Tree Callister is not much of a private detective.His first client just turned up at the door and he’s twelve years old. What’s more, the kid has the grand total of seven dollars with which to hire Tree to find his mother.Everyone on Sanibel Island in Florida where Tree lives thinks the former newspaper reporter is out of his mind. His only defender is his wife Freddie, and even she has doubts about her husband’s new profession.Then a dead body shows up, along with a threatening thug, the beautiful wife of a convicted media tycoon, a couple of suspicious detectives, and a former girlfriend, now an ex-FBI agent, who suspects Tree knows more than he is admitting. Suddenly, all sorts of people are trying to manipulate Tree Callister. Everyone thinks he’s in way over his head. But maybe, just maybe, he’s going to surprise everyone—even himself.Ron Base’s The Sanibel Sunset Detective, is full of fast-paced action, humor, unexpected plot twists, and memorable characters. Steeped in the sun-drenched atmosphere of Sanibel and Captiva, two of Florida’s most beautiful and unusual islands, this is the first in a bestselling series of Tree Callister adventures. "Ron Base is one heck of a writer!" --Jeff Lysiak, The Island Reporter, Sanibel Island, Florida Ten Years of Tree: An Interview with Ron Base   Q. The publication of I, The Sanibel Sunset Detective marks ten years of writing Tree Callister novels. How are you feeling? A. Disbelief, I think sums up my feelings. It's a cliché to say, I can't believe ten years has passed. But I can't believe ten years has passed. When I started these books, I had no idea what I was getting into. My aim was to write a novel a year, and to my amazement, that's exactly what has happened--sometimes more, given that there is now a separate Canadian series of novels. How did the Sanibel Sunset Detective come about?  By accident, really. My closest friend, Brian Vallee, along with a couple of partners had started a publishing company, West-End Books. They published a couple of books, but then things fell apart and the company was lying dormant. Both Brian and I were frustrated with traditional publishers. I suggested we resurrect West-End Books and publish our own novels through the company. Then my brother Ric chimed in suggesting I write something set around Sanibel and Captiva, barrier islands off the west coast of Florida where, at the time, he was president of the local chamber of commerce. I knew if I waited long enough, Ric would become an invaluable asset, and sure enough, it finally happened. I say all the time that I couldn't do these books without him. I think he's beginning to believe me. What made you decide on mystery novels? In addition to genre icons such as Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, I grew up reading the great pulp writers of the 1950s and60s: Mickey Spillane, Brett Halliday, Richard S. Prather, Erle Stanley Gardner. These guys and others churned out short, smart, sexy novels designed to entertain and keep you turning pages. They were no-nonsense practitioners of a certain kind of literary art. I thought it might be fun to produce something along those lines. Also, I knew there was a huge market for the mystery genre. But your detective, Tree Callister, is not exactly in the tradition of such tough gumshoes as Philip Marlowe, Mike Hammer, Shell Scott or Mike Shane. That's for sure. When I looked around Sanibel and Captiva, I couldn't help but notice no one was wearing a trench coat or a fedora. Also, these islands are not exactly filled with the mean streets of traditional detective fiction. I started to think about what kind of person would be crazy enough to be a detective on a sun-drenched island where nothing much happens, and who had no specific talents or background for the job. And who was that person? Me. Aha. Tree became a kind of surrogate for what I was doing as a writer. Who would be crazy enough to abandon traditional publishing in favor of a tiny company with no real experience publishing books? Me. I was at a point in my life where I was willing to cast my fate to the wind and see what happens, much as Tree does. Like Tree, I kind of muddle through and somehow come out all right at the end. Also, like Tree, I am married to the most beautiful and wonderful woman in the world. How is Tree different than you? He's much more courageous than I am. If someone shot me--as a number of people have shot Tree over the years--that would be the end of it. I'd find something else to do. But Tree, fool that he is, keeps coming back for more. He's undaunted while I am most definitely daunted. And Freddie is based on your wife, Kathy? Kathy denies she is like Freddie. But I know differently. The big difference between Kathy and Freddie, is that Kathy is even better than Freddie. Is Rex Baxter, Tree's best friend, based on your brother, Ric? Partially. But the real inspiration for Rex comes from a guy I met in Detroit many years ago. Bill