Seashells She Sells

SEASHELLS SHE SELLS

A Weird & Whacky Gumbo Malone Florida Mystery

SHE BUILT A MILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS FROM RARE FLORIDA SEASHELLS.

NOW SOMEONE WANTS HER TO ADMIT THEY WERE NEVER REALLY HERS.

AND THE PERSON BLACKMAILING HER KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE SHE GETS THEM.

Marlena Cross makes beautiful jewelry from some of the rarest seashells found along Florida's Gulf Coast.

Her Cedar Key shop is thriving.

Her junonia shell jewelry sells for thousands of dollars.

And she has twelve years of records proving exactly where her shells came from.

Then the threats begin.

First, an anonymous note:

Your shells aren't what you say they are. Pay or I tell the galleries.

Then comes a $15,000 demand.

Then anonymous accusations are sent to the galleries and magazines that sell and promote her work.

And then someone breaks into Shell & Salt.

But the thief doesn't take the cash.

They don't take the expensive jewelry.

They don't take the tools.

They take something much more valuable:

Marlena's GPS device.

Eight years of provenance records.

Her harvest documentation.

Someone isn't trying to steal her jewelry.

Someone is trying to prove something.

That's when Marlena turns to Cedar Key private investigator Danny "Gumbo" Malone.

And Gumbo starts asking questions.

Who knows where Marlena collects her shells?

Who would pay to learn her harvesting schedule?

Who knew the alarm code?

Why did a rival jeweler unknowingly buy genuine pieces connected to Marlena?

Who is the mysterious man in the fishing hat?

And why has a retired marine biologist been living aboard a research vessel in the Cedar Key anchorage for four months?

The deeper Gumbo digs, the stranger the case becomes.

Because Graham Allard isn't just another suspect.

Twelve years earlier, the retired marine biologist discovered the rare junonia aggregation that made Marlena's career possible.

He showed her where it was.

He taught her how to find it.

And then he watched for twelve years as she turned his scientific discovery into a successful jewelry business.

Now he's back.

And he's been building a case.

Not just against Marlena...

But for his place in the history of the discovery.