It's true -- and strange -- that Gov. Charlie Crist was good friends with the man behind the most colossal fraud in Broward County history, Scott Rothstein. But Fort Lauderdale author E.J. Bellew (a nom de plume) imagines a scenario in which a character based on Crist is haunted by a romantic history with a Wilton Manors drag queen, who turns up dead under mysterious circumstances.
The character based on Rothstein does indeed sound more sinister than the genuine article. In the novel, which will be released at the end of October, the Rothstein character is using his position with the governor to orchestrate a deal through which a group of Russian oligarchs will be allowed to drill for oil in the Florida Everglades.