In Fluencer

A Gumbo Malone Mystery

She built a perfect life for 2.3 million followers. Someone just set it on fire.

Gumbo Malone thought he was heading to Sarasota to ask a few questions.

Instead, he finds himself investigating the arson of a sixty-eight-foot luxury yacht belonging to one of Florida's biggest social media influencers—and the deeper he digs, the more he discovers that almost everything about her glamorous coastal lifestyle is fake.

Cassidy Vale has 2.3 million followers, lucrative brand deals, a luxury waterfront house, a beautiful companion, and the perfect Florida life.

Except the house is rented.

The boat is rented.

The man playing her husband isn't her husband.

And the lifestyle she's selling to millions of followers isn't exactly the lifestyle she lives.

Now her carefully constructed empire is beginning to collapse.

A luxury yacht has been deliberately burned.

Two million three hundred thousand followers are watching.

Millions of dollars in sponsorships are at risk.

An angry ex-husband is threatening her business.

Her on-camera companion thinks he's worth more than he's being paid.

And someone knows exactly how to make Cassidy's perfect life fall apart.

Gumbo has a simple job: find out who burned the boat—and why.

But every suspect has a motive.

The ex-husband wants money.

The lifestyle model wants recognition.

The people behind Cassidy's brand know where all the bodies are buried.

And somewhere in the background, someone has figured out that destroying the illusion may be more valuable than stealing the money.

As Gumbo follows the trail from Cedar Key to Sarasota and Tampa, he uncovers fake lifestyles, influencer marketing, brand deals, corporate lawyers, social media scandals, romantic grudges, hidden financial arrangements, and a mystery that looks increasingly personal.

Because when millions of people believe they know you, someone is always watching.

And Gumbo Malone is very good at watching back.

IN FLUENCER is a funny Florida mystery packed with private investigator action, social media influencers, Instagram scandals, coastal Florida settings, arson, suspicious characters, relationship drama, business intrigue, and dry Southern humor.

If you enjoy Florida mysteries, humorous mysteries, cozy mysteries with a harder investigative edge, private investigator novels, amateur detective fiction, social media mysteries, influencer scandals, contemporary mysteries, Florida crime fiction, and laid-back PI characters, you'll want to follow Gumbo Malone into this case.