Visiting San Esteban is supposed to be a vacation for Frank and Joe Hardy and their friends, but it doesn't take long for them to realize that the island is no paradise. Some of the local inhabitants aren't very friendly to tourists, and the island itself is crawling with dangerous wild animals -- some of which take up residence in the Hardys' bungalow.
NYPD homicide detective John Corey has moved to Long Island, restlessly recuperating from wounds received in the line of duty when he's hired to consult on the murder of Tom and Judy Gordon, biologists who worked on Plum Island, the site of animal disease research for the Department of Agriculture. Were the Gordons murdered because they'd stolen some valuable new vaccine, or even a dreaded virus? They'd obviously outspent their income. Had they been running drugs?
When John Sutter's aristocratic wife killed her mafia don lover, John left America and set out in his sailboat on a three-year journey around the world, eventually settling in London. Now, ten years later, he has come home to the Gold Coast, that stretch of land on the North Shore of Long Island that once held the greatest concentration of wealth and power in America, to attend the imminent funeral of an old family servant. Taking up temporary residence in the gatehouse of Stanhope Hall, John finds himself living only a quarter of a mile from Susan who has also returned to Long Island.
I walked to the highest part of the island and looked around. The island was quite large, but there were no people on it. I looked out to sea, and there were no boats. "Why," I thought, "did this happen to me? But I´m still alive. There must be some reason for that."
In Screws, inhabitants of Mammoth Island are in the process of building a new observation tower out of stone blocks when one of the islanders gets trapped at the top of the tower. With the help of a visiting gallant knight and his trusty mammoth, they are able to build a ramp around the circular structure and create a giant simple machine known as a screw. Turning the tower into a giant screw allows the islanders to spin the tower down into the soil, bringing the trapped inhabitant of Mammoth Island close to the ground -- and saving the day!
