Murder in the Tropics

Here is the first statewide collection of true Florida murders, and, as the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction. The Sunshine State has played host to a memorable and varied array of crimes of passion, greed, and revenge.

In stories spanning from the 1860s to the 1990s, you will meet such varied characters as Lena Clarke, a killer with both her feet planted in a dozen bewildering worlds; Terry Jo, the Sea Waif; Chief Tigertail; the outlaw Ed Watson; Blue, the Enforcer; President Franklin Roosevelt; the Duke of Windsor; novelist Zora Neale Hurston; Lobster Boy; the Gulf Stream Pirate; Brother Gillette, a gentle Shaker who killed out of compassion; and Pensacola's Black Widow, a Spider Woman who killed without mercy.