Sharon Short

Breezy in tone and action, cozy in style and readability. Chock full of small-town-isms: Now, in a small town, many things are Automatically Known. Like who is cheating, who is lying, who is purely sweet, and who is just pretending. … I reckon all of us in a small town trail around our invisible mantles of family history.

Josie Toadfern inherited the local laundromat from her uncle, along with his house and autistic son, Guy, who lives in a care center nearby. She sells the house, puts the show more proceeds in a trust fund for Guy, and moves into the apartment over her laundromat in Paradise, Ohio. The biggest employer in town is the family-owned Breitenstrater Pie Company; and pies are at the heart of this mystery.

All sorts of Paradisites inhabit the pages of this story, from quirky to endearing, friend to foe, black sheep to blue blood. And if a fun, fast read isn't enough, the back pages are stuffed full of Stain-Busting secrets, so – there you go! show less

Real Rating: 3.25* of five

The Publisher Says: 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 show more 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.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Stand-alone locked room mystery on an ice-storm isolated island during the US Prohibition era. I think she had a peek into my dreams!

Sadly, not executed in a way I could fall for...lots of telling, not a lot of rounded characters. Mystery was okay. Setting ended up not exciting me, because it was only seen in the eyes of people I wasn't interested in. So near and yet so far. I finished it so it wasn't bad just not great.
Minotaur Books charges $14.99 for an ebook. Library is my recommendation. show less

I found Trouble Island to be a wonderful read to start off the winter season. Set on a remote island in Lake Eerie, the story provides an amazing sense of place and foreboding.

The main character, Aurelia, is a young woman from Ohio with something in her past she is running away from. Deeper into the story, readers will discover that Aurelia is not the only one on the island hiding secrets.

When a yacht full of Ohio gangsters docks at the Island things begin to get sinister. A winter storm show more moves in and the power fails causing the residents and guests to move to the house and gather around a fireplace.

Amidst all this a few people turn up missing. Then a couple more die. They aren’t able to get off the island and no one can trust anyone. This held my interest from almost the very beginning and the ending was such a great payoff!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to give my honest review and recommend this to other readers. show less

Aurelia came to Trouble Island hoping to escape her past, but Trouble Island is aptly named and has brought danger instead. Aurelia is a sevant to Rosita, a woman in solitude, mourning the murder of her son a year ago. The women have one thing in common: they are gangsters’ wives. A limited staff lives in the mansion on the island that serves as the gangsters’ stopping off port between Canada and United States. Everyone is surprised when Rosita’s husband Eddie shows up unannounced one show more frigid day with an entourage of his own. They are even more surprised when Eddie announces that he is forcing Rosita to sell her island to Marco, a rival gangster. It seems Eddie needs money, and cares not that Rosita must leave her chosen refuge. But there will be bloodshed, lots of it, before the deal comes to fruition. If it ever does. This exciting thriller is a page-turner. The time period, 1920s and early 1930s, as well as the setting, are well defined, and the characters are well developed. Aurelia is a complex character, and her desperate situation as she fears for her life will have readers hoping for the best for her. There are many surprises along the way, twists and turns that are quite unexpected. The suspense just keeps building from the beginning to the astonishing conclusion. A masterfully written thriller, this just might be Sharon Short’s best book yet.

I received a complementary copy from the author through Minotaur Books for which I am grateful, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. show less