Down Island: A Jesse McDermitt Novel

Wayne Stinnett

Aug 2025 · Caribbean Adventure Series Book 30 · Down Island Press

About this ebook

After being away from his home in the Florida Keys for nine months, Jesse McDermitt has returned to find his tiny island compound just north of Big Pine Key in disarray. Being away for so long has taken its toll. Not just on Jesse and his family, but also their island.

 

The part-time caretaker Jesse hired has disappeared without a trace, and many of the systems that made life easier on the island for Jesse and his family needed attention. After weeks of hard work, things are finally back in order, and Jesse receives a cryptic phone call from an associate in Key West, a yacht broker, asking him to come down island and have a look at something he's discovered.

 

The part-time caretaker turns up dead in a hotel room in Miami and the body count begins to mount. So Jesse brings in the big guns, both figuratively and literally, as their island is under attack. But what Dean Murphy uncovered was just the tip of the iceberg.

 

When Jesse and his cohorts become involved, it will take every bit of their accumulated experience, cunning, and warrior attitude to cut off the head of the snake and restore order to the rest of the Florida Keys.

About the author

Wayne Stinnett is an American novelist and Veteran of the United States Marine Corps. After serving he worked as a deckhand, commercial fisherman, Divemaster, taxi driver, construction manager, and commercial truck driver. He currently lives in the South Carolina Lowcountry on one of the sea islands, with his wife and youngest daughter. They have three other children, four grandchildren, three dogs and a whole flock of parakeets. He's the founder of the Marine Corps League detachment in Greenville, South Carolina, where he met his wife, and rides with the Patriot Guard Riders. He grew up in Melbourne, Florida and has also lived in the fabulous Florida Keys, Andros Island in the Bahamas, Dominica in the Windward Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico. Wayne began writing in 1988, penning three short stories before setting it aside to deal with life as a new father. He took it up again at the urging of his third wife and youngest daughter, who love to listen to his sea stories. Those original short stories formed the basis of his first novel, Fallen Palm. After a year of working on it, he published it in October 2013. Since then, he's written more novels and now this prequel in the Jesse McDermitt Caribbean Adventure Series and the spinoff Charity Styles Caribbean Thriller Series. These days, he can usually be found in his office above Lady's Island Marina, where he also keeps his boat, working on the next book.