Margarita Nights

MARGARITA NIGHTS is a debut novel by Phyllis Smallman, and our first encounter with amateur sleuth Sherri Travis.

The bar in Jacaranda, Florida may be upscale, but Sherri Travis is from the side of town where luxury is an extra wide trailer. She is separated from her husband Jimmy Travis, who comes from Jacaranda's social register, and there's only one thing Sherri and her mother-in-law agree on: she and Jimmy shouldn't be together.

Sherri wants Jimmy out of her life but he won't stay gone, so when Jimmy and his boat, the Suncoaster, explodes in an orange ball of fire, the police come calling. There's a witness who puts Sherri on the Suncoaster hours before it went boom. Add a quarter million dollar insurance policy, and Sherri becomes the suspect du jour.

Sherri didn't do it, but as she digs through the debris of Jimmy's life, she discovers more than a few people who wanted Jimmy dead.

PHYLLIS SMALLMAN's love of books led to various library jobs after which she became a production potter who dreamed of being a writer. Depending on the time of year, she can be found on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Hamilton, Ontario or a beach in Southwest Florida.