Why Boca Grande?
People ask me why I used the real place of Boca Grande as the setting for my books. Simple: I know it and l love it. No other place was even a close second. I know, I know, I left there to have a mountain house, but that’s another story. Basically, I’m a tropical kind of guy. Warmth, a salty breeze, and a good rum drink are things from which I don’t want to stray too far. So what’s the big deal about this Boca Grande? Well, first, it’s a village on a Southwest Florida island. And Gasparilla Island was named after a pirate who roamed the area waters many years ago. How cool is that? (Don’t tell anyone else, but Jose Gaspar’s actual existence has yet to be substantiated, but, hey, I’m in the fiction business; I’m good with it). Notwithstanding when the Calusa Indians were in the area (read Boca Moon and learn more about that), Boca Grande was settled as a fishing village by the Padilla family. It stayed that way until the phosphate companies built a railroad bridge to Gasparilla Island a
