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 in April. The Numbers Man is a prequel novella that can be read before or after Book 1.

It's historical crime fiction set in Jim Crow–era Florida from 1905 to 1935. The series follows Jerome "Redbone" Blake, a debt collector whose rise through organized crime intersects with land speculation, political corruption, and the survival in early 20th century South Florida. Think of it as The Wire set in 1920s Florida.

Bolita was a numbers racket, the precursor to our modern-day lottery. It was illegally 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. It's the economic engine at the heart of Jerome's world.

Yes. The series is grounded in real events and places from early Florida history, including the destruction of native Florida for development, the bolita lottery system, Prohibition-era rum running, the 1918 influenza pandemic, and the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. The characters are fictional, but the world they inhabit is built on documented history that most people have never heard of.

Readers who enjoy Colson Whitehead, Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series, Dennis Lehane's period crime fiction, and Attica Locke will find a similar blend of literary craft and criminal stakes. If you like stories where history is the setting but crime is the plot, this series is for you.

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