I learned a lot from Ernest Hemingway. One of his sage pieces of advice is: “Write what you know.” When I needed a location for my first mystery novel, The Myakka Murders, I chose Myakka River State Park. Why? Because I’ve spent hundreds of hours in the park, photographing the landscape and wildlife. Am I an authority on Myakka State Park? No. But I know more about the area than most casual visitors. I know enough about the park to describe it in detail The following image is the area where Yale’s father was found with one arm missing; the handiwork of a hungry gator.