as she can get without a passport. Josie and her kids, Paul and Ana, rent a rattling old RV named the Chateau, and at first their trip feels like a vacation: They see bears and bison, they eat hot dogs cooked on a bonfire, and they spend nights parked along icy cold rivers in dark forests. But as they drive, pushed north by the ubiquitous wildfires, Josie is chased by enemies both real and imagined, past mistakes pursuing her tiny family, even to the very edge of civilization. A tremendous new novel from the bestselling author of The Circle, Heroes of the Frontier is the darkly comic story of a mother and her two young children on a journey through an Alaskan wilderness plagued by wildfires and a uniquely American madness.
The River Rat Murders presents the first part of the diary of Caroline Case, a Wabash Valley Madame, during Prohibition. After the murder of her friend Alec in 1921, Caroline becomes an amateur but extremely resourceful detective. She and her mysterious new friend, Hannibal Jones, her "girls" and an odd assortment of local characters solve five murders. They get no help from the authorities, who are on the take from gangsters who control the booze trade in the Valley. Caroline, Hannibal and their friends call themselves "The River Rat Detective Agency." As they solve the murders, they become involved in the war between Al Capone and the North Side gang over control of the booze trade. There are shootouts, kidnappings and daring rescues. Over time (1921-1928), Caroline evolves from humble beginnings into a sophisticated, liberated woman. She accumulates wealth from investments in speakeasies, roadhouses and upscale salons. She uses her money to help her friends and to invest in legitimate businesses. After the fifth murder and an attempt on her life, she and Hannibal escape to their first adventure outside of the Valley. In 1928, just before the crash of the stock market, Caroline and Hannibal solve a sixth murder, this time at a high-end resort in Florida. This murder relates back to murders in the Valley and to Al Capone, who has his vacation house at 93 Palm Island, Miami Beach, Florida. At the end of the story, Capone lifts the bounty on Caroline, and she and Hannibal are off to new adventures. In this second Wind Grass Hill murder-mystery, Frank L. Gertcher lets Caroline Case tell her own story of booze, gang wars, love and adventure. Although fiction, Caroline's story rings true to the fascinating history and colorful characters who lived, loved and died in the bawdy towns along the Wabash River during the heyday of Prohibition. More murder mysteries will follow, as Caroline and Hannibal continue their adventures!
Visit a Florida where sunburn is the result of honest, hard work--not an afternoon at the beach "Without its lush ranchlands, there would be precious little left to see of old Florida, and nowhere for some of our most endangered wildlife to survive. Carlton Ward's colorful tribute to this dwindling frontier is also a call to save what remains of it. The alternative is unthinkable."--Carl Hiaasen "Ward's masterful photographs go beyond pictures of cowboys and the Florida landscape to taste the life, feel the land, and appreciate the importance of the past, present, and future of ranching in the unique environment of Florida."--Todd Bertolaet "Exploring the rich history and culture of the Florida ranch, this book opens a window to a world that many Floridians are unaware of, and teaches us why we should all care about this disappearing way of life."--Jason Hahn Drive a few miles beyond Disney World, past the gaudy souvenir shops, all-you-can-eat buffets, and chain hotels, and you'll find the largest producing cattle ranch in the world. Indeed, nearly one-fifth of the state is devoted to the cattle industry, and these working ranches play a vital role in Florida's economic health. Yet even as encroaching urban sprawl threatens their way of life, photographer Carlton Ward has been documenting the often unseen world of Florida cowboys. Every day before dawn, they saddle their horses, coil their lariats and whips, and ride out to work the herds. Over 15,000 ranches raise nearly two million head of cattle--the living legacies of the longest history of ranching in North America. Florida cowboys share their land with bears, panthers, and other endangered species, along with irreplaceable wetlands that help sustain the state's strained water resources. Complemented by twenty historical, cultural, and environmental essays from Dana Ste Claire, Joe Akerman, Auduon of Florida, and the Seminole Tribe, among others, Ward's stunning photographs capture the grit and raw beauty of inland Florida, its enduring cowboys, and the land they protect.
