Retirement Was Supposed to Be Quiet. Then Murder Moved In Next Door.
He thought he'd escaped the streets. But in Florida, trouble just changes its address.
Nick Holleran finally did it. After surviving bullets and firebombs at his Keys bar, The Drunken Oyster, he took the money and ran—straight onto a houseboat named "The Salty Dog" docked in a marina full of characters too weird even for Florida. This was it: Retirement 3.0. No more crime scenes, no more conspiracies, just the gentle rocking of the tide and maybe learning to fish.
But peace and quiet have never been Nick's strong suit. A restless night leads him to a dive bar and into the arms of Isabella—a stunning, enigmatic woman trailing secrets like expensive perfume. Their night of nameless passion aboard his boat ends with her vanishing before dawn. Hours later, her wealthy, despised tech-mogul husband, Arthur Sterling, is found murdered on his gold-plated yacht nearby, head bashed in, floating in his own lap pool.
Suddenly, Nick isn't just the new guy at the marina; he's Suspect Number One. The local detective sees an easy collar: the outsider ex-NYPD cop who spent the night with the beautiful widow. Planted evidence, a shifting timeline from Isabella herself—the frame is tightening faster than a Florida sinkhole. Nick knows he's being played, but proving it means diving back into the life he tried to leave behind.
He starts digging into Arthur Sterling’s messy empire, uncovering a swamp of shady deals, disgruntled partners, and jilted lovers. But just as he’s navigating the murky waters of Sterling's life, a ghost from his own past surfaces like a gator in a drainage ditch. Carmine "The Shiv" DeLuca—a brutal mob enforcer Nick sent up the river twenty years ago—is out on parole. And he hasn't forgotten the cop who cost him two decades. DeLuca's in Florida, leaving cryptic threats, circling like a shark, ready to settle old scores in blood.
Now Nick is juggling two deadly threats: a murder frame that could land him in prison blues, and a vengeful mobster who wants him in a concrete kimono. He's caught in a crosscurrent of Florida noir, where femme fatales might be victims or predators, marina gossip holds vital clues, and the past refuses to stay buried. From waterfront bars to mangrove hideouts, Nick must unravel a conspiracy that stretches from Miami boardrooms to the darkest corners of the Everglades, all while dodging a killer who knows his every move.
Fans of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, Elmore Leonard's sharp dialogue, and gritty, fast-paced Florida crime fiction will be hooked by Cop Buys a Boat. It's a page-turning mystery thriller where retirement is the most dangerous job of all.
Can this ex-cop clear his name before the law closes in or the mob catches up? Or will his dream of a quiet life on the water end up six feet under the mangroves?
Scroll up and grab your copy today!
Genre: Mystery
He thought he'd escaped the streets. But in Florida, trouble just changes its address.
Nick Holleran finally did it. After surviving bullets and firebombs at his Keys bar, The Drunken Oyster, he took the money and ran—straight onto a houseboat named "The Salty Dog" docked in a marina full of characters too weird even for Florida. This was it: Retirement 3.0. No more crime scenes, no more conspiracies, just the gentle rocking of the tide and maybe learning to fish.
But peace and quiet have never been Nick's strong suit. A restless night leads him to a dive bar and into the arms of Isabella—a stunning, enigmatic woman trailing secrets like expensive perfume. Their night of nameless passion aboard his boat ends with her vanishing before dawn. Hours later, her wealthy, despised tech-mogul husband, Arthur Sterling, is found murdered on his gold-plated yacht nearby, head bashed in, floating in his own lap pool.
Suddenly, Nick isn't just the new guy at the marina; he's Suspect Number One. The local detective sees an easy collar: the outsider ex-NYPD cop who spent the night with the beautiful widow. Planted evidence, a shifting timeline from Isabella herself—the frame is tightening faster than a Florida sinkhole. Nick knows he's being played, but proving it means diving back into the life he tried to leave behind.
He starts digging into Arthur Sterling’s messy empire, uncovering a swamp of shady deals, disgruntled partners, and jilted lovers. But just as he’s navigating the murky waters of Sterling's life, a ghost from his own past surfaces like a gator in a drainage ditch. Carmine "The Shiv" DeLuca—a brutal mob enforcer Nick sent up the river twenty years ago—is out on parole. And he hasn't forgotten the cop who cost him two decades. DeLuca's in Florida, leaving cryptic threats, circling like a shark, ready to settle old scores in blood.
Now Nick is juggling two deadly threats: a murder frame that could land him in prison blues, and a vengeful mobster who wants him in a concrete kimono. He's caught in a crosscurrent of Florida noir, where femme fatales might be victims or predators, marina gossip holds vital clues, and the past refuses to stay buried. From waterfront bars to mangrove hideouts, Nick must unravel a conspiracy that stretches from Miami boardrooms to the darkest corners of the Everglades, all while dodging a killer who knows his every move.
Fans of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, Elmore Leonard's sharp dialogue, and gritty, fast-paced Florida crime fiction will be hooked by Cop Buys a Boat. It's a page-turning mystery thriller where retirement is the most dangerous job of all.
Can this ex-cop clear his name before the law closes in or the mob catches up? Or will his dream of a quiet life on the water end up six feet under the mangroves?
Scroll up and grab your copy today!
Genre: Mystery
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