
In the quiet Florida community of Palencia, something sinister lurks beyond the marsh.When a fifth child goes missing near the Tolomato River boardwalk, retired NYPD detective Frank Mallory has had enough. The sheriff’s office is ineffective, the neighborhood boards are more worried about optics than safety, and rumors of a boat gliding through the fog at night are dismissed as ghost stories.But Frank knows better.As he digs deeper, what begins as a local mystery unravels into a chilling hunt through gated subdivisions, power-hungry HOA meetings, and the salt-slick marshes that hide more than wildlife. When the trail leads him to a forgotten dock in Vilano Beach, Frank must confront a man who’s been stealing more than just children—and a past he thought he’d left behind.Set against the haunting beauty of St. Augustine’s Intracoastal, The Boardwalk Vanisher is a sharp, suspenseful thriller about community, complacency, and the cost of looking the other way.