Over twelve years ago, Harry Brock worked as a Game Warden in Maine when he was forced to kill a poacher in self-defense. The media hung Harry during the subsequent trial, but he was ultimately acquitted. However, his wife, already frustrated with their life in Maine, filed for divorce taking their two children with her.

Harry now lives on the southwest Florida Island, Bartram's Hammock. Katherine Trachey, accompanied by her two small children, asks Harry to take them to her runaway spouse, Willard, who is one of the island's recluses. Harry escorts the trio only to find someone killed Willard. As the prime suspect, the police lean towards either the wife for obvious reasons or the President of the Preservation league, Luis Mendoza, over a conservationist dispute are the two main suspects. Luis hires Harry to prove his innocence even as the loner begins to fall in love with the other major suspect.

DEATH IN A HAMMOCK is an enjoyable investigative mystery that starts slow, but once it picks up speed, it never decelerates. The characters are an appealing group except for the odious developer Orville Boone. Especially delightful is the hero who though a loner takes the time to entertain two little children with a snake and works extra hard to solve the case. Readers will take pleasure in Kinley Roby's first-rate tale.

Harriet Klausner