Camino Winds

Hurricane Leo, a powerful and erratic storm, defies predictions and turns toward Camino Island, Florida. Bay Books owner Bruce Cable initially dismisses the threat, focusing on an upcoming event for author Mercer Mann, whose second novel, Tessa, is a bestseller. Bruce hosts a lunch for Mercer and her new boyfriend, Thomas, an MFA student. Later, he throws a dinner party for Mercer and local writers, including Bob Cobb and Nelson Kerr. Also present is Nick Sutton, a college student working at the bookstore.

The next morning, Leo has strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane aimed directly at the island, and the governor issues a mandatory evacuation order. While most residents flee, including Mercer and the other writers, Bruce stays behind to protect his home and store, joined by Nick Sutton. Writers Bob Cobb and Nelson Kerr also remain in their condos on the island’s north end.

Leo makes landfall with 145-mph winds that cause catastrophic destruction and a massive storm surge that floods Main Street and Bay Books, resulting in several fatalities. A police officer informs Bruce that Nelson Kerr is dead from an apparent head wound and asks Bruce to identify the body. At Nelson’s condo, Bruce and Nick meet Bob Cobb, who found Nelson crumpled over a patio wall with a bloody gash and a tree limb nearby, suggesting an accident.

After the police leave them to wait for a detective, Bruce, Bob, and Nick grow suspicious. Inside the condo, Nick finds what appear to be dried bloodstains on a wall and in a sink. He persuades the others to move the body, revealing two additional head wounds. Nick theorizes that Nelson was murdered inside and the scene was staged. He photographs what looks like blood on Nelson’s seven-iron golf club, suspecting it is the murder weapon. The local detective, Hoppy Durden, is convinced to treat it as a crime scene, and the investigation is soon handed over to the Florida State Police. The state crime lab autopsy reveals Nelson died from four distinct blows to the head.

While taking shelter at Bruce’s house, Bob Cobb confesses that he spent the weekend before the storm with a woman named Ingrid Murphy. He describes her as physically powerful and says she expressed a specific interest in Nelson’s books, prompting a lunch meeting among the three of them. During the hurricane, Ingrid panicked and fled Bob’s condo. Shortly after, Nelson called Bob to say Ingrid was at his place acting strangely, which was the last time Bob heard from him. Nick theorizes that Ingrid is a professional killer who used Bob to get to her target. Frustrated by the chaos, Bruce, Bob, and Nick drive to Jacksonville, where they share Bob’s story with Captain Wesley Butler of the state police.

Bruce contacts Nelson’s sister, Polly McCann, who reveals Nelson sent her a thumb drive containing his unpublished novel just before his death. She also discloses that Nelson had hidden $8 million in offshore investments. Bruce suspects the killer swapped Nelson’s real hard drive with an encrypted dummy, which is later confirmed by investigators from the private security firm Alpha North Solutions.

Bruce, who becomes Nelson’s literary executor, sends the unpublished manuscript to Mercer and Thomas, who report that the novel is about a corrupt nursing home company that uses a secret, unapproved drug called Daxapene to prolong the lives of terminal dementia patients to defraud Medicare. Bruce and the others conclude Nelson was murdered to stop the book’s publication, which must be based on a true story from an informant.

Frustrated with the slow police investigation, Bruce and Polly hire Alpha North Solutions, which tasks investigator Lindsey Wheat with looking into corrupt nursing home companies. Lindsey’s team goes undercover in rural Kentucky, recruiting two employees as informants, including Brittany Bolton, who steals drug samples from work. Tests reveal that her facility, owned by the parent company Grattin, is passing a mysterious drug called Flaxacill off as vitamin E-3. When Brittany is later found dead of an apparent opioid overdose, Lindsey suspects a murder orchestrated by Grattin.

Meanwhile, Bruce sells Nelson’s novel, now titled Pulse, and issues a press release mentioning a reward for information about the author’s death. He is soon contacted anonymously by Nelson’s informant, who arranges a meeting in New York City. The informant is Danielle “Dane” Noddin, wife of Grattin CEO Ken Reed. A former executive assistant, Dane confirms the novel’s story is true and that she was Nelson’s source and lover. She believes Reed and his inner circle had Nelson killed. Bruce takes this information to the FBI, which launches a massive investigation.

In a separate case, a contract killer named Rick Patterson is critically injured after a job in Ohio. On his deathbed, he admits that he and his partner, Karen Sharbonnet, were paid $4 million to murder several people, including Nelson Kerr. He confirms Karen killed Nelson with a golf club. After Bob Cole confirms Karen’s identity from surveillance footage, she is arrested and extradited to Florida.

The FBI makes a deal with a high-level Grattin accountant named Sid Shennault, who agrees to provide evidence of the fraud in exchange for immunity. Thanks to a tip from Dane, the FBI arrests Ken Reed as he attempts to flee the country. They also arrest his top executives and the broker who hired the killers. 

Ten months after the hurricane, Camino Island is slowly rebuilding. The Grattin scandal is a major national news story, and Nelson’s posthumous novel is a pending bestseller. As Bruce, Bob, and Nick celebrate the resolution of the case, Nick receives a news alert that a new hurricane, Buford, has just formed in the same location where Leo began.