The newcomer
(Book)

After she discovers her sister Tanya dead on the floor of her fashionable New York City townhouse, Letty Carnahan is certain she knows who did it: Tanya's ex; sleazy real estate entrepreneur Evan Wingfield. Even in the grip of grief and panic Letty heeds her late sister's warnings: "If anything bad happens to me--it's Evan. Promise me you'll take Maya and run. Promise me." So Letty grabs her sister's Mercedes and hits the road with her wailing four-year-old niece Maya. Letty is determined to out-run Evan and the law, but run to where?

After she discovers her sister Tanya dead on the floor of her fashionable New York City townhouse, Letty Carnahan heeds her late sister"s warnings: "If anything bad happens to me-- it's Evan. Promise me you'll take Maya and run. Promise me." Letty hits the road in Tanya's Mercedes with her wailing four-year-old niece Maya, a "go-bag" of cash and a big honking diamond ring but only one clue: a faded magazine story about The Murmuring Surf Motel in the Florida beach town of Treasure Island. The Surf is the winter home of a close-knit flock of retirees and snowbirds. Letty and Maya settle in, try to unravel Tanya's shady past, and dodge the owner's son Joe, who just happens to be a local police detective. -- adapted from jacket