by Chris Niles
DOH!
That’s when I asked my dear VIP readers for their advice. (And if you’re not a VIP reader yet, and you’d like to weigh in when I go off the rails and need a little nudge, you can join the crew at chrisnilesbooks.com/vip ) And they (you?) overwhelmingly voted for me to take an extra month, fix that egregious oversight, and deliver a book worthy of the Sea Adventure category.
So here we are.
A few days in, 2021 has handed over its beer and is continuing its big brother’s legacy of mayhem, but here in my little corner of the world, the dog is sleeping in a six-foot beanbag, and I still have lots and lots of words that need to hit the page. I’ve decided to give Kate a little more grace and time for her next adventure to unfold. I know where she’s headed for at least the next two or maybe even three quests, but she has yet to fill me in on the details. I’ll just hang out, and I’ll make a fresh basket of grouper bites for when she shows up.
Acknowledgments
I’ve had variations on a kidnapping plot bouncing around since the very first time Kate introduced herself to me, but it wasn’t until intrepid Shark Key reader Tim Keane emailed me and said he wanted to be a supervillain that the pieces fell into place. So it’s not hyperbole to say this book wouldn’t exist without him.
The real Tim Keane is quite a character. He is, in fact, an Irishman, and he is, in fact, a jeweler. But after those facts, I took a lot of liberties. He is neither a kidnapper nor a Colombian emerald miner, nor does he have an armed militia at his disposal. And, in the end, I couldn’t make him the ultimate bad guy. I just like him too much. I hope he can forgive me.
This book also wouldn’t have been possible without Becca Syme, or the amazing writers of The Office. In a year when we had EVERY reason to shut down and hide and get nothing done, they kept my distractible squirrel brain focused on our daily zoom sessions. And Becca’s constant blend of truth and encouragement formed into the answers I needed to keep going, even when the words were so very hard to come by.
To the amazing bunch of guys and gals at Tropical Authors (tropicalauthors.com), I’m proud to have you all on my team—especially The Nicks and Wayne. Shark Key would be a gated community without you guys (oh, wait…). But seriously, dear reader, hop on over there and find a new series to devour. You can read faster than any of us can write, and a rising tide lifts all boats.
To my daily partner in crime, Ric Beard, you lift me up when I’m down, slap me down when I get too big for my britches, and generally remind me to have faith in humanity.
To my AMAZING editor, Staci Troilo, you make me so much better than I am and you’re a strong, incredible human, too.
Most of the places in this book are very real, and I thank my brother Adam for a day at Mallory Key in his Boston Whaler. Nothing beats hanging onto a current line and floating in the warm salt water with you. Except maybe reading your book…after you write it.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Animal Farm — the Jail Zoo — is absolutely a place. Before Covid, they were open to the public two Sundays a month, and I plan my trips to Key West around when they’re open. You should, too, once things open up again. (Until then, you can check them out on Facebook or Instagram where you can meet Kramer and Jack, King Julian, and of course, Mo the Sloth.
Finally, my family. My daughters Masha and Lena grew into amazing independent women over the course of just the past year. I’m so proud of how both of you have stayed strong and thrived during such a difficult year. You can do anything! And to my husband, Mark. The rock who steadies all of us. This year, he’s stepping out and starting his own business, too, and I couldn’t be prouder. Thanks for being my anchor in the storm of 2020.
About the Author
Chris(tine) Niles has been telling stories since she was a lying kid. Now she’s figuring out how to make a career of it. Because she likes to eat, she tried for about fifteen minutes to write romance. But her characters kept killing each other, so she switched to thrillers.
Her heart is buried deep in the hammock north of Sugarloaf Key, and you can only find it from a kayak. Despite that, her body lives in northeastern Indiana with her husband, two adult daughters, and a hungry four-legged sack of fur named Franklin.
You can find out more at chrisnilesbooks.com.
Also by Chris Niles
The Shark Key Adventures
LOST PALM
An extraordinary prize lies hidden in the remote Florida Keys backcountry.
When Kate Kingsbury finds a map tucked in the pages of a rare Hemingway novel, she sets off to discover a little more about the islands around her new home.
But in an instant, her sunny adventure becomes a dangerous fight for her life.
Can Kate survive the threat lurking among the mangroves?
LOST PALM is exclusively available to members of my VIP Reader Group. Join today for free at chrisnilesbooks.com/VIP
BOOK 1: LOST KEY
It only takes a moment to lose everything.
When a corrupt real-estate developer sets his sights on Kate Kingsbury’s marina in the Florida Keys, Kate and her neighbors must band together to save Shark Key. Their only hope is a lost treasure stolen from the infamous Al Capone. Can they find what’s been hidden for almost a century before time runs out?
BOOK 2: LOST RELICS
In the aftermath of a devastating hurricane, five long lost indigenous idols are linked to a series of missing teenagers in the Dominican Republic. And when Kate Kingsbury joins the search for the ancient zemís, the killer sets his sights on her.
Can Kate find the ancient idols before he kills again?
BOOK 3: LOST FLEET
A shocking secret lies at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea.
When her journalism mentor is killed in a horrific plane crash off the coast of Key West, Kate Kingsbury travels to New York to lay him to rest.
At his funeral, she learns he might have found proof that a Chinese fleet arrived in the Caribbean nearly a hundred years before the Europeans. As she follows his leads, she meets the charming Brian Yim, whose uncle — a powerful Chinese oil magnate — is searching for the fleet, too.
Is Brian searching for the truth, or is he a mole for his uncle? And will Kate live long enough to find out?
BOOK 4: LOST GEMS
The hunt is on.
When a young mother disappears from Shark Key without a trace, Kate and her friends must answer one question: what’s she running from?
But after a Columbian cartel targets her six-year-old son, her dark secrets come tumbling down around him, and Kate must risk everything to protect the boy and unravel the woman’s web of lies.
This edge-of-your-seat adventure will lead Kate from Boca to Bogota, dragging her deep into an underbelly of the Caribbean few visitors ever see. And she’ll have to call on some unexpected allies in order to make it out alive.
The Anna Mitchell International Thriller Series:
DAYBREAK
The new cold war is heating up.
Russian-backed terrorist Sasha Volkov plans to launch a series of attacks on American soil that will plunge the world into chaos. And only former CIA operative Anna Mitchell can stop him.
But when Anna uncovers a secret about her own past that ties her to Volkov, she must make an impossible choice: learn the truth about herself, or save innocent American lives.
Learn more at chrisnilesbooks.com
