Indian River Trilogy

About the Book

In this eclectic trilogy, Donald Holmes weaves true history, wild fantasy and personal experience into an entertaining introduction to the famed “Space" and "Treasure" Coasts of Florida.

First, the legendary English detective Sherlock Holmes tackles three bizarre mysteries along the Indian River in the last years of the nineteenth century.

Then, a millenium-end “snowbird” provides a collection of sometimes sentimental, sometimes zany musings on life by the lagoon at the end of the twentieth.

Finally, in a parody of the popular conspiracy/spy genre, a retired secret agent foils an assassination attempt at the Kennedy Space Center.

Where the old Eau Gallie feeds the broad lagoon known as the Indian River in Brevard County, Florida, there is a brief westward deviation in the otherwise steadfast north-south track of the Florida East Coast Railroad. Why? What caused it to be that way?

Twenty-five miles to the south, on a grassy bank in Indian River County, stands the bronze statue of a man gazing across the water. Out there lies his beloved Pelican Island, birthplace of the National Wildlife Refuge program. Though short in stature, he was a giant in his accomplishments. On the Atlantic shore, twenty-five mile north of the Eau Gallie, towers the black and white striped Cape Canaveral lighthouse. In the shadow of launch pads and rockets, it still casts its warning beam across the treacherous sea, thanks to a dramatic rescue effort just over one hundred years ago.

The year is 1893, the place, Florida’s Indian River. Small, isolated communities along the shore of this East Coast lagoon are barely twenty-five years removed from untamed jungle, but are beginning to prosper. Citrus groves are expanding, commercial fishing has begun, new homes and retail establishments are being built. No roads join these settlements – the river serves as their only highway.

Early in the year, three startling events occur. First, a daring attempt to build a railroad down the length of the Florida peninsula comes face to face with mysterious, perhaps supernatural forces, and grinds to a halt in Brevard County. Then, a pioneering conservationist who defends a pristine island is caught up in an apparent murder. Finally, a vital lighthouse, about to tumble into the sea, must be moved inland, an eighteen-month long process that will create uncertainty for any ship’s master navigating the dangerous shoals off shore.

Sherlock Holmes is in New York City on the way home from his long self-imposed exile in Tibet. Answering an urgent call for help from the railroad magnate, he quickly finds himself embroiled in one mystery after another, two of them involving ancient Indian trash heaps that still dot the landscape. The record of his involvement has been lost until now, but the physical evidence remains to be seen today: the restored lighthouse, the deviation in the railroad’s path, the statue beside the river. In “A Pair of Old Middens” we find a detailed account of these affairs.

“Winters’ Worth” is a collection of poems and short stories inspired by today’s Indian River. Geckos and gambling boats, a world-class planetarium, ospreys and alligators, strawberry picking in March, penguins, dolphins and con artists, charming and threatening people and places inform us. The mosquitoes are gone, the isolated communities now form an almost continuous band strung along fine, wide highways. The citizenry is diverse, including ‘snowbirds’, ‘full-time-retired-here’ and a large, young working population. Industry is vigorous and high-tech.

By turn sentimental, witty, weird or off-the wall, these pieces comprise a unique view of the people and places one may encounter here.

The trilogy concludes with a parody of the conspiracy/spy genre, featuring an assassination plot at the Kennedy Space Center. A shadowy dissident group plans to interrupt a shuttle launch to carry out its p

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