Praise for the novels of Heather Graham
An incredible storyteller.
Los Angeles Daily News
Graham wields a deftly sexy and convincing pen.
Publishers Weekly
If you like mixing a bit of the creepy
with a dash of sinister and spine-chilling reading
with your romance, be sure to read
Heather Grahams latestGraham does
a great job of blending just a bit of paranormal
with real, human evil.
Miami Herald on Unhallowed Ground
Eerie and atmospheric, this is not late-night
reading for the squeamish or sensitive.
RT Book Reviews on Unhallowed Ground
The paranormal elements are integral to the
unrelentingly suspenseful plot, the characters are
likable, the romance convincing, and, in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina, Grahams atmospheric depiction
of a lost city is especially poignant.
Booklist on Ghost Walk
Grahams rich, balanced thriller
sizzles with equal parts suspense, romance
and the paranormalall of it nail-biting.
Publishers Weekly on The Vision
Heather Graham will keep you in suspense
until the very end.
Literary Times
Mystery, sex, paranormal events.
Whats not to love?
Kirkus on The Death Dealer
Ghost Night
Heather Graham
www.mirabooks.co.uk
For Scott Perry, Josh Perry,
Frasier Nivens, Sheila Clover-English,
Victoria Fraasa, Brian OLyaryz
and the great and fun folks
with whom Ive been on some strange
and entertaining filming expeditions.
Also by Heather Graham
NIGHT OF THE WOLVES
HOME IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS
UNHALLOWED GROUND
DUST TO DUST
NIGHTWALKER
DEADLY GIFT
DEADLY HARVEST
DEADLY NIGHT
THE DEATH DEALER
THE LAST NOEL
THE SÉANCE
BLOOD RED
THE DEAD ROOM
KISS OF DARKNESS
THE VISION
THE ISLAND
GHOST WALK
KILLING KELLY
THE PRESENCE
DEAD ON THE DANCE FLOOR
PICTURE ME DEAD
HAUNTED
HURRICANE BAY
A SEASON OF MIRACLES
NIGHT OF THE BLACKBIRD
NEVER SLEEP WITH STRANGERS
EYES OF FIRE
SLOW BURN
NIGHT HEAT
The Bone Island Trilogy
GHOST SHADOW
GHOST NIGHT
GHOST MOON (September 2010)
Key West History Time Line
1513Ponce de Leon is thought to be the first European to discover Florida for Spain. His sailors, watching as they pass the southern islands (the Keys), decide that the mangrove roots look like tortured souls and call them Los Martires, or the Martyrs.
Circa 1600Key West begins to appear on European maps and charts. The first explorers came upon the bones of deceased native tribes, and thus the island was called the Island of Bones, or Cayo Hueso.
The Golden Age of Piracy begins as New World ships carry vast treasures through dangerous waters.
1763The Treaty of Paris gives Florida and Key West to the British and Cuba to the Spanish. The Spanish and Native Americans are forced to leave the Keys and move to Havana. The Spanish, however, claim that the Keys are not part of mainland Florida and are really North Havana. The English say the Keys are a part of Florida. In reality, the dispute is merely a war of words. Hardy souls of many nationalities fish, cut timber, hunt turtlesand avoid pirateswith little restraint from any government.
1783The Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolution and returns Florida to Spain.
1815Spain deeds the island of Key West to a loyal Spaniard, Juan Pablo Salas of St. Augustine, Florida.
18191922Florida is ceded to the United States. Salas sells the island to John Simonton for $2,000. Simonton divides the island into four parts, three going to businessmen Whitehead, Fleming and Greene. Cayo Hueso becomes more generally known as Key West.
1822Simonton convinces the U.S. Navy to come to Key Westthe deepwater harbor, which had kept pirates, wreckers and others busy while the land was scarcely developed, would be an incredible asset to the United States. Lieutenant Matthew C. Perry arrives to assess the situation. Perry reports favorably on the strategic military importance but warns the government that the area is filled with unsavory characterssuch as pirates.
1823Captain David Porter is appointed commodore of the West Indies Anti-Pirate Squadron. He takes over ruthlessly, basically putting Key West under martial law. People do not like him. However, starting in 1823, he does begin to put a halt to piracy in the area.
The United States of America is in full control of Key West, which is part of the U.S. Territory of Florida, and colonizing begins in earnest by Americans, though, as always, those Americans come from many places.
Circa 1828Wrecking becomes an important service in Key West, and much of the island becomes involved in the activity. Its such big business that over the next twenty years, the island becomes one of the richest per capita areas in the United States. In the minds of some, a new kind of piracy has replaced the old. Although wrecking and salvage are licensed and legal, many a ship is lured to its doom by less than scrupulous businessmen.
1845Florida becomes a state. Construction begins on a fort to protect Key West.
1846Construction of Fort Jefferson begins in the Dry Tortugas.
1850The fort on the island of Key West is named after President Zachary Taylor.
New lighthouses bring about the end of the golden age of wrecking.
1861January 10, Florida secedes from the Union. Fort Zachary Taylor is staunchly held in Union hands and helps defeat the Confederate Navy and control the movement of blockade-runners during the war. Key West remains a divided city throughout the Great Conflict. Construction begins on the East and West Martello Towers, which will serve as supply depots. The salt ponds of Key West supply both sides.
1865The War of Northern Aggression comes to an end with the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Courthouse. Salvage of blockade runners comes to an end.
Dr. Samuel Mudd, deemed guilty of conspiracy for setting John Wilkes Booths broken leg after Lincolns assassination, is incarcerated at Fort Jefferson, the Dry Tortugas.
As salt and salvage industries come to an end, cigar making becomes a major business. The Keys are filled with Cuban cigar makers following Cubas war of independence, but the cigar makers eventually move to Ybor City. Sponging is also big business for a period, but the sponge divers head for waters near Tampa as disease riddles Key Wests beds and the remote location make industry difficult.
1890The building that will become known as the little White House is built for use as an officers quarters at the naval station. President Truman will spend at least 175 days here, and it will be visited by Eisenhower, Kennedy and many other dignitaries.
1898The USS Maine explodes in Havana Harbor, precipitating the Spanish-American War. Her loss is heavily felt in Key West, as she had been sent from Key West to Havana.
Circa 1900Robert Eugene Otto is born. At the age of four, he receives the doll he will call Robert, and a legend is born, as well.
1912Henry Flagler brings the Overseas Railroad to Key West, connecting the islands to the mainland for the first time.
1917On April 6, the United States enters World War I. Key West maintains a military presence.
1919Treaty of Versailles ends World War I.
1920sProhibition gives Key West a new industrybootlegging.
1927Pan American Airways is founded in Key West to fly visitors back and forth to Havana.
Carl Tanzler, Count von Cosel, arrives in Key West and takes a job at the Marine Hospital as a radiologist.
1928Ernest Hemingway comes to Key West. Its rumored that while waiting for a roadster from the factory, he writes A Farewell to Arms.
1931Hemingway and his wife, Pauline, are gifted with the house on Whitehead Street. Polydactyl cats descend from his pet, Snowball.
Death of Elena Milagro de Hoyos.
1933Tanzler removes Elenas body from the cemetery.
1935The Labor Day Hurricane wipes out the Overseas Railroad and kills hundreds of people. The railroad will not be rebuilt. The Great Depression comes to Key West, as well, and the island, once the richest in the country, struggles with severe unemployment.
1938An Overseas Highway is completed, U.S. 1, connecting Key West and the Keys to the mainland.
1940Hemingway and Pauline divorce; Key West loses her great writer, except as a visitor.
Tanzler is found living with Elenas corpse. Her second viewing at the Dean-Lopez Funeral Home draws thousands of visitors.
1941December 7, a date that will live in infamy, occurs, and the U.S. enters World War II.
Tennessee Williams first comes to Key West.
1945World War II ends with the Armistice of August 14 (Europe) and the Surrender of Japan, September 2.
Key West struggles to regain a livable economy.
1947It is believed that Tennessee Williams wrote his first draft of A Streetcar Named Desire while staying at La Concha Hotel on Duval Street.
1962The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. President John F. Kennedy warns the United States that Cuba is only ninety miles away.
1979The first Fantasy Fest is celebrated.
1980The Mariel Boatlift brings tens of thousands of Cuban refugees to Key West.
1982The Conch Republic is born. In an effort to control illegal immigration and drugs, the United States sets up a blockade in Florida City, at the northern end of U.S. 1. Traffic is at a stop for seventeen miles, and the mayor of Key West retaliates on April 23, seceding from the U.S. Key West Mayor Dennis Wardlow declares war, surrenders and demands foreign aid. As the U.S. has never responded, under international law, the Conch Republic still exists. Its foreign policy is stated as, The Mitigation of World Tension through the Exercise of Humor. Even though the U.S. never officially recognizes the action, it has the desired effect; the paralyzing blockade is lifted.
1985Jimmy Buffet opens his first Margaritaville restaurant in Key West.
Fort Zachary Taylor becomes a Florida State Park (and a wonderful place for reenactments, picnics and beach bumming).
Treasure Hunter Mel Fisher at long last finds the Atocha.
1999First Pirates in Paradise is celebrated.
2000PresentKey West remains a unique paradise itself, garish, loud, charming, filled with history, water sports, family activities and down-and-dirty bars. The Gibraltar of the East, she offers diving, shipwrecks and the spirit of adventure that makes her a fabulous destination, for a day, or forever.
Prologue
South Bimini
September
The sound of the bloodcurdling scream was as startling as the roar of thunder on a cloudless day.
Vanessa Loren immediately felt chilled to the bone, a sense of foreboding and fear as deep-seated as any natural instinct seeming to settle into her, blood, body and soul.
So jarring! It brought casual conversation to a halt, brought those seated to their feet, brought fear to all eyes. It was the sound of the scream, the very heartfelt terror within it, which had been lacking during the days work.
The ocean breeze had been beautiful throughout the afternoon and evening; it seemed almost as if the hand of God was reaching down to gently wave off the last dead heat of the day, leaving a balmy temperature behind as the sun sank in the western horizon with an astonishing palette of crimson, magenta, mauve and gold.
The film crew had set up camp on the edge of the sparse pine forest, just yards away from the lulling sound of the ocean. The Bahamian guides who had brought them and worked with them had been courteous, fun and knowledgeable, and there was little not to like about the project, especially as night fell and the last of the blazing, then pastel, shades faded into the sea, and it and the horizon seemed to stretch as one, the sky meeting the ocean in a blur.
A bonfire burned with various shades from brilliant to pale in the darkness, and the crew gathered around as it grew dark. South Bimini was sparsely inhabited, offering a small but popular fishermans restaurant and little more, unlike the more tourist-friendly North Bimini, where numerous shops, bars and restaurants lined what was known as The Kings Highway in Alice Town.
They had taken it a step further than South Bimini, choosing to film on one of the several little uninhabited islands jutting out to the southwest. One with a name that had greatly appealed to Jay.
Haunt Island.
A long time ago, there had been a pirate massacre here. Over the years, truth and legend had merged, and it was this very story that Vanessa had used in her script for the low-budget horror film they were shooting.
So infamous years ago, Haunt Island was currently just a place where boaters came now and then. An island filled with scrub and pines, a single dock and an abundance of beach. Out here, tourism wasnt plentifulthe terrain remained wild and natural, beloved by naturalists and campers.
There had been more people in their group, but now they were down to ten. There were Georgia Dare and Travis Glenn, the two actors playing the characters who remained alive in the script; Jay Allen, director; Barry Melkie, sound; Zoe Cally, props, costumes and makeup; Carlos Roca, lighting; Bill Hinton, and Jake Magnoli, the two young production assistants/lighting/sound/gophers/wherever needed guys; their Bahamian escort and guide, Lew Sanderson; and Vanessa herself, writer and backup with the cameras and underwater footage.
It was all but a wrap. The historical legend filled with real horror that was sure to be a box-office hit on a shoestring budget had been all but completed, and theyd been winding down, crawling out of their tents to enjoy the champagne, laughing and lazing against the backdrop of the sunset and the breeze.
And then the sound of the scream, so much more chilling and horrible than any sound Georgia Dare had managed to emit throughout the filming.