The Styx

A powerful historical novel of greed, murder, and conspiracy set in turn-of-the-century Palm Beach The Great Migration of the 1890s remade south Florida as Northern developers, former sharecroppers, and recent immigrants rushed to the state to seek their fortunes. Sitting atop it all was the Royal Poinciana Hotel, built on the shores of Palm Beach by real estate tycoon Henry Flagler. Nearby was the Styx, an African American community that housed many of the Royal Poinciana's 1,200 workers. Shortly after the hotel's completion, the Styx would be mysteriously burned to the ground in a tragedy clouded for generations by rumor and myth-until now. Riveting and suspenseful, The Styxis a historical novel that brings to life the frenzy of Reconstruction-era Florida, the racial tensions simmering beneath the surface, and the events that changed one community forever.

Jonathon King is an Edgar Award–winning mystery novelist and the creator of the bestselling Max Freeman crime series. Born in Lansing, Michigan, in the 1950s, King worked as a crime reporter in Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale for twenty-four years before becoming a full-time novelist. Along with the seven books of the Max Freeman series, King has authored the thriller Eye of Vengeance (2007) and the historical novel The Styx (2009).