Ensueno: Palm Beach Noir

Jimmy Phipps is a high school teacher living aboard a sailboat in a downtown West Palm Beach Marina. He is numb from mourning the recent death of his ex-wife, a Palm Beach heiress, who died from a cocaine overdose. On the Summer Solstice, a woman climbs on board claiming to know who actually murdered her, setting Jimmy on a journey into his past. His investigation takes him back over thirty years where he discovers secrets long hidden, lies long unacknowledged, and ugly truths long suppressed. He soon finds out just about everything he ever assumed about his parents, his wife, and even his own life, is not what he thought. It’s all been an illusion: "ensueno." A novel of discovery, an odyssey through Florida’s backroads, and a literary journey come together in a remarkable novel that defies the conventions of most contemporary mysteries. Eberling has taken his forty years of filming along Florida’s backroads, at historical sites, and in Palm Beach mansions, put them in a blender, and created something that is different than the usual Florida fiction of recent years. It takes readers into Florida worlds seen by few and imagines scenes of historical significance from a surprisingly unique perspective. This is the Florida novel both critics and readers will be talking about for years to come.