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Sanibel Sunset Detective #1
The Sanibel Sunset Detective
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 headless 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 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 new novel, 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 series of Tree Callister adventures.
- GenresMystery
248 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 25, 2010
About the author
Ron Base
39 books44 followersRon Base was born in Belleville, Ontario, Dec. 9. His bank manager father, Eric, moved the family—mother Jean and younger brother Ric—from Belleville to Cobourg to Picton, and finally to Brockville, Ontario. Here Base finished elementary school and then attended Brockville Collegiate Institute and Vocational School.
He began writing for a weekly newspaper, The United Counties Packet, when he was 15 years old. Based on his work for the weekly, he landed a part-time job at the daily Recorder and Times where he wrote a column for teenagers and worked as a general assignment reporter during the summer. He was also the Brockville correspondent for the Kingston Whig Standard.
He dropped out of high school at the age of 18 but was able to attend the journalism school at Algonquin College for one year in 1967-1968. While at the college, he wrote freelance pieces for the Ottawa Journal.
Although he did not graduate from Algonquin, Base landed a fulltime job as general assignment reporter at the Oshawa Times in the summer of 1968. Three months later, he was hired at the Windsor Star where he wrote obituaries before being assigned to the night desk. Several months later, he was named the paper’s media columnist.
After five years at the Windsor Star, Base was hired by publisher Douglas Creighton as a feature writer when the Toronto Sunday Sun began publication in 1973. He wrote pieces for the Sunday newspaper’s magazine section and also did the weekly cover story for the paper’s TV guide.
After three years at the Sun, he left to work briefly at the Toronto Star, returned to the Sun, just as briefly, before leaving to write magazine pieces. During this period, Base worked for a New York-based magazine syndicate, Writers Bloc, and produced profiles on everyone from actgor Peter O’Toole and former New York governor Nelson Rockefeller to author Tom Wolfe, mystery writer Mickey Spillane, and Robert Blake before he was accused of killing anyone.
Those stories and others appeared in such publications as the Washington Post, New York Newsday, The New York Post, Chicago Tribune, The Miami Herald, and the Los Angeles Times. He also wrote several profiles for Cosmopolitan magazine and freelanced for Maclean’s Magazine, first as its television critic and later as a contributing editor writing profiles.
Among the other publications Base wrote for during that period: TV Guide, Chatelaine, Quest Magazine, Canadian Business, and Toronto Life.
Returning to the Toronto Star in 1980, Base wrote TV criticism for a year and then replaced the newspaper’s longtime movie critic Clyde Gilmour. From 1981 to 1987, Base wrote movie reviews as well as profiled the major stars of the day, including Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Michael Caine, Eddie Murphy, Richard Burton, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Woody Allen, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Kevin Costner.
During this time, he hosted a syndicated radio show, Marquee Magazine at the Movies and also co-hosted The Movie Show with Alex Barris for TV Ontario. The series lasted for two seasons before being cancelled. He also appeared frequently on the CTV network’s Canada AM to talk about movies.
Heavenly Bodies, a script Base had co written while freelancing, was released by MGM in 1985, and sank at the box office. However, the movie about three young women who start their own workout club found renewed life in the burgeoning home video market, and, much to Base’s continuing bemusement, refused to go away, becoming something of a cult hit, complete with an annual screening in Los Angeles.
During this time, Doubleday published Base’s first novel, Matinee Idol. Base left the Star in 1987 and co-produced and wrote a thriller, White Light, directed by Al Waxman and starring Martin Kove. The film played theatrically in Canada.
He also worked with David Haslam, publisher of Marquee Magazine, to produce a number of movie-orient
He began writing for a weekly newspaper, The United Counties Packet, when he was 15 years old. Based on his work for the weekly, he landed a part-time job at the daily Recorder and Times where he wrote a column for teenagers and worked as a general assignment reporter during the summer. He was also the Brockville correspondent for the Kingston Whig Standard.
He dropped out of high school at the age of 18 but was able to attend the journalism school at Algonquin College for one year in 1967-1968. While at the college, he wrote freelance pieces for the Ottawa Journal.
Although he did not graduate from Algonquin, Base landed a fulltime job as general assignment reporter at the Oshawa Times in the summer of 1968. Three months later, he was hired at the Windsor Star where he wrote obituaries before being assigned to the night desk. Several months later, he was named the paper’s media columnist.
After five years at the Windsor Star, Base was hired by publisher Douglas Creighton as a feature writer when the Toronto Sunday Sun began publication in 1973. He wrote pieces for the Sunday newspaper’s magazine section and also did the weekly cover story for the paper’s TV guide.
After three years at the Sun, he left to work briefly at the Toronto Star, returned to the Sun, just as briefly, before leaving to write magazine pieces. During this period, Base worked for a New York-based magazine syndicate, Writers Bloc, and produced profiles on everyone from actgor Peter O’Toole and former New York governor Nelson Rockefeller to author Tom Wolfe, mystery writer Mickey Spillane, and Robert Blake before he was accused of killing anyone.
Those stories and others appeared in such publications as the Washington Post, New York Newsday, The New York Post, Chicago Tribune, The Miami Herald, and the Los Angeles Times. He also wrote several profiles for Cosmopolitan magazine and freelanced for Maclean’s Magazine, first as its television critic and later as a contributing editor writing profiles.
Among the other publications Base wrote for during that period: TV Guide, Chatelaine, Quest Magazine, Canadian Business, and Toronto Life.
Returning to the Toronto Star in 1980, Base wrote TV criticism for a year and then replaced the newspaper’s longtime movie critic Clyde Gilmour. From 1981 to 1987, Base wrote movie reviews as well as profiled the major stars of the day, including Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Michael Caine, Eddie Murphy, Richard Burton, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Woody Allen, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Kevin Costner.
During this time, he hosted a syndicated radio show, Marquee Magazine at the Movies and also co-hosted The Movie Show with Alex Barris for TV Ontario. The series lasted for two seasons before being cancelled. He also appeared frequently on the CTV network’s Canada AM to talk about movies.
Heavenly Bodies, a script Base had co written while freelancing, was released by MGM in 1985, and sank at the box office. However, the movie about three young women who start their own workout club found renewed life in the burgeoning home video market, and, much to Base’s continuing bemusement, refused to go away, becoming something of a cult hit, complete with an annual screening in Los Angeles.
During this time, Doubleday published Base’s first novel, Matinee Idol. Base left the Star in 1987 and co-produced and wrote a thriller, White Light, directed by Al Waxman and starring Martin Kove. The film played theatrically in Canada.
He also worked with David Haslam, publisher of Marquee Magazine, to produce a number of movie-orient
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
December 16, 2012
On very rare occasions, a book strikes me not only for its literary value but also for how it connects with me personally. This is one of those books.
While vacationing recently on Florida’s Sanibel Island, I ran into Ron Base, the author. He was signing books outside of the restaurant where my wife and I had just finished breakfast. After having an enjoyable conversation with Ron, I bought one of his books, the first in his series of three about newbie detective Tree Callister.
The idea of reading a mystery using Sanibel, one of my favorite places of all time, as it’s geographic location, appealed to me greatly. I intended on reading it when I got home to Orlando but I made the mistake of peeking at a few pages when I returned to the motel—a mistake because I found it difficult to put the thing down. I finished it before leaving the island. Yes, it’s that good.
Base is an excellent and experienced writer who pulls you into this story right from the start and doesn’t let you go until the last page. The main character, Tree Callister, an aging Sanibel resident, is like no detective you’ve ever read about before. He’s new to the game of being an investigator for hire and he stumbles his way through danger until he learns what he must know just to survive.
This novel has something for every age group and has multicultural threads that very effectively broaden the plot’s appeal. Base spreads murder and mayhem across Sanibel like wildfire while making excellent use of island locations. Knowing that beautiful island as I do, this geographic sampling lends a wonderful sense of authenticity. If by some chance you have ever been to Sanibel and return after reading this book, you will never view the place quite the same again.
So far, Mr. Base has two other novels in this series, The Sanibel Sunset Detective Returns and Another Sanibel Sunset Detective. No doubt those books are as good or even better than the first.
Bravo, Ron Base, for a fun and captivating read.
While vacationing recently on Florida’s Sanibel Island, I ran into Ron Base, the author. He was signing books outside of the restaurant where my wife and I had just finished breakfast. After having an enjoyable conversation with Ron, I bought one of his books, the first in his series of three about newbie detective Tree Callister.
The idea of reading a mystery using Sanibel, one of my favorite places of all time, as it’s geographic location, appealed to me greatly. I intended on reading it when I got home to Orlando but I made the mistake of peeking at a few pages when I returned to the motel—a mistake because I found it difficult to put the thing down. I finished it before leaving the island. Yes, it’s that good.
Base is an excellent and experienced writer who pulls you into this story right from the start and doesn’t let you go until the last page. The main character, Tree Callister, an aging Sanibel resident, is like no detective you’ve ever read about before. He’s new to the game of being an investigator for hire and he stumbles his way through danger until he learns what he must know just to survive.
This novel has something for every age group and has multicultural threads that very effectively broaden the plot’s appeal. Base spreads murder and mayhem across Sanibel like wildfire while making excellent use of island locations. Knowing that beautiful island as I do, this geographic sampling lends a wonderful sense of authenticity. If by some chance you have ever been to Sanibel and return after reading this book, you will never view the place quite the same again.
So far, Mr. Base has two other novels in this series, The Sanibel Sunset Detective Returns and Another Sanibel Sunset Detective. No doubt those books are as good or even better than the first.
Bravo, Ron Base, for a fun and captivating read.
September 29, 2025
4 Stars. This guy Tree Callister grows on you. I first met him as he was setting up his private detective office on lovely Sanibel Island. It's a small retreat just off Florida's Gulf of Mexico coast connected by causeway to Fort Myers. South of Tampa. Tree's hole in the wall is over the Chamber of Commerce run by long-time friend Rex Baxter who let him have it free - seeing as he was just starting out! A former newspaper man now 60, Tree had been downsized. He's trying something new. While he and Rex are jawing about movie P.I.s, Hackman, Newman and Bogart, a young black kid popped in. Tree was stunned; the rest of us were stunned too. A customer, or is it a client? "I want to talk to a detective," says Marcello. He looked even younger than what he claimed - 12! Amusingly he hands over $7 and wants Tree to find his mother. When you aren't paying rent, that amount can go a long way. The boy had a postcard from "Mommy" but that's all. Is this serious? Everyone, including Tree's wife Freddie, were skeptical about his new gig. But he was off and running. Later he told me about bodies and dangerous women. I'll drop in to say "Hi" again. (Jul2021/Se2025)
June 20, 2011
Notes On Writing a Novel
In the late 1970s, working as a journalist for a New York syndicate I went down to Murrell’s Inlet, South Carolina to interview the legendary mystery writer, Mickey Spillane.
Beginning in 1947, Spillane wrote a series of hard-boiled paperback novels starring a tough-as-nails private detective named Mike Hammer. Titles such as Vengeance Is Mine and I, The Jury and My Gun Is Quick sold in excess of 180 million copies and created a publishing phenomenon that spawned movies and TV series.
Spillane’s novels were pulp fiction pushed to the limits of the day, filled not only with a ruthless vigilante-style violence but also with sex that, while never explicit, was certainly suggestive enough to keep a kid like myself eagerly turning pages by flashlight, late at night, under the covers. This was, after all, forbidden literature. My parents did not want me reading such filth. I, of course, consumed it avidly.
By the time I interviewed him, Spillane’s glory days were past. He was in his early sixties, content to drink beer and hang out with the three of his four children who were living with him in a big, rambling oceanside house. He still wrote but children’s fantasy adventures, not mysteries. He would talk about the old glory days, but reluctantly. He never was the city slicker, even though he was born in Brooklyn, more a country boy who disliked big cities and the glitz and the glamour of fame.
I thought a lot about Mickey Spillane when I started writing my own private detective novel, The Sanibel Sunset Detective. In a curious way, my encounter with him served as a source of inspiration. I knew I couldn’t write a character like Mike Hammer, Shell Scott or Mike Shayne, the shamuses of my adolescence, guys who could handle women and guns with equal alacrity.
But suppose you weren’t like those guys, suppose you didn’t know anything about guns and not too much more about women. Suppose you were someone more like, well, me -- and that someone decided to become a private detective on an island like Sanibel? What would happen to him? What kind of trouble would he get himself into?
Thus was more or less born my main character, an ex-newspaperman named Tree Callister who used to come to Sanibel and Captiva as a child but hadn’t been back since, not until his new wife, Freddie, was offered a job on the island.
What would happen, I wondered, if this character who can’t do much of anything found himself involved in the sort of mystery any self-respecting private eye out of my youth might have encountered--but with a few differences.
Tree would be totally unsuited to the dangerous world he finds himself in, but as much to his surprise as anyone else’s, he discovers that not only can he operate in this world , but he actually begins to enjoy himself, liking the idea of danger and duplicity, attracted to a landscape on which no one is quite what they seem.
I decided to play with some of the traditions set out in the private detective novels. Instead of a femme fatale showing up at his office (although she does make an appearance later), Tree’s first client would be a twelve-year-old boy named Marcello. He has the princely sum of seven dollars with which to hire Tree to find his mother.
Soon enough Tree stumbles upon a headless corpse and finds himself involved with the aforementioned femme fatale who is married to an imprisoned media tycoon. There is also a nasty hood who threatens Tree’s life, a couple of cops who wouldn’t mind pinning a murder or two on him, and a former girl friend, now an FBI agent, who shows up to make Tree’s life even more complicated.
I also wanted to write about a happy marriage. I didn’t want yet another single detective, living alone, drinking heavily, embittered by the world. I wanted a couple, more like Nick and Nora Charles from Dashiell Hammett‘s The Thin Man, the only other instance in recorded detective fiction that I can think of where the detective and his wife are allowed to unconditionally love one another. I wanted a similar kind of relationship for Tree, albeit without the alcohol that so casually fuelled Nick and Nora’s marriage.
As for setting the story on Sanibel Island and environs, I have my brother Ric to thank for that. He is the president of the Sanibel-Captiva Chamber of Commerce so it’s his job to extol the virtues of this bit of paradise, a job he does exceedingly well.
My wife Kathy and I fell in love with the place almost as soon as the plane landed at Fort Myers Airport. I am something of an interloper here, I know, but a happy and totally admiring interloper, much like Tree Callister himself.
I plan to return often. So does Tree. The Sanibel Sunset Detective is the first in a series of Tree Callister adventures. The private detective inside me has found an alter ego in Tree, and a home on Sanibel and Captiva Island.
In the late 1970s, working as a journalist for a New York syndicate I went down to Murrell’s Inlet, South Carolina to interview the legendary mystery writer, Mickey Spillane.
Beginning in 1947, Spillane wrote a series of hard-boiled paperback novels starring a tough-as-nails private detective named Mike Hammer. Titles such as Vengeance Is Mine and I, The Jury and My Gun Is Quick sold in excess of 180 million copies and created a publishing phenomenon that spawned movies and TV series.
Spillane’s novels were pulp fiction pushed to the limits of the day, filled not only with a ruthless vigilante-style violence but also with sex that, while never explicit, was certainly suggestive enough to keep a kid like myself eagerly turning pages by flashlight, late at night, under the covers. This was, after all, forbidden literature. My parents did not want me reading such filth. I, of course, consumed it avidly.
By the time I interviewed him, Spillane’s glory days were past. He was in his early sixties, content to drink beer and hang out with the three of his four children who were living with him in a big, rambling oceanside house. He still wrote but children’s fantasy adventures, not mysteries. He would talk about the old glory days, but reluctantly. He never was the city slicker, even though he was born in Brooklyn, more a country boy who disliked big cities and the glitz and the glamour of fame.
I thought a lot about Mickey Spillane when I started writing my own private detective novel, The Sanibel Sunset Detective. In a curious way, my encounter with him served as a source of inspiration. I knew I couldn’t write a character like Mike Hammer, Shell Scott or Mike Shayne, the shamuses of my adolescence, guys who could handle women and guns with equal alacrity.
But suppose you weren’t like those guys, suppose you didn’t know anything about guns and not too much more about women. Suppose you were someone more like, well, me -- and that someone decided to become a private detective on an island like Sanibel? What would happen to him? What kind of trouble would he get himself into?
Thus was more or less born my main character, an ex-newspaperman named Tree Callister who used to come to Sanibel and Captiva as a child but hadn’t been back since, not until his new wife, Freddie, was offered a job on the island.
What would happen, I wondered, if this character who can’t do much of anything found himself involved in the sort of mystery any self-respecting private eye out of my youth might have encountered--but with a few differences.
Tree would be totally unsuited to the dangerous world he finds himself in, but as much to his surprise as anyone else’s, he discovers that not only can he operate in this world , but he actually begins to enjoy himself, liking the idea of danger and duplicity, attracted to a landscape on which no one is quite what they seem.
I decided to play with some of the traditions set out in the private detective novels. Instead of a femme fatale showing up at his office (although she does make an appearance later), Tree’s first client would be a twelve-year-old boy named Marcello. He has the princely sum of seven dollars with which to hire Tree to find his mother.
Soon enough Tree stumbles upon a headless corpse and finds himself involved with the aforementioned femme fatale who is married to an imprisoned media tycoon. There is also a nasty hood who threatens Tree’s life, a couple of cops who wouldn’t mind pinning a murder or two on him, and a former girl friend, now an FBI agent, who shows up to make Tree’s life even more complicated.
I also wanted to write about a happy marriage. I didn’t want yet another single detective, living alone, drinking heavily, embittered by the world. I wanted a couple, more like Nick and Nora Charles from Dashiell Hammett‘s The Thin Man, the only other instance in recorded detective fiction that I can think of where the detective and his wife are allowed to unconditionally love one another. I wanted a similar kind of relationship for Tree, albeit without the alcohol that so casually fuelled Nick and Nora’s marriage.
As for setting the story on Sanibel Island and environs, I have my brother Ric to thank for that. He is the president of the Sanibel-Captiva Chamber of Commerce so it’s his job to extol the virtues of this bit of paradise, a job he does exceedingly well.
My wife Kathy and I fell in love with the place almost as soon as the plane landed at Fort Myers Airport. I am something of an interloper here, I know, but a happy and totally admiring interloper, much like Tree Callister himself.
I plan to return often. So does Tree. The Sanibel Sunset Detective is the first in a series of Tree Callister adventures. The private detective inside me has found an alter ego in Tree, and a home on Sanibel and Captiva Island.
November 26, 2018
After about 10 pages of a new book, I almost always start making notes for my review. I add notes as I continue reading, up until the end, when I reorganize the notes into an actual review.
I started The Sanibel Sunset Detective because I love Sanibel Island, and some friends who also love Sanibel loaned me the book. After 3 pages I was so hooked I couldn’t stop to make notes until around page 150. To me that is a very impressive example of what is colloquially known as a “page turner”.
Who ever heard of a four times married newspaper reporter, downsized at age 60, who becomes a private detective? Tree Callister is that man. He thinks he must be nuts to embark on this career when the most pressing issue in his life prior to now was regularly losing his reading glasses. He joins the rest of Sanibel Island’s residents in sharing this appraisal of his mental condition. Except Freddie, his high-power executive wife who not only believes in him, but joins him in trying to solve his first case, for which he is paid the princely sum of 7 dollars. And it’s not exactly tailing a wayward spouse. More like multiple murders, beheading, mayhem, gory violence, a smart-mouthed 12-year-old kid running for his life, police and FBI involvement, and more plot twists than Lombard Street in San Francisco. It’s way more fun than following Mrs. White to see if she is shacked up with Mr. Green in the See No Evil motel.
We also get Chicago history, Sanibel history, quirky characters, a duplicitous butler who is neck deep in the criminal activity, a great deal of dry humor, and dialogue that is full of the kind of whip-smart needling that can only occur between friends or lovers.
I love a writer who tosses in references and allusions, in this case to Paul Newman, Batman, Spider-Man, Dorothy Parker, Busby Berkeley, Ernest Hemingway, Socrates, Shakespeare, and Phaedra of Greek Mythology. Ron Base knows a whole lot of stuff besides how to write a great detective novel.
Being of an age not all that different from Tree’s, I loved paragraphs such as “Ben E. King sang Stand by Me. Where had he been when he first heard that one? Couldn‘t remember. He could remember the first 45 rpm record he ever bought – Mitch Miller and the gang singing The Yellow Rose of Texas. That must have been, what? 1955? What had possessed him to buy that old chestnut? Elvis was out there stirring things up, and he was listening to Mitch Miller. What was wrong with him?”
Or humor such as this: Freddie finds out that one of the FBI agents working the case is an old girlfriend of Tree’s. “You’re not mad?” Tree says. “I may well be mad,” Freddie said. “Am I angry? No.” Now that’s wit.
There are Ten Sanibel Sunset Detective novels so far. The fifth installment is called, The Hound of the Sanibel Sunset Detective. If that title doesn’t make you laugh out loud, you need a history lesson in detective fiction.
I plan to read them all. You should too.
I started The Sanibel Sunset Detective because I love Sanibel Island, and some friends who also love Sanibel loaned me the book. After 3 pages I was so hooked I couldn’t stop to make notes until around page 150. To me that is a very impressive example of what is colloquially known as a “page turner”.
Who ever heard of a four times married newspaper reporter, downsized at age 60, who becomes a private detective? Tree Callister is that man. He thinks he must be nuts to embark on this career when the most pressing issue in his life prior to now was regularly losing his reading glasses. He joins the rest of Sanibel Island’s residents in sharing this appraisal of his mental condition. Except Freddie, his high-power executive wife who not only believes in him, but joins him in trying to solve his first case, for which he is paid the princely sum of 7 dollars. And it’s not exactly tailing a wayward spouse. More like multiple murders, beheading, mayhem, gory violence, a smart-mouthed 12-year-old kid running for his life, police and FBI involvement, and more plot twists than Lombard Street in San Francisco. It’s way more fun than following Mrs. White to see if she is shacked up with Mr. Green in the See No Evil motel.
We also get Chicago history, Sanibel history, quirky characters, a duplicitous butler who is neck deep in the criminal activity, a great deal of dry humor, and dialogue that is full of the kind of whip-smart needling that can only occur between friends or lovers.
I love a writer who tosses in references and allusions, in this case to Paul Newman, Batman, Spider-Man, Dorothy Parker, Busby Berkeley, Ernest Hemingway, Socrates, Shakespeare, and Phaedra of Greek Mythology. Ron Base knows a whole lot of stuff besides how to write a great detective novel.
Being of an age not all that different from Tree’s, I loved paragraphs such as “Ben E. King sang Stand by Me. Where had he been when he first heard that one? Couldn‘t remember. He could remember the first 45 rpm record he ever bought – Mitch Miller and the gang singing The Yellow Rose of Texas. That must have been, what? 1955? What had possessed him to buy that old chestnut? Elvis was out there stirring things up, and he was listening to Mitch Miller. What was wrong with him?”
Or humor such as this: Freddie finds out that one of the FBI agents working the case is an old girlfriend of Tree’s. “You’re not mad?” Tree says. “I may well be mad,” Freddie said. “Am I angry? No.” Now that’s wit.
There are Ten Sanibel Sunset Detective novels so far. The fifth installment is called, The Hound of the Sanibel Sunset Detective. If that title doesn’t make you laugh out loud, you need a history lesson in detective fiction.
I plan to read them all. You should too.
April 9, 2012
Got to meet Ron Base at Bailey's -- one of Sanibel's favorite grocery haunts. He most kindly signed his book. It's a fun read that I went through quickly, which is unusual for me. Ron and his "fearless" detective, Tree, are my kind of people. If you get a chance, you should read it too. Best if read on one of the best places on earth, Sanibel, but good too if you just want to escape here.
August 1, 2012
A fun Beach read! I enjoyed the characters. The story line took place on Sanibel Island and used surrounding areas as the backdrop for the intrigue and his investigative adventures. It was all so familiar to me thanks to our many visits there over the years, I felt like I was part of the story! Not your typical gumshoe detective! Can't help but cheer him on and hope he succeeds!
March 12, 2013
Ron Base showed he might just be ready to play with the Florida big boys, Carl Hiaasen and Randy Wayne White, with the debut of Tree Callister in The Sanibel Sunset Detective.
Many years ago I discovered Randy White's Doc Ford series while browsing for a good beach read at MacIntosh Books on Sanibel Island. Hoping for another unexpected treat I stopped in the same bookstore on my last visit to Sanibel and noticed The Sanibel Sunset Detective. Could it be true?
Tree Callister, aka, the Sanibel Sunset Detective, is not a Doc Ford wannabe and that's a good thing since Doc would likely take out the competition, or at least wrestle him into submission. Instead, he is a mild mannered, unassuming sixty year old Chicago transplant, and unemployed newspaper man living with his fourth wife on Sanibel Island. With no experience what so ever as a detective, Tree Callister is attempting to reinvent his life by opening a private detective agency.
Into Tree's office walks a twelve year old boy wanting Callister to find his mother. This also happens to be the first person who has sought Tree out since he opened his business. Not exactly who he was imagining for his first client.
Starting slowly and building steadily, Ron Base reels in his readers with smart dialog and just the right blend of mystery and mounting tension. Callister really doesn't know the first thing about being a detective, but as he gets pulled further and further into his first case he realizes that he likes this new version of himself.
Basing Doc Ford on Sanibel Island worked for Randy White and should work equally well for Ron Base if his intention is to make this an on-going series. The Sanibel Sunset Detective is filled with abundant local color and a fun cast of characters. I loved Tree's wife, Freddie, who although doubtful at first about his choice of a new career, finds herself slowly warming to the idea. The two of them are well matched and have the right amount of chemistry to make the relationship interesting and fun to watch.
Another character with great potential was Tommy Dobbs, a young reporter for the local island paper. When Tree is first introduced to Tommy it's culture shock. Tree, the old pro from Chicago had made his living as a print journalist until his job simply ceased to be relevant to his newspaper. Tommy, the new generation reporter is all about the use of Twitter and blogging and getting stories posted on the internet as quickly as possible.
Ron Base has created a likeable character primed for further adventures. Whether or not the supporting cast returns like the group living at Dinkin's Bay Marina did in the Doc Ford series, this was a sure fired winner and I am ready to find out what happens in book two, The Sanibel Detective Returns.
Many years ago I discovered Randy White's Doc Ford series while browsing for a good beach read at MacIntosh Books on Sanibel Island. Hoping for another unexpected treat I stopped in the same bookstore on my last visit to Sanibel and noticed The Sanibel Sunset Detective. Could it be true?
Tree Callister, aka, the Sanibel Sunset Detective, is not a Doc Ford wannabe and that's a good thing since Doc would likely take out the competition, or at least wrestle him into submission. Instead, he is a mild mannered, unassuming sixty year old Chicago transplant, and unemployed newspaper man living with his fourth wife on Sanibel Island. With no experience what so ever as a detective, Tree Callister is attempting to reinvent his life by opening a private detective agency.
Into Tree's office walks a twelve year old boy wanting Callister to find his mother. This also happens to be the first person who has sought Tree out since he opened his business. Not exactly who he was imagining for his first client.
Starting slowly and building steadily, Ron Base reels in his readers with smart dialog and just the right blend of mystery and mounting tension. Callister really doesn't know the first thing about being a detective, but as he gets pulled further and further into his first case he realizes that he likes this new version of himself.
Basing Doc Ford on Sanibel Island worked for Randy White and should work equally well for Ron Base if his intention is to make this an on-going series. The Sanibel Sunset Detective is filled with abundant local color and a fun cast of characters. I loved Tree's wife, Freddie, who although doubtful at first about his choice of a new career, finds herself slowly warming to the idea. The two of them are well matched and have the right amount of chemistry to make the relationship interesting and fun to watch.
Another character with great potential was Tommy Dobbs, a young reporter for the local island paper. When Tree is first introduced to Tommy it's culture shock. Tree, the old pro from Chicago had made his living as a print journalist until his job simply ceased to be relevant to his newspaper. Tommy, the new generation reporter is all about the use of Twitter and blogging and getting stories posted on the internet as quickly as possible.
Ron Base has created a likeable character primed for further adventures. Whether or not the supporting cast returns like the group living at Dinkin's Bay Marina did in the Doc Ford series, this was a sure fired winner and I am ready to find out what happens in book two, The Sanibel Detective Returns.
November 21, 2021
Remember when Ferris Bueller said “life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it?” Well here’s a story, and adventure, of a man who stopped to look around. Someone who started to find his own, even if he’s sixty and just opening his detective agency for the first time.
A few years ago, I had a bad summer. And by bad summer I mean it was unlike any other. I did things I hadn’t done before; felt what I described as being “alive and in tune.” With being alive, also had its share of mishaps. I even ended up with 3 stitches over my right eye. But I felt something during those days.
I can identify with Tree, the detective and main character in the book. I’m younger than he is but he has very real views of life, aging, and living.
He found a way, through his detective agency, to come alive. His adventure was what he needed and he did it his way, which, made him all the more believable and likable.
This was probably one of the better detective novels I’ve read in a while. The blending of old world detecting with modern annoyances like cell phones and social media make for a good read. Neither are overbearing, nor are they presented in unrealistic circumstances.
I’ll be looking to find the other books in this series.
A few years ago, I had a bad summer. And by bad summer I mean it was unlike any other. I did things I hadn’t done before; felt what I described as being “alive and in tune.” With being alive, also had its share of mishaps. I even ended up with 3 stitches over my right eye. But I felt something during those days.
I can identify with Tree, the detective and main character in the book. I’m younger than he is but he has very real views of life, aging, and living.
He found a way, through his detective agency, to come alive. His adventure was what he needed and he did it his way, which, made him all the more believable and likable.
This was probably one of the better detective novels I’ve read in a while. The blending of old world detecting with modern annoyances like cell phones and social media make for a good read. Neither are overbearing, nor are they presented in unrealistic circumstances.
I’ll be looking to find the other books in this series.
August 3, 2017
Spring break, April 2017. Found a cute little bookstore in Fort Myers and a nice man signing books ouside. Struck up a conversation and got an autographed copy of my very own. Ron has been writing for awhile and suggested this book, the beginning of his Sanibel Sunset Detective series.
Tree Callister is a former newspaperman, and fairly new resident of Florida. His wife is busy with her own career and he most certainly is not busy. Good natured, likeable and happily married but feeling the need to do something, he opens up the detective agency on the beautiful, idyllic Sanibel Island..where nothing much ever really happens . First customer, Marcello, a smallish 12 year old boy. He doesn't have much money but Tree decides to be kindly and take the case.
There's mystery, some adventure and Tree doesn't get much respect, more like people humor him. In the end, he gets his man and helps out young Marcello.
I will be on the lookout for the sequel.
One last note..this book kind of fell apart. Poorly bound there's several pages that came right out of the binding entirely. West End Books of Canada, 2nd edition. Kind of a bummer.
Tree Callister is a former newspaperman, and fairly new resident of Florida. His wife is busy with her own career and he most certainly is not busy. Good natured, likeable and happily married but feeling the need to do something, he opens up the detective agency on the beautiful, idyllic Sanibel Island..where nothing much ever really happens . First customer, Marcello, a smallish 12 year old boy. He doesn't have much money but Tree decides to be kindly and take the case.
There's mystery, some adventure and Tree doesn't get much respect, more like people humor him. In the end, he gets his man and helps out young Marcello.
I will be on the lookout for the sequel.
One last note..this book kind of fell apart. Poorly bound there's several pages that came right out of the binding entirely. West End Books of Canada, 2nd edition. Kind of a bummer.
February 27, 2022
Tree Callister, 60-ish and married to the divine, wise Freddie, has no business being a detective on Sanibel and Captiva Islands. He is not physically imposing, can't shoot a gun, and has no law enforcement background: but he is a retired reporter from Chicago, used to drink and is on his fourth and best marriage. He gets a 12 year old client, fee $7.00, to find a missing mother. His other client, a rich, dangerous and beautiful woman also hires him to follow her husband, suspected of cheating. Of course, these two cases are in fact related and an entirely complicated, amazing and wonderful story unfolds. Tree gets knocked about, lied to and put in situations a man of his age has no business being in, but he is persistent. Great plot that seems too tangled to ever make sense, yet every piece fits in the end. The writing is crisp, humorous, tough and totally engaging. What a way to spend time on the islands!
July 29, 2014
A 60 year old former newspaper journalist, downsized out of a job and considered a loser by everyone except his wife. Tree Callister opens The Sanibel Sunset Detective Agency and takes on his first client, a 12 year old kid who pays seven dollars for Tree to find his mother.
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While on vacation, I decided to check out some of the local bookstores and choose a couple books by the local authors from the Sanibel Island area. I quickly decided that Randy Wayne White was too popular, so chose Ron Bases first two books.
This is an enjoyable book, whose pacing and characterization is good and whose protagonist is unique in the mystery genre. Not particularly intelligent, physically imposing, or witty, Tree Callister is an endearing character.
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While on vacation, I decided to check out some of the local bookstores and choose a couple books by the local authors from the Sanibel Island area. I quickly decided that Randy Wayne White was too popular, so chose Ron Bases first two books.
This is an enjoyable book, whose pacing and characterization is good and whose protagonist is unique in the mystery genre. Not particularly intelligent, physically imposing, or witty, Tree Callister is an endearing character.
April 23, 2013
This book is set in south Florida, a tropical paradise. The crimes are more horrifying because they are set against this lush backdrop. Life should be easy for the Sunset Detective, a retired newspaper man, but his second career as a detective proves that even in paradise, easy is hard to come by. This bumbling, stumbling novice detective manages to worry his wife, anger his friends, tickle the crooks, and still win the day. He's the more lovable for his failings. A great beach read, and even if you aren't in the tropics, you can turn the heat up, find a slow fan, drink something bubbly, and pretend. A really good read.
February 29, 2016
I really liked this book especially because we are on Sanibel now while I was reading it. The characters were fun and this was a good beach read. I especially liked the relationship between Tree and Freddie.
February 23, 2016
I met Ron Base again this year and purchased his latest book. I decided since there are about 4 or 5 books in this series I wanted to read them in order. So, I am starting over with the first book, The Sanibel Sunset Detective that I read a few years ago. I remember enjoying the books and that they are a fast read. Since I am on Sanibel it will be fun to read these books now.
February 23, 2016
I met Ron Base again this year and purchased his latest book. I decided since there are about 4 or 5 books in this series I wanted to read them in order. So, I am starting over with the first book, The Sanibel Sunset Detective that I read a few years ago. I remember enjoying the books and that they are a fast read. Since I am on Sanibel it will be fun to read these books now.
January 5, 2021
I really want to give this a 3, but the way everything unfolded at the end just didn't make enough sense for me. Maybe if I think about it a little longer the pieces will fit better? It just seemed like there were a few too many "bad guys" to have the nice neat ending I was looking for. All in all, not bad. I picked this one up at Gene's bookstore when I was in Sanibel so it's always fun reading about someplace you're familiar with. Should I ever get to the point where I'm lacking for something to read next, I would be willing to give the next one in the series a try. I did like the main characters enough for that.
August 25, 2025
This is a good, fun book. The setting is great (and a place somewhat familiar to me, as I come down to this area of Florida on vacations) and I enjoyed the characters. I like that, just like our fictional detective, there were points where I would sort of assume that I had figured out how things were going to go, and this book, like that detective, pulled the rug out from under me and showed that there was much more than I had been giving it credit for. Good fun. I can't wait to read the rest!
March 25, 2023
I picked up this book because it was based in a Florida town, and, since I live in Florida, I'm a bit biased for local stories. Honestly, this book could have been based anywhere - IMHO, there wasn't really much that truly said "Florida" to me, other than a reference to the beach, towns I know of (and have visited) were referenced, and descriptions were somewhat what I would expect of those towns.
Having said that, I still enjoyed the book. The plot was interesting, if a bit far fetched. The writing is good; a clean, mystery.
Having said that, I still enjoyed the book. The plot was interesting, if a bit far fetched. The writing is good; a clean, mystery.
March 28, 2016
A nice enough book, but there's something of a disconnect between the styles of the climax and the rest of the book. The first 200 pages are the leisurely ramblings of a retiree detective, the last 40 are a gore fest leading to a revenge rampage.
However, the characters are nice and relatable (I especially liked Freddie) and the denouement was set up really well, the foreshadowing was really subtle. All in all, it was a fun holiday read and it's always nice to read something set in a location you know.
However, the characters are nice and relatable (I especially liked Freddie) and the denouement was set up really well, the foreshadowing was really subtle. All in all, it was a fun holiday read and it's always nice to read something set in a location you know.
August 16, 2019
I picked up this book after bumping into the author (literally) in Gene's Books on Sanibel island. It's a pleasure to read any writer's passion project, particularly one with the skill to craft the kind of whip snap dialogue that marks the best noir potboilers.
The dialogue makes reading a breeze and the attention to detail makes it a cozy case for anyone on those sunny gulf islands, (the convoluted plot, random blasts of inexplicable grotesque violence, and standard issue author stand in hero keeps it more middling than mighty).
The dialogue makes reading a breeze and the attention to detail makes it a cozy case for anyone on those sunny gulf islands, (the convoluted plot, random blasts of inexplicable grotesque violence, and standard issue author stand in hero keeps it more middling than mighty).
March 21, 2018
I purchased this book 2 years ago on trip to Sanibel and never read it. We are back on the island and picked up to read yesterday. COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!! I am a nonfiction reader so this is rare for me to read and enjoy a mystery. Loved the integration of geographic spots on the island into the story. Just a fun enjoyable read on vacation! I saw Ron again today as he sold me the book years ago and shared how much I enjoyed this book so purchased another!
April 9, 2018
Recently visited Sanibel Island and met Ron Base at Gene Books. Looking for insight into Island lore, I bought this book.
The characters were fun to get to know, but I felt rather disjointed as a lot was happening in a short amount of time. I wasn’t really enamored with any of the characters who just kept popping up from the past into unrealistic scenarios.
Certainly a good read for a lazy day at lighthouse beach.
The characters were fun to get to know, but I felt rather disjointed as a lot was happening in a short amount of time. I wasn’t really enamored with any of the characters who just kept popping up from the past into unrealistic scenarios.
Certainly a good read for a lazy day at lighthouse beach.
April 5, 2019
Last year I read The Hound of the Sanibel Sunset Detective. I didn’t realize that was the 5th book in the series. This is the 1st book in the series. It’s a quick fun read. I really don’t see how it’s possible for this crazy stuff to happen on Sanibel and Captiva but maybe that’s part of the amusement. If this was Tree McCallisters first case, he should seriously give it up. But he doesn’t soon to the next book I will go.
October 30, 2020
I hated for this book to end! I started it 3 days ago and HAD to finish it tonight. Once again, I never saw the end coming out the way it did. I had a hint of an idea about the same time Tree caught on LOL. This was the first book in the series and even though I read two others first I am seriously hooked on his style of writing. I see it all played out in my mind and I know the area (Sanibel-Captiva, Naples, Ft. Myers = HOME). Go grab his books and set a spell and enjoy the read.
November 17, 2017
I bought this book from the author in a grocery store on Sanibel. While it isn't the most graceful read in the genre, it is solid and fun from one end to the other. Pacing is good, characters are attractive. Recommended, if you like modern murder mysteries like Sue Grafton's, or if you are fond of a certain island off the gulf coast of Florida.
September 15, 2012
Great beach read! In fact, read it on the Sanibel Is beach! Thanks Val & Dal for letting us stay at your beautiful FL home. Could not put this book down and was a bit sad when I finished it. But ow see there is a sequel. Onward...
January 26, 2014
This is a good vacation read. There are likeable characters in a Florida setting. Things wrap up nicely in the end, perhaps a bit too nicely, but it's a good way to end a vacation read. There's another book in the series and I'm tempted to read that one too.
April 14, 2014
If you have ever vacationed on or near Sanibel Island on Florida's Gulf Coast, you will be intrigued with this story. I read all 4 in the series while wintering there in winter, 2014 and look forward to the next one. You will read about many familiar places and it is a good murder mystery!
January 5, 2013
You are right Penny. I liked it primarily because of our Sanibel connections.
January 5, 2014
A beach read and a page turner with not very well developed characters. The page turner part is well done. Keeping the characters believable and interesting needs a bit of work.
March 15, 2014
Linear storytelling. No depth of characters. Superficial.
September 27, 2014
Great simple detective novel. Made me imagine the entire novel like it was a television show or movie. worth the read.
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