The Blind Key

When rising seas threaten to submerge an endangered barrier island off Florida’s Gulf Coast, Hugo is plunged into his next case 2,300 miles from home. The Blind Key is the second adventure in the Hugo Sandoval Eco-Mystery Series and takes the building inspector to Southwest Florida where he uncovers another collision of our ravenous culture with the environment. Lured to the tiny barrier island of Blind Key off Florida’s Gulf Coast under the ruse of a fishing trip, Hugo leaves his beloved San Francisco waterfront to join his best friend Harrison on a chase to unravel the dreams of an exotic artist, the fate of a legendary fish shack, and the destiny of three Cuban refugees, all while consuming, at least for Hugo, an inordinate amount of Gulf shrimp and rum. Reeling from yet another controversy at the Department of Building Inspections and the sudden unearthing of his father’s cold case file, San Francisco’s preeminent building inspector soon encounters in Florida the same problems he left back home—insatiable development, climate change, and betrayal. With his wife Carmen, his assistant, the splendid Sara of Otis Street, and the indominable Harrison behind him, Hugo dares to find the link between Blind Key’s archeological past and its fragile ecosystem before high tech pirates and his personal Moriarty in disguise as sea level rise catch up.