What order should I read the Grit, Gamble and Grace series?

Start with The Bolita Grift (Book 1), then The Styx and the Stones (Book 2). What He Kept is an optional novella set between Books 2 and 3. Fight of the Century (Book 3) is coming soon. The Numbers Man in Projects is a prequel novella that can be read before or after Book 1.

What is the Grit, Gamble and Grace series about?

The Grit, Gamble and Grace series is historical crime fiction set in Jim Crow-era Florida from 1905 to 1935. It follows Jerome Redbone Blake, a bolita operator whose rise through organized crime intersects with land speculation, political corruption, and the survival of Black communities in early South Florida.

Who is Roz Stevens comparable to as an author?

Readers who enjoy Colson Whitehead, Walter Mosley, Dennis Lehane, and Attica Locke will find similar qualities in Roz Stevens work. Literary crime fiction rooted in specific historical communities, with morally complex characters navigating systems of power and corruption.

Bolita was an illegal numbers lottery that operated throughout Florida and Cuba in the early 20th century. It functioned as both a gambling enterprise and an underground economy in Black and immigrant communities, often controlled by organized crime syndicates with ties to political machines.

Is the Grit, Gamble and Grace series based on real history?

Yes. The series is grounded in real events and places from early Florida history, including the destruction of Black neighborhoods for development, the bolita lottery system, the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane, Prohibition-era rum running, the 1918 influenza pandemic, and the Ashley Gang.

Are Roz Stevens books available as audiobooks?

Audiobook editions are in development. Sign up for the newsletter at RozStevensBooks.com for announcements about audiobook releases and where to purchase them directly from the author.

Buried Florida

Name: The Bolita Grift
Author: Roz Stevens
ISBN: 9798993541810

The Stories Florida Buried.

The Stories Behind the Stories

Each episode of Buried Florida has a companion piece of fiction — a story that imagines what the historical record left out. Read them free.

Nobody Called

Episode 1 — The Deputy Who Hunted Women

The procedure didn't require the call. Nobody made one.

READ FREE

Curse of Ibis Island

Episode 2 — He Killed a Chief's Son for 90 Otter Pelts

Before the land boom. Before the crimes. Before anyone thought the island could be owned.

READ FREE

The Woman Who Opened the Tomb

Episode 3 — The Man Who Refused to Let Her Die

She reported the crime. The town called it a love story.

READ FREE

The Spoil Bank

Episode 4 — 150 Lashes

The land was sold before the work began.

READ FREE

Make Her Look White

Episode 5 — The Mob Built Miami

The house solved its problems quietly.

READ FREE

Southernmost Point

Episode 6 — 400 Veterans Survived the Trenches

They survived the Western Front. The Keys were the first place that wanted them.

READ FREE

No Further Business

Episode 7 — The Widow Palm Beach Couldn't Bury

Palm Beach never raises its voice. It just stops saying your name.

READ FREE

Clara's Book

Episode 8 — The Illegal Lottery That Ran Florida

Everybody played. Not everybody walked away.

READ FREE

The Numbers Man

Prequel Novella — Grit, Gamble and Grace Series

Begin at the edge of the story.

READ FREE

Read What the Record Didn't Say.

Get free companion fiction from the Buried Florida documentary series — delivered to your inbox.

No spam. Just the stories.

What Is Buried Florida?

I'm Roz Stevens. I write Southern noir fiction set in the same Florida this channel investigates. Every episode of Buried Florida is paired with a free companion story — fiction built from the same history, the same ground, the same questions the documentary leaves open.

New episodes every Tuesday on YouTube.

WATCH ON YOUTUBE ROZSTEVENSBOOKS.COM

Buried Florida

The Stories Behind the Stories

Read What the Record Didn't Say.

What Is Buried Florida?

roz stevens books

for business or media inquiries