Major Bluecastle: A Crime Short

No one knows why strangers are buying up Florida swampland in the 1960s. But the money's worth killing for.(Note: "Major Bluecastle" is a short story. It is also available in the author's 10-story collection, Daggyland #3.)* * *Not much happens in Abel Daunt's neck of the woods. For as long has he's lived in central Florida and worked as a sheriff's deputy, the people are as boring as the land.A place of swamps and sleepy orange groves.But now something's afoot. Suddenly, outsiders are buying up land. And the money they're throwing around is enough to stir up the murky waters where alligators dwell.Enough to turn buddy against buddy, sons against fathers, blood against blood.Abel's too busy running down a murderer to ask the big question: What are they building?No one knows. But it's going to be something…major.* * *"D'Agnese writes the most unusual and interesting books." -Bookviews Joseph D'Agnese is a journalist and author who has written for children and adults alike. He's been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Discover, and other national publications.In a career spanning more than twenty years, his work has been honored with awards in three vastly different areas-science journalism, children's literature, and mystery fiction.His science articles have twice appeared in the anthology Best American Science Writing.His children's book, Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci, was an honoree for the Mathical Book Prize-the first-ever prize for math-themed children's books.One of his crime stories won the 2015 Derringer Award for short mystery fiction. Another of his stories was selected by mega-bestselling author James Patterson for inclusion in the prestigious annual anthology, Best American Mystery Stories 2015.D'Agnese's crime fiction has appeared in Shotgun Honey, Plots with Guns, Beat to a Pulp, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.D'Agnese lives in North Carolina with his wife, the New York Times bestselling author Denise Kiernan (The Girls of Atomic City).