Love and Death in the Sunshine State: The Story of a Crime

With her husband, Tom, Sabine Musil-Buehler owned and operated a motel on Anna Maria Island off the gulf coast of Florida. However, she was living with her ex-con boyfriend when she disappeared in 2008. What might have been a clear-cut case of murder was complicated by the absence of a body. At the time of Sabine's disappearance, Wood was staying at the Buehlers' motel. He watched as search parties were organized and flyers were posted. Wood soon became obsessed with learning whether the husband, who would benefit financially from Sabine's death, or the boyfriend, who feared that Sabine was on the verge of ending the affair, was responsible for her disappearance. Wood tells the story from his own first-person perspective, as well as from the perspectives of people he interviewed. Not only was Wood allowed access to the police files, he was encouraged by the police to entrap the ex-con, their prime suspect. Narrator Joe Barrett does an exemplary job of distinguishing among the characters.