Under the Sand

Book cover for Under the Sand: A Leslie Elliott Mystery by Susan Hanafee, featuring a dramatic image of a man trapped inside an hourglass, screaming with fists raised as sand pours down around him. The dark background and intense visual metaphor suggest themes of suspense, urgency, and entrapment in this mystery novel.

Under the Sand

A Leslie Elliott Mystery

Authors & Illustrator

Author:

Susan
Hanafee
First Place Book Award

First Place Award

Artistic & Technical - Website - Overall Design
Second Place Book Award

Second Place Award

Fiction - Detective - Amateur Sleuths

Description

The tranquility of a hot summer day in a small island community in southwest Florida is shattered when the lone cell tower is blown up and the bridge to the mainland is disabled, leading to the kidnapping by boat of two wealthy brothers. Left behind by the abductors are letters warning that the brothers will be buried alive until the ransom of $200 million is paid – and killed within 72 hours if it is not. With the sheriff out of town and the island cut off from the outside world, the task of finding the kidnapping victims and solving the mystery of who is behind this heinous crime falls to amateur sleuth Leslie Elliott and her reporter/close friend, Wes Avery. They join forces with the sheriff’s new young deputy and the island’s cynical iguana hunter in an effort to locate the brothers before the dangerous band of kidnappers, including ex-Wagner mercenaries and an American soldier convicted of murder, can make good on their threat.