The Iron Spiders — Baynard Kendrick

A bizarre death on an isolated Florida island requires a unique detective in this Golden Age mystery by the author of the Duncan Maclain series.

Young electrical engineer Donald Buchanan is excited to be working again -- and to spend his winter in Florida instead of New York. Instead of waiting tables, he'll be running a small power plant on Broken Heart Key, a private island owned by eccentric billionaire Aaron Tuckerton. Never mind his boss's strange warning about people wanting him dead . . .

But trouble quickly follows Don to paradise when a servant mysteriously jumps to her death in what she should've known were barracuda-infested waters. Then a mysterious necklace known as “the Iron Spider” is discovered in her room. Don believes there needs to be an inquest, but Aaron phones for a special investigator instead.

The next morning, Don is greeted by Miles Standish Rice. With his schoolboy attitude and voracious appetite, “Stan” may not seem like the type to bring a killer to justice. But as things take a turn for the deadlier on Broken Heart Key, it becomes clear to Don the PI is his only chance of getting off the island alive . . .

Baynard Kendrick was a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America, the holder of the organization's first membership card, and a winner of its Grand Master Award.