Death of a Siren

This fast-paced mystery is set in the otherworldly Galapagos Islands in 1938 during the lead-up to World War II. A fugitive New York City cop is on the run from both the law and the mafia after killing a local thug. Trying to make his escape in a boat he stole from his uncle, castaway Fred Freiman, a German American, comes ashore on the islands and stumbles upon the body of a beautiful, enigmatic German baroness with a hatchet in her head. The next day the baroness's two strange companions are also found murdered. Freiman soon finds himself trapped into tracking down the murderer, or murderers, by a corrupt local official. International politics, local intrigues, and personal passions swirl around Fred as he learns more about the murdered woman, who some describe as a monster and others a lost soul. Early in the investigation Freiman meets Ana de Guzman, a young, wealthy Ecuadorian woman who teams up with him to unravel the tangled mysteries. As he struggles to solve the murders,...