Based on a True Story

Local Author John D. Mills Shares His Inspiration

“Where do you get the ideas for your books?”

This is a question authors get all the time, and the answers tend to vary. My favorite response to this question came from John D. Mills, local Southwest Florida author and guest on a recent episode of “The HartBeat Show.”

“I go to work every day,” John said. “The courthouse has some of the best stories out there.”

John is an attorney here in Fort Myers. He started as a prosecutor for the state attorney’s office in Fort Myers before opening his own practice for family law and criminal defense. John is also a fifth-generation native of Fort Myers. This real-life experience has been the perfect inspiration for John’s thrilling legal novels set right here in SWFL.

“Doug Shearer, my first character from my first novel, was inspired by John Shearer, who’s a retired lawyer and judge, and Doug Wilson, a policeman and court administrator who passed away a while back,” John told me as an example for how his work has inspired his writing. “I combined their names because they were two of my biggest mentors.”

To date, John has written nine books, all set in and around SWFL. Some of his most popular books are “The Trophy Wife Divorce” and “The Hooker, The Dancer and The Nun.” John really has a flair for titles.

Many of the same characters appear in his various books, but John assured me that they are stand-alone novels. You can pick any of them up, enjoy the mystery without being confused, and maybe even learn something new about our area. John’s latest book, “Cayo Costa Cross,” follows the tradition of thrillers set in SWFL but expands to include some really interesting local history.

“You may or may not know about the history of quarantine docks in the United States,” John explained. “But before all the vaccines and all the fancy medicines were invented, diseases such as yellow fever or tuberculosis could wipe out a port. They made you sit in quarantine for two weeks before you entered the port. If you tried to enter the port early, they’d kill you. If you were sick and tried to escape, they’d shoot you and burn the boat. You had to sit there and if you made it through quarantine, they’d let you come to port.

“This new book starts in 1910 at a quarantine dock. My character was trying to get money to pay for his daughter’s treatment because she was dying of tuberculosis. He went down to Key West, stole a stolen cross from a bad guy, and was coming back up to sell it to pay for her treatment, but he’s stuck in quarantine. The bad guy’s boat showed up, so he had to hide the gold cross and send a letter to his wife in case he didn’t make it.”

That’s just the prologue for “Cayo Costa Cross.” From there, the book jumps to the modern day to focus on a couple in the middle of a divorce who is fighting over an old letter that could lead to buried treasure. I’m not going to say anything else about the book. You’ll have to read it yourself to find out what happens next.

Getting John on the podcast was really awesome — he even promised to put me in a future book! We got to talk about books, growing up in SWFL, and how those “deleted” Facebook messages aren’t really gone forever. Did you know attorneys can subpoena those old messages and use them in a court trial? That was certainly news to me! Imagine how those drunk messages would look like blown up on a 10x10 screen in front of a courtroom.

If you’re a fan of John Grisham mysteries, you’ll really enjoy John D. Mills’ books. Support a local author by visiting his website PineIslandSoundMysteries.com. And you can listen to my full interview with John on “The HartBeat Show” wherever you get your podcasts.