A Step Beyond Chaos — Tom Corcoran

A Saturday stroll on Duval, camera in hand, leads Alex Rutledge to helping Key West Police Detective Dexter Hayes in checking out the scene where a suspected heart attack victim shot a handgun to draw help. Meanwhile, Alex's friend, Detective Beth Watkins, investigates a drive-by shooting in the Old Town area. Thus begins a string of odd deaths with few clues, little evidence, and unrelenting pressure. A freelance magazine and ad agency photographer, Rutledge doesn't go searching for police work. But the combo of his insight and ready help from The Aristocrats—offbeat private eyes Dubbie Tanner and Wiley Fecko—has built him a solid reputation for crime solution. When things look helpless, he gets the call.Close friends, friends of friends, photographic clues, murderers killing murderers, and a growing list of suspects challenge the police in Key West and the Sheriff's Office in the Lower Keys. When the jumble of crimes and criminals—living and dead—reaches a step beyond chaos, Rutledge wonders whether a calm approach will work better than a gun battle or a car chase. Maybe it won't.