Dead Reckoning Key - Saltwater Justice Thrillers, #1

A dead man in a sunken wreck. A stolen Coast Guard coin. A family secret someone is still willing to kill for.

Florida Keys salvage diver Elias "Rook" Baptiste expects a routine recovery in Blue Hole Channel. Instead, he finds missing lawyer Noah Jakes chained inside an old wreck with a challenge coin from Rook's dead father in his mouth.

The official story moves fast: accident, bad dive, case closed. Rook knows better. The coin should have gone down with his father years ago, and Noah was digging into a luxury marina deal tied to erased records, hidden routes, and a black-site maritime operation called Blackfin.

With a marine archaeologist, a stubborn sheriff, and the crew of The Saint Zora at his side, Rook follows the evidence from storm-battered docks to flooded rooms beneath an offshore platform. What he finds could clear his father's name, expose a powerful family, and prove that some people in the Keys were never meant to have names at all.

Dead Reckoning Key is Book 1 in the Saltwater Justice Thrillers series: a fast coastal action mystery with diving, boats, storms, old crimes, and a hard-edged new series lead.