Trouble Island

A Novel

De: Sharon Short

Narrado por: Jennifer Jill Araya

A gripping new novel inspired by a real place and events from the author’s family, Trouble Island is the standalone suspense debut from historical mystery writer Sharon Short.

Many miles from anywhere in the middle of Lake Erie, Trouble Island serves as a stop-off for gangsters as they run between America and Canada. The remote isle is also the permanent home to two women: Aurelia Escalante, who serves as a maid to Rosita, lady of the mansion and wife to the notorious prohibition gangster, Eddie McGee. In the freezing winter of 1932, the women anticipate the arrival of Eddie and his strange coterie: his right-hand man, a doctor, a cousin, a famous actor, and a rival gangster who Rosita believes murdered their only son.

Aurelia wants nothing more than to escape Trouble Island, but she is hiding a secret of her own. She is in fact not a maid, but a gangster’s wife in hiding, as she runs from the murder she committed five years ago. Her friend Rosita took her in under this guise, but it has become clear that Rosita wants to keep Aurelia right where she is.

Shortly after the group of criminals, celebrities, and scoundrels arrive, Rosita suddenly disappears. Aurelia plans her getaway, going to the shore to retrieve her box of hidden treasures, but instead finds Rosita’s body in the water. Someone has made sure Aurelia was the one to find her. An ice storm makes unexpected landfall, cutting Trouble Island off from both mainlands, and with more than one murderer among them.

Both a gripping locked room mystery, and a transporting, evocative portrait of a woman in crisis, Trouble Island marks the enthralling standalone suspense debut from Sharon Short, promising to be her breakout novel, inspired by a real island in Lake Erie, and true events from her own rich family history.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

©2024 Sharon Short (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Deliciously twisty . . . Aurelia’s urgent first-person narration bestows the narrative with plenty of tension, which Short supplements with well-drawn supporting characters and several devilish reversals. Readers will have little trouble finishing this in a single sitting.”—Publisher’s Weekly

“Trouble Island is a spectacular locked-room tour de force that grabbed me by the throat with the first page and didn’t let me take a breath until I finished. It is jam-packed with everything I love in a book: A unique and breathtaking setting. A hero to root for. A cast of characters to be loved or hated, but never trusted. All of it tied together with a heart-pounding, heart-rending story told in prose as beautiful as poetry. Do not miss this book!”—Linda Castillo, New York Times bestselling author of The Burning

“Sharon Short’s historical thriller Trouble Island is a stunner; a compelling and atmospheric tale that kept me enthralled until the very end. Set in a gangster’s mansion on an island in Lake Erie during Prohibition, this is a story in which no one can be trusted, and everyone has something to hide. Short takes a little-known slice of Great Lakes history and brings it spectacularly to life. As the situation gets worse and worse and worse yet again, all I could think was that this can’t possibly end well—all while praying that it would. So engaging and masterfully written—I loved this book!”—Karen Dionne, #1 internationally bestselling author of The Marsh King’s Daughter and The Wicked Sister

A likable story filled with unlikable characters

Gripping from the start, full of twists and turns until the end. A fun take on an “island thriller” with lots of interesting, though for the most part unlikable, subjects. The performance of the reader is terrific.

Too complicated. Not believable

No good characters. Contrived story.
Swimming in Lake Erie in winter?! I don’t think so.

I hated this book

There was nothing to like about the characters, the ridiculous plot, or the connections among the characters. It was too long and too boring.

Mystery and Fiction

Well written and narratored audio book. Interesting, heartwarming, mysterious and keeps the reader or listeners wondering what will happen next. Well worth sharing and I look forward to finding more from this author and narrator.