Review by Dawn Goldsmith

Glynn Marsh Alam captures perfectly the steamy, shrouded northern Florida swamps in her first four books of this series.  In this installment she sets professor and scuba diver Luanne Fogarty near Central Florida’s city of Ocala during hurricane and alligator mating seasons while continuing to paint a death-perfect tropical landscape.

There, as a personal favor to enigmatic friend Tony Amado, sheriff’s detective and sometimes boss, Luanne helps him search for clues to his aunt’s death.  The love-starved alligators are not the only predators surrounding his aunt’s little lake-front cottage, but who killed her?  Was it the reclusive, well-fed New Jersey family who had clandestine deliveries?  Or maybe the handy man who showed up at the oddest times with his brain-damaged and abused sister in tow? Or maybe it is the wealthy old man and his land-grabbing son down the road?  Whoever it is serves up another neighbor to the alligators before Luanne and Tony have gotten very far into their investigation.

The author serves up clues and red herrings while giving long time readers a tasty tidbit or two into the life of Tony Amado.  Her lover Vernon comes to assist and Luanne’s best friend and swamp neighbor Pasquin offers his expertise in swamp psychology and Cajun cooking.

You can almost hear the mosquitos buzzing and the alligators bellowing from the pages of Alam’s fifth book of her delightfully deadly series.