Hawk Channel Chase

Fans of Tom Corcoran's Alex Rutledge mysteries will enjoy this compelling sixth addition to the series. It is mid-October in tropical Key West, a break between the summer and winter tourist seasons. Alex Rutledge, home two days from an advertising job in the Bahamas, is asked to investigate the disappearance of a young woman. With few skills as a private eye and no desire to learn the trade, his decision to decline is easy. Until a close friend asks that he reconsider. A freelance photographer who loves beach scenery and easy schedules and who dreads his occasional law enforcement evidence work, Rutledge must confront the private investigator job with little but instinct to guide himself. Alex digs in only to regret every step, every fact that comes his way on the ocean and in the streets of Key West. To confuse matters, on his first day of the P. I. grind, a man is found dead in a neighboring home. At first considered a suspect, Alex later is asked to take crime scene photos with no body in place. Meanwhile a Lower Keys crime scene is closed to media and local police, open only to secretive federal agents. The questions and perils multiply. And there is still that young woman who never came home... Michael Connelly, author of The Lincoln Lawyer, The Brass Verdict and The Scarecrow, said of Corcoran's previous novel, Air Dance Iguana was the reading highlight of the year for me. With characters as strong and intriguing as the story they move through, I went cover to cover without coming up for air. Randy Wayne White, author of Black Widow and Deep Shadow, said, I finished Air Dance Iguana as the last of a Category Four hurricane pounded away at my house. This book has been storm-tested and proved impossible to put down in winds under seventy knots. Tom Corcoran and Alex Rutledge are Florida treasures. Jimmy Buffett, author of A Pirate Looks at Fifty and Swine Not? stated, Tom Corcoran has put his time on the water to great use. He reconnects my heart and brain to the Key West I knew. Steve Hamilton, author of The Hunting Wind, says, Tom Corcoran knows the human heart, sure as hell knows how to write a good book, and knows Key West-a setting so real you'll get a sunburn.

Tom Corcoran first moved to Florida in 1970. He has been a disc jockey, bartender, AAA travel counselor, U. S. Navy officer, screenwriter, freelance photographer, automotive magazine editor, computer graphic artist, and journalist. His photographs have appeared on seven Jimmy Buffett album covers. He co-wrote the Buffett hits, Cuban Crime of Passion, and Fins. His photos also have appeared on numerous book jackets, including those of Thomas McGuane (An Outside Chance), Winston Groom (Forrest Gump), and Florida novelists Les Standiford (Black Mountain and Last Train to Paradise) and James W. Hall (Hot Damn).