SUN, SAND, MURDER is the winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award. 

In the sequel to SUN, SAND, MURDER, Teddy Creque confronts a murder committed with a most unusual weapon – a shark

About the Books

John is the author of two mysteries (Sun, Sand, Murder and Beach, Breeze, Bloodshed) about Special Constable Teddy Creque on the island of Anegada, nestled in the heart of the British Virgin Islands. 

 In all his years on the job, Teddy has never considered the possibility that he might have to address an actual crime on his peaceful island. That is, until he receives a hysterical call about a dead man on the beach. Indeed, Teddy is shocked to discover Paul Kelliher, a biologist who traveled to the island every winter for research, lying dead on the sands of the island’s most remote beach, killed by a single shot to the head. And when the BVI’s “real police” task Teddy with informing Kelliher’s nearest kin of his death, Teddy makes an even more surprising discovery: there’s no record that Paul Kelliher ever existed.

Suddenly, Teddy’s routine life is thrown into tumult as he tries to track a killer – against his boss’s wishes – while balancing his complicated family life, three other jobs, and the colorful characters populating the island around him.

About the Author

John Keyse-Walker grew up in Columbia Station, Ohio, the son of a vegetable greenhouse operator and a stay-at-home mother. Much of his youth was spent exploring the fields, woods, and rivers near his rural home, or fishing and swimming in Florida, where his family had a modest second home. While he enjoyed reading, books took a backseat to outdoor pursuits.

He attended the College of Wooster, in Wooster, Ohio, majoring in political science. He went on to obtain a law degree from Duke University School of Law (Go Blue Devils!), where he met a fellow student and Southern belle, Irene Walker, who became his wife.

After law school, he took the Ohio bar and began a practice in Elyria, Ohio. For the next thirty years, he had a diverse practice consisting mostly of trial work, and for many years served as his firm’s managing partner. 

In 2012, he retired, planning to devote time to travel, fishing, tennis, kayaking, and volunteer work. When he found those pursuits failed to fill the hours in the day, he began to write. After two years of on-and-off efforts, he completed his debut novel, SUN, SAND, MURDER, which won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award.

John and his wife divide their time between homes in northern Ohio and Florida. He is currently working on his next crime novel.