The Swamp Guide, Book One

“A great new entry into the pantheon of Florida sleuths …”
- George “Harley” Davidson, Zoo in a Book

“Sam Sawyer may become my favorite crime fighter. I can’t wait for the next book in this new Florida Keys mystery series …”
- Maryjane Elizabeth Jones, Heat Until Boiling

Sam Sawyer is a fishing guide and part-time sleuth living in the Florida Keys. He escaped a floundering academic career to realize his childhood dream of becoming a guide. But it has come at a heavy price, because his wife and colleague has chosen to remain behind in the halls of ivy. They see each other all too rarely, and lately things have gotten decidedly chilly. Sam’s life takes an unexpected turn when he discovers a pair of shoes lying next to a huge crocodile on a sandy bank deep in the everglades, and somebody’s feet are still in the shoes. Sam discovers that they belonged to a woman called Mable, who lived reclusively on an isolated key in Florida Bay. Before Sam’s life can return to normal, he must find out who killed Mable, and at the same time decide if and how he can rescue a personal life that seems to be running up on the rocks.

Carl and Jane Bock are retired Professors of Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Carl received his PhD in Zoology from the University of California at Berkeley, while Jane holds three degrees in Botany, a B.A. from Duke, an MA from the University of Indiana, and a PhD from Berkeley. Carl is an ornithologist and conservation biologist. Jane is a plant ecologist and an internationally recognized expert in the use of plant evidence in criminal investigations. Now largely retired from academic life, the Bocks have turned their creative efforts toward fiction writing, and are co-authors of two ongoing series, the Arizona Borderlands Mysteries and the Florida Swamp Guide Mysteries.