PIRATES IN BLACK TIE – Deborah Young

OUT OF PRINT

A dazzling tropical sun, the relaxing sound of waves rolling over a placid sea, and breathtaking, unspoiled white sand beaches: we’re in the heart of the Caribbean. Aboard the Joli Mai, a luxurious catamaran for rent, two married couples are having a dream vacation in paradise on Earth. The Quintanas and the Whittlemans are just getting ready for breakfast when a speedboat appears out of nowhere and they are brutally murdered by pirates. Mike and Patty, the Whittlemans’ children, miraculously survive the attack and are the only witnesses of a slaughter that seems to be nothing more than the cruel outcome of a robbery. But when Simon Dart, Janice Whittleman’s former colleague and an ex-DIA agent, talks with Mike, he soon realizes that there’s much more to the robbery than meets the eye. As Simon finds himself involved in a mystery that he will have to untangle, the crystalline waters of the Caribbean transform into tall and monstrous waves, highly treacherous to navigate. Alternating the lights and shadows of life in the idyllic tropical islands, Deborah Young’s first novel is a masterfully written, sun-drenched noir and a must for fans of the genre.

Deborah Young, the international film editor of The Hollywood Reporter, is a writer and film critic living in Rome. Born in Missouri, she graduated from Wellesley College and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts before moving to Italy, where she has worked as a journalist, critic, screenwriter, and translator. She has been Variety’s Rome bureau chief and the director of the Taormina Film Festival.