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Sign up todayTrouble Island
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Learn moreA gripping new novel inspired by a real place and events from the author’s family, Trouble Island is the standalone suspense debut from historical mystery writer Sharon Short.
Many miles from anywhere in the middle of Lake Erie, Trouble Island serves as a stop-off for gangsters as they run between America and Canada. The remote isle is also the permanent home to two women: Aurelia Escalante, who serves as a maid to Rosita, lady of the mansion and wife to the notorious prohibition gangster, Eddie McGee. In the freezing winter of 1932, the women anticipate the arrival of Eddie and his strange coterie: his right-hand man, a doctor, a cousin, a famous actor, and a rival gangster who Rosita believes murdered their only son.
Aurelia wants nothing more than to escape Trouble Island, but she is hiding a secret of her own. She is in fact not a maid, but a gangster’s wife in hiding, as she runs from the murder she committed five years ago. Her friend Rosita took her in under this guise, but it has become clear that Rosita wants to keep Aurelia right where she is.
Shortly after the group of criminals, celebrities, and scoundrels arrive, Rosita suddenly disappears. Aurelia plans her getaway, going to the shore to retrieve her box of hidden treasures, but instead finds Rosita’s body in the water. Someone has made sure Aurelia was the one to find her. An ice storm makes unexpected landfall, cutting Trouble Island off from both mainlands, and with more than one murderer among them.
Both a gripping locked room mystery, and a transporting, evocative portrait of a woman in crisis, Trouble Island marks the enthralling standalone suspense debut from Sharon Short, promising to be her breakout novel, inspired by a real island in Lake Erie, and true events from her own rich family history.
A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.
SHARON SHORT is the author of fifteen published books. Her newest, Trouble Island, is historical suspense inspired by bootlegging and family history. Sharon is a contributing editor to Writer’s Digest, for which she writes the column, “Level Up Your Writing (Life)” and teaches for Writer’s Digest University. She is also a three-time recipient of the Individual Excellence Award in Literary Arts from Ohio Arts Council and has been a John E. Nance Writer in Residence at Thurber House (Columbus, Ohio). Sharon currently serves as President of the Midwest Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. As Jess Montgomery, she writes the historical Kinship Mysteries set in the 1920s and inspired by Ohio’s true first female sheriff. When not writing, Sharon enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, swimming, and occasionally hiking.
Reviews
“Deliciously twisty . . . Aurelia’s urgent first-person narration bestows the narrative with plenty of tension, which Short supplements with well-drawn supporting characters and several devilish reversals. Readers will have little trouble finishing this in a single sitting.”—Publisher’s Weekly
“Trouble Island is a spectacular locked-room tour de force that grabbed me by the throat with the first page and didn’t let me take a breath until I finished. It is jam-packed with everything I love in a book: A unique and breathtaking setting. A hero to root for. A cast of characters to be loved or hated, but never trusted. All of it tied together with a heart-pounding, heart-rending story told in prose as beautiful as poetry. Do not miss this book!” —Linda Castillo, New York Times bestselling author of The Burning
“Sharon Short’s historical thriller Trouble Island is a stunner; a compelling and atmospheric tale that kept me enthralled until the very end. Set in a gangster’s mansion on an island in Lake Erie during Prohibition, this is a story in which no one can be trusted, and everyone has something to hide. Short takes a little-known slice of Great Lakes history and brings it spectacularly to life. As the situation gets worse and worse and worse yet again, all I could think was that this can’t possibly end well—all while praying that it would. So engaging and masterfully written—I loved this book!”—Karen Dionne, #1 internationally bestselling author of The Marsh King’s Daughter and The Wicked Sister
“Trouble Island is a land-locked mystery full of guns, gangsters, secrets, and surprises, with twists I didn’t see coming and 1930s atmosphere to burn. I found myself rooting for both Aurelia and Rosita while not quite trusting them, as Short masterfully waits until the very end to reveal the truths they’re hiding. This story hooked me from page one!”—Erin Flanagan, Edgar Award-winning author of Deer Season
"This is total immersion storytelling! A classic locked-mansion mystery with a brilliant twist: bootleggers, gangsters, movie stars—and fascinating women with powerful and heartbreaking secrets. Sharon Short is a master of suspense, and her unique skill at creating intensely evocative settings and uniquely realized characters will keep you glued to the pages. Do not miss this!"—Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of The House Guest
"Everything a historical mystery should be: atmospheric, spine-tingling, and full of intrigue, with not a single character above (or below) suspicion. Trouble Island is irresistible."—Jessica Strawser, USA Today bestselling author of The Last Caretaker
"Trouble Island transported me into a world of gangsters, speakeasies, Hollywood glamor, and deadly betrayals. A winter storm traps a dangerous group of visitors in Trouble Island’s mansion and all of them want the lady of the house dead. Fans of historical locked-room mysteries will inhale this mesmerizing tale of one servant’s fight to survive as she uncovers the island’s secrets."—Mindy Mejia, USA Today bestselling author of To Catch a Storm and Everything You Want Me to Be
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