Above Board

A Weird & Whacky Florida Mystery

When a luxury yacht explodes off the Florida Gulf Coast, everyone calls it an accident.

Danny “Gumbo” Malone calls it nonsense.

What starts as a routine inquiry into a suspicious boating disaster quickly spirals into a sun-scorched maze of crooked developers, shady marina deals, offshore shell companies, and a cast of Gulf Coast eccentrics who are anything but “above board.” From Sarasota docks to backwater dive bars, Gumbo finds himself knee-deep in a high-stakes conspiracy involving real estate fraud, insurance scams, political corruption, and enough buried secrets to sink a fleet.

As bodies stack up and the pressure mounts, Gumbo must untangle a web of financial deception, waterfront greed, and small-town power players who don’t appreciate questions. Between cartel whispers, backroom deals, and a few wildly unhinged locals, staying alive becomes its own full-time job.

In Florida, the sunshine hides rot just beneath the surface.

And this time, the tide is coming in red.

Packed with sharp dialogue, offbeat humor, fast-paced action, and a heavy dose of Florida noir atmosphere, ABOVE BOARD delivers a hardboiled private investigator thriller with a weird coastal twist. Perfect for fans of gritty Gulf Coast crime fiction, eccentric Southern mysteries, and sun-drenched suspense.

Florida mystery

Private investigator thriller

Gulf Coast noir

Sarasota crime fiction

Hardboiled detective novel

Coastal conspiracy thriller

Real estate corruption

Insurance fraud mystery

Offshore money laundering

Small-town political scandal

Action-packed crime suspense

Dark humor mystery

Weird Florida crime novel