Islands of Deception

People who have read my book Islands of Deception have asked me where the idea came from for the book. While the plot and character development are a convoluted blend of some of my life experiences, the genesis for the story points to the Beaver Islander ferry boat back in the 1990s. 

After a camping trip on Beaver Island, my wife and I boarded the Beaver Islander for the trip back to Charlevoix. As the boat powered out of the harbor, I watched the island’s tree-lined shore recede from view. In that moment my imagination began to kick in. It was there that the character Fallon McElliot was born, the Michigan state police detective in search of the truth. It was that single thought that led me to write the first draft of the book many years ago. 

Over the last three years I dusted off that old manuscript and worked with an editor to revise and rework it until it was ready to submit to the publisher last fall. The book you have today has only about 75 percent of the original manuscript from years ago, but it owes its existence to that trip I took on the Beaver Islander so many years ago.