Chemical Burns: Writing a Wrong

Mark Daniels is a retired newspaper reporter who spent his career specializing in murder, earning the nickname: “Correspondent of Corpses.” While vacationing in the Florida Keys, escaping a harsh northern winter, Mark and his wife Sherry enjoy the beauty of the islands that stretch for 128 miles from the Florida mainland to the southernmost island of Key West. While enjoying Key West, Mark befriends a person of the streets, a homeless man living in paradise. Over coffee the two men discuss island life, discover they share an appreciation of Hemingway’s work, they talk about what Key West must have been like during Hemingway’s time on the island and the men discuss the diverse social strata of Key West residents. In the short time the men spend together, they form a bond. But when there is a brutal murder in Key West, Mark calls on the skills he developed over his career to follow a convoluted path to solve the murder, justify a shattered life and … “write a wrong.”

Justin Maxwell is the pen name of Wayne “Skip” Kadar. He taught at the high school level for several years then became a high school principal. After 16 years as a principal he retired from education. In retirement he worked as a harbor master at a marina on the Great Lakes and researched and wrote eight historically factual books about the Great Lakes region; books about ships that now lie on the bottom of the freshwater seas.