Under The Sand

Under the Sand takes place on a fictional island that resembles the real-life paradise of Gasparilla Island on the Gulf of Mexico. The tranquility of a hot summer day in the tiny community of four hundred is shattered when the lone cell tower is blown up and the bridge to the mainland is disabled, leading to the kidnapping by boat of two wealthy brothers. Left behind by the abductors are letters warning that the brothers will be buried alive until the ransom of $200 million is paid-and killed within seventy-two hours if it is not. With the sheriff out of town and the island cut off from the outside world, the task of finding the kidnapping victims and solving the mystery of who is behind this heinous crime falls to amateur sleuth Leslie Elliott and her reporter/close friend, Wes Avery. They join forces with the sheriff's new young deputy and the island's cynical iguana hunter in an effort to locate the brothers before the dangerous band of kidnappers, including ex-Wagner mercenaries and an American soldier convicted of murder, can make good on their threat.

Susan Hanafee is an award-winning former reporter for The Indianapolis Star. She headed corporate communications for IPALCO Enterprises and Cummins Inc. before becoming a mystery writer. She resides in Sarasota, Florida. Hanafee's blogs can be found on www.susanhanafee.com. Her previously published books include Red, Black and Global: The Transformation of Cummins (a corporate history); Rachael's Island Adventures (a collection of children's stories); Never Name an Iguana and Rutabagas for Ten (essays and observations on life); Leslie's Voice, a novel, in which her heroine Leslie Elliott is introduced, and the mystery sequels, Scavenger Tides, The End of His Journey, Deadly Winds, and Under the Sand.