Article 1: Bringing Drake Marlow to Life
One of the questions I’m asked most often is where the inspiration for Drake Marlow comes from. The answer is a little complicated because Drake wasn’t based on any one detective. He emerged from years of reading classic mystery fiction, studying Florida history, and wondering what Palm Beach must have felt like during the difficult years of Prohibition followed by the Great Depression.
Article 2: Researching Palm Beach and Florida Noir in the 1930s
When readers pick up a Drake Marlow mystery, I want them to feel transported to another era. The mysteries themselves may be fictional, but the world surrounding Drake is built from real history, real locations, and countless hours of research into South Florida during the 1930s.
Article 3: Researching the Dangerous Beauty of South Florida’s Tropical World in the 1930s
One of the things that makes South Florida such a fascinating setting for historical mysteries is that the landscape itself can feel mysterious. Long before towering condominiums and endless development reshaped the region, much of South Florida was dense, humid, and unpredictable. Exotic plants flourished in the subtropical climate, many of them brought here by explorers, botanists, and early horticulturalists who believed South Florida could become a paradise unlike anywhere else in America.
