Murder at Nineteen Palms by J. M. Shaw

About the book

Leaving behind a broken marriage and a crumpled construction business, Jeremy Todd leaves Ohio with enough money to buy a beautiful condominium at Nineteen Palms in undiscovered Deerfield Beach, Florida. A Stone Phillips look-alike, forty-two year old retiree Jeremy hopes he can start a new life surrounded only by new people. As is the case in any condominium complex, Nineteen Palms boasts its own unique cast of characters from brazen and funny Marcy Stein to the most beautiful woman Jeremy has ever seen: Monica Weston. There is Larry, a wiry balding man who spends his days at the beach buried to his waist in sand while he writes poetry to his deceased wife. Darlene and Karen, a lesbian couple who can't quite admit their relationship, live up on the third floor. Renaldo and Tonio, two burly friends from Mexico, are would-be mountain climbers, and condo president Frank Cable is a nonstop talker with no mountains left to climb. In Jeremy's eyes, the centerpiece of Nineteen Palms is Monica Weston and he immediately falls in love.

A storm rages and garbage cans and awnings without homes clang down the street. The power is out and Monica summons Jeremy to her apartment via cell phone. Having been sexually abused by her father during all her years in Michigan and then physically abused by her former husband, Monica treats Jeremy to the most sensual experience of his life, but only after she is given total control. Jeremy is to do only what Monica says and then abruptly, she sends him home. Reluctantly, Jeremy returns to the fourth floor and a surrealistic night of shadowy figures in the parking lot and breaking windows. In the morning, Jeremy learns Monica has been killed. The police explain shards of broken glass slashed her throat, but Jeremy knows this cannot be. This is murder -- not happenstance -- and Jerry vows to learn the truth.

Jeremy attends the funeral in Michigan not only to honor woman he loves, but also to attain a measure of justice from a vicious husband and a father without conscience. Soon after Jeremy returns to Florida, Darlene Hodges disappears and her Ferrari is found in the everglades. Now Detective Edward Freeman is convinced someone at the "Palms" is a murderer. But who? Almost every resident seems suspicious and innocent at the same time.

Detective Freeman learns from Jeremy's former wife that Jeremy Todd is not only an insanely jealous man, but also one incapable of memory or remorse. Now he rushes back to Deerfield before Jeremy can kill again. Jeremy knows Freeman is very close to the truth and he and and his new girlfriend rush to the beach. Jeremy knows there is only one way for the killing to stop. Before he can be stopped, he dives into the ocean and swims toward Africa before being swallowed by the sea. Now the killings will end. A vicious storm yields Darlene's body from where Jeremy buried her in the sand and Tonio is found hanging in his closet. Jeremy Todd is gone to be remembered by a single person. Nineteen Palms is, again, paradise.

About the author

James Michael Shaw believes there is an exquisite connection between writer and reader: the writer paints word pictures and the reader sees and adds to them. In an effort to complete this beautiful loop, Jim has always found time for writing. After teaching and counseling in the Detroit area for over thirty years, it is refreshing for Jim to live in Florida with his wife Julia and adult children James Jr. and Stephanie. Retirement in Deerfield Beach not only offers a warm climate and quality time with family, but also provides Jim an opportunity to write without distraction.

J. M. Shaw has won The American Literary Press Award for Fiction, The Great American Auto show Writing Contest, the Detroit News Fiction Contest, and The Oxford Leader Award for Christmas fiction. Shaw's first novel, Assassin's Destiny, a fictional piece about averting the worst predictions of Nostradamus, was published in audio form in 1998. Along with completing his newest novel, Murder at Nineteen Palms, Shaw also writes a freelance feature column for a Deerfield newspaper.