Southern Historical Fiction

His name was Edgar J. Watson, a man with a secret past. Accused of gunning-down the notorious outlaw Belle Starr, Edgar fled into the lawless land where no lawman in his right mind would go—the wilds of southwest Florida. In a region where snakes, gators, and sharks feasted on the naive ones who accepted the offerings of strangers. Edgar J. Watson became successful in the sugar trade, building his plantation on the backs of runaways, slaves, and adventurers. 

The Powell brothers - Muir and Moody - are as different as Cain and Abel. Muir is an innocent, a shy young man with big dreams. Moody, the older and wilder brother - embittered by the death of his father, by years of fighting his mother, and by his jealousy of Muir's place in the family - takes to moonshine and gambling and turns his anger on his brother. Muir escapes by wandering, making his way around the country in attempts to find something - an occupation, a calling - to match his ambition.

By late 1936, the worst years of the Great Depression are over. Wealth has created new opportunities for Minnie: a beautiful home in California, a luxury car, the yearning desire by a handsome lieutenant, and the family’s summer retreat, which draws her like a magnet. Secrets abound. A hidden bohemian community of writers, poets, artists, and escapists is scattered across the shifting coastal dunes near the cottage.