The Sketching Detective and the Secret Robbery

Jack McCormac delivers his signature wit in a new Sketching Detective mystery. This time, Jack McKay and his wife Fiona are headed to Edisto Island, South Carolina. As always, mystery and murder follow them to the delightful beach community.

Jack has the strong opinion that the Edisto Beach officials should place the following sign at the entrance to the island.

WARNING DANGER

The United States Government warns people visiting this area of the danger of theft. This island may very well steal your heart.

Soon after their arrival in Edisto Island, Jack and Fiona read about the deathbed confession of a bank robber in the newspaper. The thief held up the First Universe Bank in Charleston a year before and got away with 110,000 dollars. The problem was, the bank claimed that they had lost 600,000 dollars from that robbery. The bank auditors had confirmed that the bank was short the larger amount, but the missing 490,000 put

Charleston in an uproar.

A few days later, Jack and Fiona stumble over a murdered woman on the beach, buried under a sand castle with a flounder gig stuck in her back. With the permission of the local police, Fiona rushes headlong into the mystery, dragging a reluctant Jack behind her.

The victim is identified as Bobbie Mainwaring because of a missing persons report filed later that day. John Mainwaring, her husband, travels to Edisto to claim the body only to find out that the dead woman is not his wife. So, who was the murder victim? And where is Bobbie? The two cases are soon connected through Bobbie and her past.

Between performing the Edisto crouch and practicing the geechee language, Jack and Fiona struggle to solve a year old robbery and the murder of someone who might have known too much.