The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Grisham, John. Camino Winds. Doubleday, April 28, 2020. Kindle.

In the crime novel Camino Winds by John Grisham, Bruce Cable, the owner of Bay Books, is unwillingly thrust into investigating a murder for hire after his author friend Nelson Kerr is killed during a hurricane. With state and local police stalling and a good deal of evidence washed away in the storm, Bruce hired a private firm to help him sort out how Nelson’s latest novel, a book about a questionable drug and Medicare fraud in nursing homes, might have contributed to his murder.

Even though the Florida governor issued a mandatory evacuation order in advance of Hurricane Leo’s landfall, Bruce, Nick Sutton, a teen who worked in Bruce’s store, and their writer friends Nelson and Andrew “Bob” Cobb decided to remain on Camino Island. The morning after the storm, the island was badly battered with trees down and electricity out. Bruce learned the worst when a policeman told him that Nelson was dead. It appeared he was hit in the head by flying debris. Bruce was needed to identify Nelson’s body.

Bruce was accompanied to the scene by the policeman and Nick, who had stayed with Bruce during the storm. At Nelson’s condo, they were joined by Bob who lived nearby. After they identified Nelson’s body, the police asked them to stay with the body until someone could come for it. As they were waiting, Nick, who was an avid reader of crime novels, began poking around Nelson’s condo. He found what might have been blood spattered on a wall and pink water on a sink vanity that he believed was the result of someone washing blood off his hands. Nick and the others rolled Nelson’s body over, and Nick determined there were four different head wounds. Nick inferred that Nelson had been murdered. When the police arrived, Nick showed them the evidence he had found. A team from the state crime lab was called, but they were able to make little progress with their investigation.

Meanwhile, Bruce got in touch with Nelson’s sister, Polly McCann, who had a copy of Nelson’s manuscript. Bruce had a fellow writer, Mercer Mann, who did not know Nelson personally, to read the manuscript to determine if there was anything in it that might have gotten Nelson killed. Mercer reported the book was about Medicare fraud and abuse in nursing homes. A privately owned chain of nursing homes was using a questionable drug to prolong the lives of dementia patients. This practice benefited the chain with millions of dollars of additional money from Medicare for each patient.

Mercer did not believe the content of the novel would get Nelson killed. However, Nick believed that since the content of the novel was so different from the books he had written in the past, Nelson must have been contacted by an informant. Nick believed that the informant would contact Nick.

At about the same time, Bruce took Nelson’s case to a private security firm. His contact wanted him to go ahead and get Nelson’s book published. She also told him that they would infiltrate the nursing home facilities to see what they could find out about the use of this mystery drug. One of the women hired by the company was able to sneak out syringes filled with the mixtures of medicines given to the patients. Laboratory technicians identified a substance in this mix that was not food or medicine. The inside woman sneaked out a bottle of the mystery substance, which was labeled as Vitamin E3. This turned out to be a drug that had the ability to keep dementia patients alive by increasing their heart rates, just like the drug in Nelson’s novel had done.

Bruce was contacted by the informant, Daniel “Dane” Noddin, the wife of Ken Reed who was the CEO of the Grattin chain of nursing homes that was discovered to be giving its patients the medicine to make them live longer. Dane said that she knew everything there was to know about her husband’s company. She had befriended Nelson and told him what Ken was doing. He wrote the novel based on her information. She thought Ken had Nelson killed because Ken believed Nelson was writing an expose.

Shortly thereafter, sniper Rick Patterson broke his neck when he fell from a tree after finishing an assassination for hire. Knowing she would not be able to get him to safety, his work partner Karen Sharbonnet shot Rick twice in the head, believing she had killed him. Rick, however, was found by first responders and paramedics. He lived 18 more days. During that time, Rick communicated with FBI agents about his jobs. He identified Karen as the woman who had killed Nelson.

Karen was arrested, unaware that Rick was still alive and had told on her. She was eventually extradited to Florida to be charged with Nelson’s murder. Other murder cases were pending against Karen, but officials believed the case in Florida was the strongest because witnesses had seen Karen there. One of her fingerprints was found in Nelson’s apartment.

Ken and eleven other senior executives in his company were arrested once FBI agents confirmed that his patients had been receiving the life-prolonging medication. At the close of the novel, Ken is in jail. He has been denied bond and all of his assets have been seized. Ken was identified as the man who paid Rick and Karen $4 million to murder Nelson.

The novel ends with Bruce, Nick, and Bob reminiscing about the night of the hurricane and the next day. They do not show any concern when they learn a new hurricane is developing in the same place from which Leo came. They simply order another pitcher of beer.