Sunshine State

by D. P. Lyle

Overview

Serial killer's message to PI Jake Longly: Two of those seven murders I confessed to are not mine—but I won't tell you which two

Jake Longly and Nicole Jamison are confronted with the most bizarre case yet. Serial killer Billy Wayne Baker now denies that two of his seven murders were actually his work. An anonymous benefactor, who believes Billy Wayne's denials, has hired Longly Investigations to prove Billy Wayne right. Billy Wayne had confessed to all seven. Not only did the confessed serial killer have the motive, means, and opportunity for murder, but his DNA was found at each crime scene. Bizarre doesn't quite cover it.

Jake and Nicole travel to the small Gulf Coast town of Pine Key, Florida, where three of the murders occurred. The local police, FBI, state prosecutor, and crime lab each did their jobs, uncovered overwhelming evidence of Billy Wayne's guilt—and even extracted a full confession. Is Billy Wayne simply trying to tweak the system to garner another fifteen minutes of fame? It's likely all a game to him, but, if he's being truthful—someone out there is getting away with multiple murders. How? Why? And most importantly, who?

Dark clouds loom in the Sunshine State.

Perfect for fans of Carl Hiaasen and Janet Evanovich

While all of the novels in the Jake Longly Thriller Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:

Deep Six
A-List
Sunshine State
Rigged
The OC (coming October 2021)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608093373
Publisher:	Oceanview Publishing
Publication date:	05/21/2019
Series:	The Jake Longly Series , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

D. P. Lyle is the award-winning, best-selling author of both fiction and nonfiction books. Sunshine State is the third in his best-selling Jake Longly mystery series. Earlier books in the series were finalists for the Shamus Award, Foreword Book of the Year Award, and Best Book Award, and included on Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2016 list.

Lyle has authored 17 books, been a consultant to numerous novelists and screenwriters of popular TV shows, served as co-host of Crime and Science Radio, and currently hosts the Criminal Mischief podcast series. He lives in Orange County, California.

Editorial Reviews

05/01/2019

In Lyle's third "Jake Longly" story (Deep Six; A-List), Jake, former major league fastballer and now sometime PI for his father's detective firm, and girlfriend Nicole pursue a bizarre case. Convicted mass murderer Billy Wayne Baker wants his crimes reexamined, claiming he didn't kill seven women, only five, even though he confessed to all the killings. He cheerfully admits he's a murderer but doesn't want his record besmirched. Nicole and Jake head to the small Gulf Coast town of Pine Key, FL. Three killings occurred there, not one, Billy Wayne's modus operandi was to kill once, then move on. So who might have murdered the other two, and how can they get people to talk? Working for Billy Wayne won't do it. Enter Nicole's Uncle Charles, TV producer. The PIs arrive in town posing as an advance team for a proposed television documentary on the lives of the victims, not the murderer. Here Jake proves his worth: people like talking to him, and he and Nicole need them to talk. That and the 80-mile-an-hour remnant of Jake's formerly 100-mile-an-hour fastball are Jake's strengths: both of which he uses to his advantage in this loosey-goosey detective story. VERDICT This attractive PI thriller should appeal to lovers of detective fiction.—David Keymer, Cleveland

Library Journal

05/06/2019

In Lyle’s ingenious third mystery featuring retired major league pitcher Jake Longly (after 2017’s A-List), Jake, who runs a restaurant in Gulf Shores, Ala., is again roped into working for his father Ray’s PI firm. An attorney has contacted Ray on behalf of Billy Wayne Baker, a convicted serial killer. Though Baker pleaded guilty to strangling seven women, he insists that he killed only five of them, and wants that assertion validated. When Jake meets Baker in prison, the murderer refuses to name the other killer, claiming that doing so would lead to accusations that Jake’s inquiries were biased. The investigator’s task is made even harder by Baker’s not even identifying which of the dead women were killed by someone else . (To his credit, Lyle makes this complicated scenario credible.) Along with his girlfriend, Jake travels to Pine Key, Fla., the scene of three of the strangulations, where the couple pretend to be researching a documentary examining the impact of the killings on the small community. The clever plot twists will surprise even genre veterans. This entry is the best in the series so far. Agent: Kimberly Cameron, Kimberly Cameron & Assoc. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"The release of a new D. P. Lyle book is a highlight of any year, and Sunshine State is his best yet! This is one of those rare novels where everything in your life stops until you read through to the end. Jake Longly rocks!” —John Gilstrap, New York Times best-selling author


“With an ingenious plot, lots of laughs, plenty of romance, and a hot, Florida locale, Sunshine State is the definition of the perfect beach read.” —Lee Goldberg, New York Times best-selling author


“Sunshine State sizzles with just the right mix of action and mystery, a rollicking roller-coaster ride on a track lined with thrills and spills.” —Jon Land, USA Today best-selling author


Praise for the Jake Longly Series

“We all know Lyle’s erudition and expertise—but who knew he was this funny?” —Lee Child, New York Times best-selling author


“D. P. Lyle returns in superb form in Deep Six. Smart, wickedly funny, expertly constructed and deftly executed, Lyle is at the top of his game as he takes his readers on a romp on the Gulf Coast that goes down as smoothly as a cold beer on a hot day at a bar next to the beach.” —Sheldon Siegel, New York Times best-selling author


“D. P. Lyle hits it over the fence with A-List. This mystery, featuring former Major League pitcher and reluctant PI Jake Longly, is fast-paced, slick, and funny. Bad times in the Big Easy mean a great time for readers. Head to New Orleans with Jake and enjoy the trip.” —Meg Gardiner, Edgar Award-winning author


“Corruption, vendettas, cartel killers, oh my! Deep Six puts the fun back into late-night reading with this fast-paced romp through murder and mayhem. Prepare to flip the pages.” —Lisa Gardner, New York Times best-selling author


“Snappy patter and amusing riffs . . . [A] Glock-blazing conclusion. This series just keeps getting better.” —Publishers Weekly


“Rigged concludes with a bang, a shoot-’em-up not portrayed since the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid finale or high noon at Tombstone’s O.K. Corral, the Old Kindersley livery stable. A thoroughly satisfying summer read.” —Bookreporter

From the Publisher

2018-11-13

A third case takes the ever reluctant "sort of a P.I." Jake Longly and his girlfriend, Nicole Jamison, from Gulf Shores, Alabama, to a tiny Florida town on what sure looks like a fool's errand.

Billy Wayne Baker, who's doing seven consecutive life sentences in the Union Correctional Institute for a two-year spree of rape and murder, insists that he's the victim of rank injustice: He only killed five of those women. Ordinarily, his protestations would fall on indifferent ears, but they've managed to intrigue a wealthy fan who's willing to pay Longly Investigations, the brainchild of Jake's father, to revisit Billy Wayne's checkered history. There are a couple of caveats that would turn away anyone but Jake, whose professed distance from his father keeps getting overridden by his willingness to work with him (A-List, 2017, etc.). Ray Longly's client wants to remain anonymous, and Billy Wayne refuses to reveal which of his two alleged victims were actually somebody else's. His averral that he doesn't want to prejudice the investigation makes no sense, but it does set up the promise of a highly original kind of mystery that, sadly, Lyle resolves before you can bleat "wrongly accused," narrowing the field of possible outlier victims with indecent haste so that Jake, Ray, and his behemoth operative, Pancake, can get down to the infinitely less interesting business of ignoring more than half the murders in order to place virtually every citizen of Pine Key, Florida, under a microscope, provoking an eighth homicide along the way, so that they can determine whodunit.

If you can overlook the wildly implausible premise, medical specialist Lyle provides suitably gossipy small-town atmosphere, straightforward plotting, a likable, wisecracking hero, and, of course, solid forensics. But that's an awful lot to overlook.

Kirkus Reviews