There’s no such thing as a typical day in my life anymore. Not since that conman business partner of mine, Jerome Haddad, bankrupted the nonprofit spay/neuter clinic my fiancé and I founded, shattered the dream I’d worked toward since childhood, and sailed off into the sunset—in a yacht he financed with my building as collateral.

Blaming me for the fiasco, my fiancé dumped me. The IRS has questions. I’m a pariah in the community.

My grandmother, Michelle DePalma, wants to help me heal from my heartbreak and figure out my next career steps, so she brought me on a luxury cruise of the Galapagos. She doesn’t know the reason I selected this destination. (I learned through social media that Jerome is headed here in that yacht, and I bet he’s up to no good.)

Cruise life is heavenly. The Archipelago Explorer is a small ship, holding fewer than 100 passengers, so we’re all getting pretty chummy. The attentive staff keeps us busy. Every day, we rise early and transfer ashore in black rubber boats called Zodiacs, where we hike or snorkel and explore the unspoiled islands which all belong to a huge national park.

Knowledgeable guides introduce us to native flora and fauna. We almost trip over exotic animals who never learned to be afraid of people.

We head back to the ship for a delicious lunch of seafood or other local cuisines while we sail to our next landing spot. After lunch, we may go out again at a new location, or if the next stop is farther away, we attend lectures by the guides about the history and natural phenomena of the Galapagos.

In the evening, we sip complimentary cocktails on deck and watch the glorious sunset. Then we reconvene at the daily briefing, where our cruise director reviews our itinerary, answers questions about our wildlife sightings during the day, and gives us an overview of the adventures we can expect the next day. Afterward, we adjourn to another gourmet dinner accompanied by fine South American wines.

I made friends with an Ecuadorian-American tortoise researcher named Laurel Pardo who has shown a lot of interest in Tio Armando. He’s the cruise line’s star attraction, the most famous giant tortoise in the Galapagos, because he’s the last of the Floreana sub-species—one that everyone thought went extinct 150 years ago.

But today something’s wrong. Laurel vanished during our snorkel excursion yesterday. I was swimming right next to her, and then she was gone. Fernando, our guide, talked to someone on the radio who said Laurel got picked up by another boat.

Except she’s not on the ship. At least, I can’t find her. I’m terrified that something awful has happened to her. And Fernando doesn’t want to talk about it. Michelle and I suspect the staff of covering up Laurel’s absence, and we reported our concerns to the cruise director.

Now, while we’re waiting to go ashore, the cruise director announces there’s been a mysterious death on board. The police are here to interview us. I can’t wait to tell that handsome detective what I know about Laurel’s disappearance, and who might be responsible.

I don’t think there will be another typical day in my life for a while.

Secrets of the Galapagos is a financial thriller, released December 7, 2019.

Shattered by a broken engagement and a business venture derailed by Jerome Haddad, her unscrupulous partner, Giovanna Rogers goes on a luxury Galapagos cruise with her grandmother to decompress.

At least that’s what her grandmother thinks. Giovanna is determined to make Jerome pay for what he’s done, and she has a tip he’s headed for the Galapagos.

While snorkeling in Gardner Bay off the coast of Española Island, Giovanna and another cruise passenger, tortoise researcher Laurel Pardo, both become separated from the group and Laurel is left behind. No one on the ship will acknowledge Laurel is missing, and Giovanna suspects a cover-up.

When the police come on board to investigate a death, Giovanna is sure the victim is Laurel. She’s anxious to give her testimony to the attractive local detective assigned to the case. Instead, she learns someone else is dead, and she’s a person of interest.

Resolved to keep searching for Laurel and make sense of her disappearance, Giovanna finds that several people on board the cruise ship have reasons to want Laurel gone. One is a scam involving Tio Armando, the famous Galapagos giant tortoise and a major tourist attraction in the archipelago. And Jerome Haddad has a hand in it. Thinking she’s the cat in this game, Giovanna gets too involved and becomes the mouse, putting her life in jeopardy. But if she doesn’t stop him, Jerome will go on to ruin others.

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Meet the author
Sharon Marchisello is the author of two mysteries published by Sunbury Press: Going Home (2014) and Secrets of the Galapagos (2019). She has also written travel articles, short stories, corporate training manuals, screenplays, book reviews, a nonfiction book, and a personal finance blog. She earned a Masters in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California and is an active member of Sisters in Crime. Retired from a 27-year career with Delta Air Lines, she now lives in Georgia and does volunteer work for the Fayette Humane Society.

To connect with Sharon, visit her on Facebook.

All comments are welcomed.