The Judge Who Jumped (Daytona Beach 6), by Frank W. Butterfield

[Ulysses]

The Judge Who Jumped (Daytona Beach 6)
By Frank W. Butterfield
Published by the author, 2021
Five stars

A mysterious death that is clearly murder—but not what people think. The messy (and criminal) past of Daytona Beach resurfaces, dragging Tom Jarrell and Ronnie Grisham in once more. Each book in this series just gets better, and this is the richest one of all (so far).

Marveen and her husband Bill are on their honeymoon, but even they have roles to play in this action-packed story that reminds us all just how big Florida really is.

Tom and Ronnie are becoming small-town super-heroes, although they don’t quite know it. Their intelligence, individually and as a pair, is quickly running rings around the devious judicial politics in Volusia County. They don’t always seem to be sure of what they’re doing, but their integrity and sense of justice seems to steer them true every time. Just as you’d expect in 1948, there’s lots of swirling homophobia, which creates an atmosphere of risk in everything they do. However, there’s also a surprising network of “like-minded” individuals who rally around the lawyer and “his” detective.

Butterfield has done deep research into the transportation options of Florida in the late 1940s, and it’s fascinating. This gives the reader an amazing sense of place in a part of the USA that has transformed completely.

There seems to be only one more Daytona book left (at the moment, anyway). Can’t wait to dig into it.