Florida Coast. 1932–1933. The end of Prohibition, and the beginning of everything else.
Edith Duffy has buried her gangster husband and walked away from Philadelphia. She arrives in a small town outside Miami with enough money to buy a speakeasy and enough nerve to run it. She has no interest in being anyone’s victim, anyone’s widow, or anyone’s cautionary tale.
What she doesn’t account for is how quickly a woman operating outside the rules draws enemies. A Bible-thumping preacher with a personal vendetta. Rival smugglers who resent her success. A community that doesn’t know what to do with a woman who won’t apologize for what she is.
The Rum Runners’ Chronicles is a trilogy about reinvention — about a woman who builds a life from scratch in the final gaslit years of Prohibition, and discovers that the family you choose can matter more than anything you left behind. Edith Duffy is not a heroine who softens with time. She gets sharper. And the world around her has to decide whether it can handle that.
Fast-paced, atmospheric, and set against the vivid backdrop of Depression-era Florida.
The Series at a Glance
Set on the Florida Coast, 1932–1933 Three novels, complete trilogy Protagonist: Edith Duffy, mob widow, speakeasy owner, rum runner Her world: smugglers, Baptist preachers, Bahamian business partners, and the unlikely family she builds along the way The thread running through all three books: What does it take to reinvent yourself when the world keeps trying to define you?
Reading Order
Gathering Storm — Book One Florida, 1932. Edith Duffy buys a speakeasy and launches a rum-running operation — and immediately makes enemies of the local preacher, the rival smugglers, and half the town. Her mentor in this new underworld? The wife of Al Capone.
Storm Surge — Book Two Edith’s new saloon is thriving and she has a Bahamian smuggling partner who’s making her rich. But she’s also taken a boy under her wing, and the sinister preacher knows exactly where to strike to hurt her most.
Eye of the Storm — Book Three 1933. Prohibition is ending. Edith has built something real — a business, a family, a life she chose — but a man with nothing left to lose is the most dangerous kind of enemy. She has one chance to survive him and cross over to the right side of the law.
A Note for Readers of the Bootleggers’ Chronicles
Edith Duffy first appears in the Bootleggers’ Chronicles — she’s Mickey Duffy’s wife, glimpsed in the shadow of his notoriety. The Rum Runners’ Chronicles is her story: what she did when she finally walked out the door. You don’t need to have read the Bootleggers’ Chronicles first, but if you have, you’ll find this trilogy deeply satisfying.
New to Sherilyn Decter’s work? The Bootleggers’ Chronicles and The Promise Trilogy are both excellent places to start.
Edith’s story stretches from Philadelphia to the Florida coast. Explore the full world of women remaking their lives → The Cost of Becoming
The Rum Runners’ Chronicles is a complete three-book trilogy. All books are available in ebook and print.
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