The Blind Key, set in 2015, is the second adventure in the Hugo Sandoval Eco-Mystery Series and takes the building inspector to a barrier island off Floridäs Gulf Coast where he encounters buried mysteries that only he can solve and comes face to face with his old nemesis, sea level rise.
Lured to the tiny barrier island of Blind Key off Floridäs Gulf Coast under the ruse of a fishing trip, Hugo leaves his own waterfront to join his best friend Harrison on a chase to unravel the dreams of an exotic artist, the fate of a legendary fish shack, and the destiny of three Cuban refugees, all while consuming, at least for Hugo, an inordinate amount of Gulf shrimp and rum.
Reeling from yet another controversy at the Department of Building Inspections and the sudden unearthing of his father¿s cold case file, San Francisco¿s preeminent building inspector soon encounters the same problems he left back home¿insatiable development, sea level rise, and betrayal. On Blind Key, Hugo comes to terms with his past while he digs for the island¿s captivating mysteries long buried in the mangroves and reads the clues left on the sandy bottom of the Gulf ensnared by an artificial reef.
With his passionate wife Carmen, his illuminating assistant Sara of Otis Street, and the indominable Harrison behind him, Hugo dares to find the link between Blind Key¿s archeological past and its fragile ecosystem before high tech pirates and his personal Moriarty¿sea level rise¿catch up. As Harrison says, ¿You can¿t see Blind Key from the water even if you¿re sailing straight for it. It¿s not much more than broken pieces of shells and mangroves snapped off the barrier islands of Captiva and Sanibel,¿ and exactly where in September of 2022, Hurricane Ian delivered a direct hit.