The Guardian of Eden
by Ward Cary Parker

Zeke Adams is an ex-news photographer who returned to his boyhood home of Eden, Florida, to run Pineapple Fields, the cottage community he inherited from his father. Affectionately known as  “Mother” by his eccentric tenants, he’s constantly helping them out of scrapes. Now it’s an old buddy, Jimmy, who needs help. Jimmy’s son was shot dead when playing a practical joke on a paranoid neighbor. The night after he’s released on bail, the neighbor is bludgeoned to death with Jimmy’s golf club and Jimmy is arrested for his murder. Seeking to prove Jimmy innocent, Zeke encounters spammers, politicians, hate groups and secret lives that lead to more murders and a juicy political scandal.

Suspects? There are many. First of all, the dead neighbor was a spammer. Then there’s the racist bully who was feuding with the dead neighbor--who happens to be an Arab. too. There’s the Big Sugar company that illegally paid the dead neighbor’s internet company to do work for a congressman running for reelection. There’s the anti-gay lobbying group that supports the congressman in his fight against a gay rights amendment. Oh, and the dead neighbor happens to be gay. Then there’s the Florida chapter of the Aryan Brotherhood. And there’s a lone-wolf extremist who is racking up a lot of dead bodies. Oh yeah, don’t forget there’s an election coming up.

The Guardian of Eden combines Zeke’s sardonic wit and the kookiness of his tenants with a dark edge as evil invades paradise.
 
55,000-word, amateur sleuth, Florida mystery series
 
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©2006 Ward Parker