The Shopkeeper

Craig McNair, following the devastation of divorce is peacefully trying to rebuild his life, and is beginning to realize his dreams. Leaving a life of construction behind, he has opened an outdoors shop and marina along the St. Johns River. Craig has also come to believe that he may indeed be able to trust again, to love again. As his life begins to flourish the imperceptible currents of transformation occurring in his hometown of Delana Bend soon will become torrents of hatred he will be forced to contend with.

Craig McNair’s ex-wife, Miranda, could never accept her divorce. Even though she now possesses the house he built and his money, Miranda’s seething hostility is continually fueled by catty gossip of Craig’s newfound happiness and the greed of her attorney, Samuel Carlson. Together they plan to steal McNair’s business and make millions from the sale of his property. Alone Miranda plans to destroy his renewed life and his new love in the process, embroiling Craig in a caldron of deceit and vengeance.

When Seminole Indian Warren Jumper arrives in town searching his lost family heritage, he meets Craig at the marina. The two men recognize in their first afternoon together that the ancient river and the events in Florida’s history occurring along its banks dating back to the First Seminole Indian War inexorably connect them. The exploits of their storied ancestors bind them in the furnace of loyalty and together they share a discovered secret that has been lost for more than a hundred years. A friendship becomes brotherhood and where one is forced to travel, the other will be by his side, no matter the cost.

Ivory Fallow has experienced enough abuse at the hands of her father and husband that she can barely conceive of a normal life, until she meets Craig. He is the epitome of her every girlhood dream, dreams she had long abandoned to despair. But during one chance meeting on the river Ivory’s hopes are rekindled. When Ivory’s husband mysteriously dies in an ‘accident” on the river she senses an escape from cruelty and brutality could be a reality, if she can find the courage. Craig is the one man she wishes will be able to turn her nightmare into fantasy, and a scared girl into a vibrant woman.

Lake County Sheriff “Bump” Soloman is confounded by a flurry of deaths in the little town of Delana Bend. Each “accident” appears coincidental, however he feels an underlying current of extenuating circumstances that push coincidence aside. This feeling is more of a cognitive impression stirred by his cop instincts, but neither he nor his investigators have any evidence to support his premonitions. When the Sheriff’s burgeoning love is brutally attacked it shatters his world, throwing all conjecture and his principles of law and order askew, in lieu of real truth.

One thing the Sheriff is certain of, Craig McNair is involved.

The composition of this novel is so taut, yet touching and humor filled, the result is an intoxicating Novel that will intrigue and excite readers to the last page, presenting an interesting challenge to each reader to discover the identity of the title character.
Stephen Michael Natale offers a story that is the best meld of genre realms and the perfect weekend companion to a beach chair or fireplace.