Okay, look. I didn’t set out to be an amateur sleuth. Let me explain.
I was working at the Boston Zoo, at the Slimy Scaly Spectacular — I was the assistant to the assistant reptile director — when the pandemic hit. Dad was sick and my twin sister Vera was taking care of him. That’s when I decided to come home to Florida.
It took a few months, but I finally made it. Unfortunately, Dad had passed during that time, but before he did, he made me promise two things: that I’d take care of Vera (she’s a little, um, disorganized, unlike me) and that I’d take over his gator trapping business.
I said yes, and whoo, what a wild ride. Since I came home, I’ve adopted a kitten and solved a murder — and I’ve developed a crush on my sister’s tenant, a guy from Miami named Jack.
Okay, but that doesn’t answer the question: what does my day look like?
Obviously, I start my day with coffee. I’m not a psychopath. Then usually Catsy is clamoring for her breakfast, so I feed her some stinky canned cat food (her favorite is ocean whitefish, go figure). After that, I check whether I have any gator trapping requests.
I’m the only trapper in the town of Wahoo, Florida. Usually when people call, it’s because a gator is doing what a gator’s supposed to: swim, sunbathe, walk through the wetlands, that kind of thing. I have to tell those people that I can’t trap a gator for living its best life.
But if a gator’s under a car, or threatening people, or putting pets in danger, I’m there. When I trap the critters, I do one of two things with them. If they’re under four feet, I take them to a swamp and release them. If they’re over four feet, they go live their best lives at my Uncle Bert’s reptile sanctuary.
I’m a gator trapper who doesn’t kill the gators. That’s how Dad taught me. I also trap iguanas and snakes. I’m not so good with mammals, though.
And if I’m not trapping a critter, I’m probably at Straight From the Heart, my sister’s bookstore in downtown Wahoo. It’s a romance-only bookstore. Vera and I love the genre.
I help her with customers and organization. Then, I usually get my favorite grilled cheese at Cheesy Does It, the best restaurant in Wahoo. After, I go home and I see what Jack’s doing. That’s my sister’s tenant.
Jack and I, we’re… well, I’m not sure what we are. I think I have a crush on him, which is inconvenient because I wasn’t looking to get into a relationship. He’s a criminologist, and he helped me investigate the murder of a rival trapper not too long ago.
Jack is super smart and is writing a book on serial killers. Actually, I wanted to ask him his opinion of another murder that just happened in town…
Gator Queen, Criminals and Critters Mystery Book #1
Genre: Rom-Com Cozy Mystery
Release: March 2024
Format: Digital, Audio
Purchase Link
Full of laughs, hijinks, and a bit of steam, Gator Queen is a cozy mystery plus romance fusion perfect for fans of Arsenic and Adobo and To Have and to Heist.
“You’re the girl who traps gators?” Maggie Andrews is used to this question. Even in the quirky town of Wahoo, Florida, twenty-five-year-old Maggie is an anomaly—a tiny but tough female gator trapper who isn’t afraid to get dirty. To fulfill her father’s dying wish, Maggie’s left her job at the Boston Zoo and returned home to take over the family gator business. Reunited with her twin sister Vera, who is opening the town’s first romance bookstore, Maggie’s ready to embrace her wild side.
Enter Jack Bianchi—a young criminology professor from Miami who is renting a room from the twins. Jack’s hot as hell, smart, and good with Maggie’s kitten, Catsy Cline. But while Maggie’s debating whether she has time for a steamy fling, Vera’s getting into hot water. A rival gator trapper turns up dead in a swamp after a spat with the twins, and bullets from Vera’s stolen gun are found in the body. Maggie knows her sister isn’t a killer, and it’s up to Maggie to prove it.
As she peels back the layers of small-town secrets, Maggie and Jack team up— fake (or maybe not so fake?) dating to help the investigation. It turns out that finding the real killer is far more dangerous than trapping an angry twelve-footer. Despite the twists and turns, Maggie isn’t about to let her family’s legacy, Vera’s bookstore, or her situationship with Jack, go down without a fight.
About the author
Tara Lush is a Florida-based novelist and journalist. She’s an RWA Rita finalist, an Amtrak writing fellow and the winner of the George C. Polk award for environmental journalism. She was a reporter with The Associated Press, covering crime, alligators, natural disasters and politics. She also writes contemporary romance set in tropical locations. Tara is a fan of vintage pulp fiction book covers, Sinatra-era jazz, 1980s fashion, tropical chill, kombucha, gin, tonic, seashells, true crime podcasts, Art Deco, telenovelas, street art, coconut anything, strong coffee and newspapers. She lives on the Gulf coast with her husband and dog.