John Grisham, well-known author of stand-alone legal thrillers, takes a departure from his usual lawyers, law office and courtroom dramas to bring us a trilogy of suspense thrillers with continuing characters in his Camino Island series.
The trilogy takes place on Camino Island, a sleepy resort area off the coast of Florida. The main characters include Bruce Cable, who owns a popular bookstore in Santa Rosa, and Mercer Mann, a young novelist.
The Camino Island Trilogy
Camino Island - Book 1
In the first book, a group of thieves steal the priceless F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts owned by Princeton University. Since Princeton has insured the manuscripts for twenty-five million dollars, the thieves plan to hold them for ransom.
When investigators track the stolen manuscripts to Camino Island, and possibly to bookstore owner Bruce Cable who is suspected of sometimes dabbling in the black market of stolen books and manuscripts, they convince young novelist Mercer Mann to help them. Mercer spent many summers on Camino Island with her grandmother and knows the island well.
Mercer’s job is to infiltrate Bruce Cable’s circle of literary friends and hopefully get close enough to him to learn his secrets.
Eventually, though, Mercer learns too much and trouble comes to this paradise island.
Camino Winds - Book 2
In Book 2, Grisham brings us back to Camino Island where you might enjoy a little sun, a little sand…. and find yourself instead with mystery and mayhem. How about murder in the midst of a hurricane.
Mercer Mann is now a best-selling author and she returns to Camino Island and Bruce’s Bay Books bookstore for an appearance on her current book tour. Then Hurricane Leo, which had been meandering all over for days with no solid land destination, suddenly heads straight for the island. There is a mandatory evacuation where most residents leave, but Bruce and a few others stay and ride out the storm. In the devastating aftermath, one of Bruce’s friends and resident author is found dead and his injuries appear suspicious instead of storm-related.
The key to who would want Nelson dead may be in his latest novel, which, when Bruce begins to investigate, is discovered to be more shocking – and far more dangerous – than anyone could have imagined.
Camino Ghosts - Book 3
Writer Mercer Mann returns to Camino Island to marry her boyfriend Thomas in a seaside ceremony on the beach. Island bookseller Bruce Cable performs the wedding. Afterward, knowing Mercer is looking for a storyline for her next novel, Bruce tells her an incredible story about Dark Isle, a tiny barrier island off the North Florida coast that had been settled by freed slaves 300 years ago.
This island’s elderly last descendant, Lovely Jackson, loves her birthplace and it’s wonderful history and feels the island rightfully belongs to her. But a ruthless corporate developer wants to build a resort and casino on the island. Mercer and Lovely begin an enormous fight over who owns Dark Isle, taking on the developer’s corporation and all its lawyers and lobbyists, plus powerful Florida politicians.
You would think that Mercer and Lovely would not have a chance against so many powerful people, but Lovely knows the reasons the island has been uninhabited for a long time ~ the island is cursed. The island's deep secrets of the past are about to collide with the ambitions of the present, placing Dark Isle - and also Camino Island - hanging in a fateful balance.
Summary
Bookseller Bruce Cable and novelist Mercer Mann always manage to find trouble in paradise in this trilogy of stories on Camino Island. They are a thrilling beach read for your summertime reading.
*The Camino Island Triology is reviewed by Wednesday Elf
