My great-great grandfather, Captain Henry M. Walker, was a Tampa Bay ship pilot in the 1890s. He lived on Egmont Key with his wife, Louisa. In 1900, while Louisa was away in Massachusetts visiting relatives, Captain Walker was found dead in his room on Egmont Key. The official conclusion was that he had taken his own life, but his friends and colleagues were sure that he had been murdered. His son, Fred, who lived across the bay at Cockroach Key ("Walker's Key", in the novel), was found dead three months later under equally mysterious circumstances. His friends were sure that he, too, had been murdered.
After the tragedies, Captain Walker's widow, Louisa, built a home at 141 Second Street North, where she spent her winters until her death in 1918. The Morgan Stanley tower now covers that location.
After learning everything I could possibly learn about the lives of the Walkers at Tampa Bay, I wrote Walker's Key. It's a murder mystery based loosely on everything I learned.
Walker's Key is a "must-read novel ... punctuated by thrilling tension and deep emotion" -- Kirkus Reviews
"Walker's Key held me to the end. It's a page-turner" -- Sterling Watson
Please consider purchasing a copy of Walker's Key, which is also available in Kindle and Audiobook versions. The book can be found at Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg and through any other bookseller, including the big ones on the internet.
The true story of the lives of the Walkers at Tampa Bay can be found, for no charge, here: The Walkers at Tampa Bay
If you are looking for the 1925 Pinellas Point subdivision plan, you will find it at the bottom of this page.