Pariah — Ward Parker

Pariah, occupying a space in the great literary tradition of Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey. Somebody referred to it as, 'Southern grit lit, ' I just call it a hoot! --Tom Turner, author of the Charlie Crawford Mystery Series For Zeke Adams, identity theft isn't just wrecking his life. It could cost him his life. Fishing on a Florida beach one morning, Zeke Adams makes a horrifying discovery: drowned Haitian migrants washed up in the surf. He is further shocked to learn a half-sister he never knew he had was on their boat. It's unclear if she survived. And then Zeke's day gets even worse. Zeke is a reformed tabloid journalist who used to be a king of sleaze. Now he lands on the receiving end of scandal when flyers appear all over the community warning that he is a pervert. That's because his name mistakenly ended up on Florida's sexual offender registry due to criminal identity theft. He needs to clear his reputation before he gets run out of town, as well as rescue his half-sister from the human smugglers before a corrupt ICE agent captures her. Not easy tasks when people are trying to kill him and the cops want him in jail. Zeke's only ally is a detective whose cousin was among the drowned migrants. There are also the tenants of the cottages he owns on a former pineapple plantation. But how much help can he expect from a bunch of drunks, kooks, and a 100-year-old lothario who live to fish and party in a subtropical paradise? Find out if Zeke lands in jail, the morgue--or both--in Pariah, a different kind of mystery novel.