Len Buonfiglio Caribbean Mysteries

Len Buonfiglio Caribbean Mysteries: Freedom Drop and Calypso Blue by Brian Silverman

Guest Post + Book & Author Info + An Excerpt + A Giveaway!

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FREEDOM DROP & CALYPSO BLUE

FREEDOM DROP

A Len Buonfiglio/St. Pierre Caribbean Mystery

Len Buonfiglio is a former New York bar owner and family man. He has the perfect life until he yearns for more—for something he knows will destroy everything he had, but something he can’t resist. He makes his choice and that, along with a traumatic event, shatters his world. His life and what he had now broken, his only choice is to leave the city and his family. His flight takes him to the remote Caribbean island of St. Pierre where he opens a sports bar that he runs with his friend and partner, a young local islander named Tubby Levett.

In Freedom Drop, a genial tour guide, Rawle “Big Tree” Johns is a suspect in an American woman’s fall from a cliff and held in custody. John’s mother enlists Buonfiglio to help free her son and to prove that he had nothing to do with the woman’s death. Conflicted by the need to spend time with his sixteen-year-old daughter who he hasn’t seen in two years, Mr. Len as he’s known on the island, reluctantly agrees to help.

Buonfiglio’s search for the truth reveals that there are other, much more powerful forces involved in the woman’s death that threaten both his life and his family. In the course of his investigation, he confronts a high-ranking island politician, the local superintendent of police, the dead girl’s mother, and, ultimately, a shady yet powerful outsider investor. Was the girl’s death an accident or did Johns cause that accident? Or was she murdered? The lack of clarity—the mystery of what really happened to the girl—he realizes, reflects the enigma that is St. Pierre. It’s a riddle that, despite living on the island for several years, he still cannot solve.

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery

Published by: April 7, 2025 by Down & Out Books

Read an excerpt from FREEDOM DROP:

To purchase your copy of Freedom Drop click either link: Amazon | Goodreads

CALYPSO BLUE

A Len Buonfiglio/St. Pierre Caribbean Mystery

In Calypso Blue, Brian Silverman crafts a gripping tale of mystery, revenge, and redemption set against the backdrop of New York and the Caribbean. The novel follows John Saint John, a man torn between his faith, past, and responsibilities as a father, as he grapples with a life-altering decision driven by a desire for justice. As his story unfolds in the shadow of a significant historical event, another narrative emerges—one centered on Leonard Buonfiglio, an American expatriate running a bar on the island of St. Pierre. When a legendary calypso singer, Lord Ram, dies under suspicious circumstances, Leonard is reluctantly pulled into an investigation at the behest of the island’s police superintendent.

Blending elements of crime, culture, and personal reckoning, Calypso Blue explores themes of loss, second chances, and the ghosts of the past that refuse to be forgotten. With vivid storytelling and rich atmospheric detail, Silverman transports readers into a world where music, memory, and mystery intertwine.

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery
Published by: June 30, 2025 by Down & Out Books

**Read an excerpt from CALYPSO BLUE:**

To purchase a copy of Calypso Blue click either link: Amazon | Goodreads

Praise for FREEDOM DROP:

“An impressive debut…Silverman capably captures the feel of his setting en route to a satisfying conclusion. A sequel is warranted.”
~ Publishers Weekly

“Silverman had me at the Caribbean setting, and held me with his fully human characters—of both good and bad natures—and their situation.”
~ SJ Rozan, Edgar-winning author of The Murder of Mr. Ma

“A mystery steeped in authentic Caribbean atmosphere. Silverman knows his territory, as does his hero, an ex-Marine-turned-sleuth who discovers that, even in paradise, things aren’t always what they seem.”
~ Wallace Stroby, author of Heaven’s a Lie and Some Die Nameless

“A buddy book, a whodunit, and a family drama, Freedom Drop is mystery magic.”
~ Reed Farrel Coleman, author of Sleepless City

“Brian Silverman’s Freedom Drop is an exciting and welcome new addition to the crime writing pantheon.”
~ S.A. Cosby, author of Razorblade Tears and All the Sinners Bleed

Guest Post from Author Brian Silverman

My road to writing the Len Buonfiglio/Caribbean mysteries was not a direct one. Before the two novels in the series, Freedom Drop and Calypso Blue were born, the germ of the idea was in a short story I wrote for an online literary journal more than a decade earlier. It integrated my knowledge of the Caribbean as a travel and food writer, where the islands were my turf. In that story I first created the fictional island of St. Pierre and the lead character Len Buonfiglio.

But the story was not a mystery…well maybe a mystery of the heart. Many years passed after that story as I was working primarily as a travel writer—until the work dried up due to the advent of internet sites and reader reviews that provided free content. All the publications I once worked for were gone.

At the urging of my wife who was used to me devouring the works of Robert Parker, Elmore Leonard, Chester Himes, Charles Willeford, John D. Macdonald, along with so many other great crime writers, and knowing my non-fiction style, she believed I could incorporate that into fiction and in particular, mysteries. I had no more excuses. If not now, when? But I wasn’t ready to take on the long term commitment of writing a novel. Instead, I thought to start with short stories. I liked the characters and setting I created in that literary short story and decided to expand on them. I wanted to flesh them out in the stories to better familiarize myself with the characters and setting I was creating.

The first mystery short story I wrote was titled “Breadfruit.” The story featured an ex-New Yorker and bar owner, Len Buonfiglio who confronts an enterprising villain who used hollowed-out breadfruit, that larger than a softball starchy vegetable that was made famous in the movie and book, Mutiny on the Bounty, to smuggle drugs into the island of St. Pierre. The story was rejected at first by the top mystery magazines but was later accepted by a new stylish, both literary and design-wise journal called “Mystery Tribune.” A few months after the story was published, I got word that “Breadfruit” had been chosen to be included in Otto Penzler’s Best American Mystery Stories of 2018, edited by Louise Penny.

The success of “Breadfruit” encouraged me to continue with the characters and setting. Soon after, I wrote another Len Buonfiglio story titled “Scotch Bonnet.” This one was published by Down and Out Magazine and though it wasn’t selected as a main story in the Best American Mystery Stories of 2019, it was honored in the “notable stories of the year” section of that book. Other stories set in St. Pierre and published by Mystery Tribune appeared soon after, including one that was a Derringer finalist, and then another, “Land of Promise,” which tells Len’s back story—what happened to him that had him desert New York and start a new life in St. Pierre—was selected by Steph Cha, the new editor of the Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories series, to be included in their inaugural book, published in 2021, and edited by Alafair Burke.

I was now comfortable with the world I had created in the short stories—the characters—the island—enough to take them to the next level—to devote at least a year creating and crafting a novel. The result was Freedom Drop, which, in 2021, Mystery Tribune agreed to publish as the first novel under their imprint. Despite very good reviews from both readers and trade publications, Freedom Drop never got any traction. Both the publisher and I were novices in how to successfully promote a book in a very crowded field. Now, five years later, Freedom Drop, I’m happy to say, has been reissued by Down and Out Books who will also publish the second Len Buonfiglio/Caribbean Mystery, Calypso Blue in late June.

Brian Silverman

Brian Silverman’s writing career has spanned over 30 years. He has written about travel, food, and sports for publications including the New York Times, Saveur, Caribbean Travel and Life, Islands, the New Yorker, New York, and others. From 2004 through 2013, he was the author of the annual Frommer’s New York City guidebook series. He co-authored the acclaimed Twentieth Century Treasury of Sports with his father, Al Silverman.

His short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including Mystery Tribune, Down and Out Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. His stories have been selected to appear in The Best American Mystery Stories in 2018 and 2019, and The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories 2021. His other short fiction has appeared in publications such as Down and Out Magazine, Mystery Magazine, Dark Waters, and Vautrin. Freedom Drop is his first published novel. He lives in Harlem, New York, with his wife, Heather, and his sons, Louis and Russell.

Catch Up With Brian Silverman:

www.BrianSilvermanWrites.com
Goodreads
BookBub
X – @BSsilverman

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