Lee Thompson is a pseudonym of Jack D. Hunter, known for his espionage thrillers,
including The Blue Max and The Expendable Spy.

The time is the mid-1880's when Florida south of St. Augustine is a virtual
wilderness and Daytona, Miami, and Tampa are little more than dots on the maritime charts.
Addie is a "beanery queen" who ekes out a living from her canteen at the convergence of
two primitive railroads. She is popular with the train crews but is disdained by most of the
townspeople because she lives, unmarried, with a war veteran whose mental disorder is
considered to be of demonic origin.

Thanks to her prevention of a disastrous train wreck, Addie meets Burke, the owner-operator
of the railroad that links the seaside docks at Mayport with St. Augustine. An attraction
blossoms but is tantalizingly unfulfilled when social persecution forces Addie to flee into
the subtropical wilderness. Burke launches a search for her, not knowing that she has
become a pawn in a plot to usurp him of his empire.

Lee Thompson is the pseudonym of Jack D. Hunter, who is well-known for his espionage thrillers. During his fifty-six year career in print and broadcast journalism and military and Congressional service, he was a senior editor and editorial consultant for the Florida Times Union and St. Augustine Record in Florida.

Johanna Ward (also known as Kate Reading) is an award-winning narrator and actor. She is a company member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre and has appeared on many other stages. She and her husband, actor-narrator Michael Kramer (Nick Bernard), live with their two children in the Washington, D.C. area.