Patti Lavell
Patti Lavell is the author of the memoir Confessions of a Catholic School Dropout (2012), the novel Fat Chance (2013), and has been a contributing writer for Florida Keys Free Press and Keywesting.com. Lavell was the coordinator of a police academy in the Florida Keys and currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of a trucking company in New York. Formerly of Islamorada, FL, Patti Lavell now lives in the Finger Lakes Region of the Empire State.
“Drugs, human trafficking, robbery, and violence are all realities in our communities. This book reflects those realities and serves notice that even in paradise you may not be immune to the experience. I hope you enjoy Island Chains as much as I did.”
Welcome to Islamorada, a Florida Keys island chain where no one is in a hurry unless its to get to happy hour. Every July, thousands of people arrive for Mini Season. Some, like Pattycakes Farley, are looking for an idyllic, boozy life in a sun-soaked paradise. Others, like local Stella Callahan, are simply trying to hold on to a crappy job so they can put food on the table.
But this year, Mini Season brings a boatload of unexpected surprises. Stella’s husband, Louis, ends up dead at the end of their dock. Pattycakes, who just got hired at the local gentleman's club—The Snatch Patch—goes missing while working a private party.
Officer Chris Hammond’s gun and radio are stolen from the trunk of his squad car. Bart Levine, a small-time drug dealer searching for his next fix, has a wheelchair-bound young woman—and her prescriptions—held hostage in a trailer. Oh, and a Category 5 hurricane is about to blow the seedy underbelly of “paradise” wide open. You won’t want to miss it.
“This novel shows that even ‘paradise’ has a darker side. Explores the underbelly of island life. It’s an awesome look at the other side.”