The cover image for Walker's Key was created by Mikhael Lindstrom.
Walker's Key is historical fiction based very loosely on my research into the lives of my great-great grandfather, Captain Henry M. Walker, and my great-grandfather, Frederick Walker. See the top right of this page for links to the material in this website. Thanks for visiting!
The Walkers' house on Indian Hill
This photo from 1900 shows the home of Frederick Walker, my great-grandfather, on Indian Hill (a/k/a Cockroach Key), near present-day Ruskin, Florida. My great-grandfather is seated at the right. My grandfather is standing at the far left. I think Mikhael did a fine job recreating the house on my mostly fictional "Walker's Key".
My visit to the real Walker's Key in 2022 is here: Videos
Award-winning finalist in the Fiction: LGBTQ category of the 2019 Best Book Awards sponsored by American Book Fest.
Looking west from the landing at Walker's Key, my great-grandfather's island, in 1900 and in 2015. St. Petersburg is in the distance.
The real mysteries
My great-grandfather, Fred Walker, died on Indian Hill in 1900. The locals believed he was murdered. I don't know for sure what really happened, and I suppose nobody can really know. The story in my novel is built around one possibility. Curiously, the death of Fred's father, Captain Henry M. Walker, months earlier on Egmont Key, just across Tampa Bay, was also shrouded in mystery.