Frankie McKeller hates the beach. He has ever since that day on the one they called Omaha. If the guy who saved his life during the war wasn’t getting married he’d never have made the trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
As a low budget gum shoe out of Baltimore, he isn’t prepared for a weekend of hobnobbing with the summering Charleston elite. When a prominent wedding guest is found with a bullet to the brain, the six week course he took in private investigation proves lacking as well. In three days at the beach Frankie is seduced by a sultry debutante with a hidden agenda, threatened by a powerful family patriarch and roughed up by a mysterious henchman running muscle for the rich and privileged. He’s looking for answers to questions some people don’t want answered, and his blend of jaded sarcasm with blunt Yankee machismo leaves a lot of ruffled feathers. The deeper he wades into the mystery the more things keep pointing back to his best friend and he is forced to come face to face with his own demons. Torn between seeking the truth and protecting his friend, Frankie continues to uncover clues as he’s dragged deeper into an undertow of deceit and corruption. Crooked land deals, secret alliances and forgotten family skeletons cloud the truth in the land of sun, surf, golf and gators. Southern tradition meets old school mystery in this twisting tale as rival families attempt to alter the course of what is destined to become one of America’s top vacation destinations.
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Naked and Hungry, by Ashley Memory What happens when a former loan officer—yet another victim of the subprime lending crisis—rejects materialism and moves to a one-room cabin in the woods? In the case of H.T. McMullen, the 42-year old hero of Naked and Hungry, he finds his pristine wilderness tainted by dangerous pollutants. And when he dares to complain, he becomes the target of a deadly game of intimidation by the high-powered villains. The arrival of Jessica Beane, the sexy environmentalist called to investigate the pollution, sets in motion a series of comic adventures and increasingly professional attempts to permanently silence H.T. Their budding passion ignites after Jessica reveals a dangerous secret that inextricably links them both to the larger world of hazard-waste trafficking and later, lands them into the custody of an ambitious young FBI agent. Together, they hatch a risky plot that eventually brings the culprits to justice and redeems H.T.’s good name in the eyes of his family and friends.
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The Ninth Man, by Bradley Crowther The Ninth Man weaves together present-day events with a fictionally enhanced version of the true mystery of the Confederate submarine Hunley, which vanished for one hundred and thirty-six years after sinking a Union ship in Charleston Harbor during the Civil War. Russ Berard, a retired Rhode Island police detective, has returned home to Charleston, SC, to investigate his father’s murder and becomes entangled in the unhappy marriage of high school classmates Arnie St. John and Cherisse Dane. St. John is pursuing a secret Hunley diary for purposes of developing a controversial reality TV show about the submarine, and Cherisse and others oppose him. The diary belongs to Moze Cheddar, a shadowy former special forces assassin living in North Carolina, whose ancestor, a Union spy, wrote the diary and was on board the Hunley the night it disappeared. At Cherisse Dane’s suggestion, Cheddar seeks help from Berard and gives him sections of the diary to read, but Berard and Cheddar do not fully trust each other. Berard is also suspicious of the motivations of Arnie St. John and Cherisse Dane, and wonders whether either or both could have been involved in his father’s murder.
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The Chamomile, by Susan F. Craft
Lilyan Cameron, a mural artist, struggles to keep her family together in British-occupied Charles Towne, South Carolina. With both parents deceased, her life revolves around her younger brother Andrew and Elizabeth, a Cherokee who had served as their au pair and remains a dear friend. Lilyan's greatest fear is realized when her brother is captured and held on a prison ship, notorious for cruel treatment, rampant diseases, and the conscription of prisoners into the Royal Navy.
Lilyan is prepared to do anything to save her brother. Lie, steal, kill or be killed, she pledges when she joins a group of Patriot spies on a mission to free the prisoners. Captain Nicholas Xanthakos, a scout with General Francis Marion's partisans, leads the rescue plan.
Held in Nicholas's arms after their first kiss, Lilyan marvels at her feelings – as if she had been on a long, long journey and finally arrived home. But that home will be a long time coming. Her journey will require her to save the life of one British officer and to kill another. In escaping bounty hunters, Lilyan struggles through 200 miles of tangled wilderness, loses Elizabeth and very nearly Andrew, before she is finally reunited with her only love.
Lilyan, through her experiences, becomes wiser and more mature in her faith. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned through all of this,” she says, “it’s that we are not promised tomorrow. Only today. We have to make the best of each moment. God will provide the rest.”
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One Shot Too Many, by Maggie Bishop
Yesterday's regret, today's deadly fix. Emotional upheavals from the past return to haunt, ending in the death of a local photo-journalist near the cozy mountain town of Boone, NC. Detective Tucker must deal with his past while investigating the secrets of suspects determined to keep from facing their own histories. Jemma Chase, CSI wanabee, follows clues emanating from her mountain ranch even though her interference may cost Tucker his job.
While hunting on one of his estates, Pliny the Younger finds a man's body. He takes it back to his house to determine what happened, but the body won't stay where he puts it. Other people are looking for the man, including a woman who claims to be his daughter and a man who claims that the dead man, if he is indeed dead, is over 700 years old. Pliny and Tacitus find their approach to solving crimes faces a challenge to its most basic assumption – that there is a logical explanation for everything.
Getorix: Games of the Underworld, by Judith Geary Lucius, son of the Roman statesman Lutatius Catulus, has been kidnapped and his bodyguard Keltus horribly injured. Raiders disrobed and painted as Celtic warriors have stolen Lucius from the very shadow of the monument his father built to their defeat. Getorix, son of a defeated Celtic leader, freed himself from Roman slavery, but he remains bound by his honor and by his friendship with Lucius. Getorix enlists Brosch, a slave girl in love with Lucius, Keltus, and the disgraced druid Senius, known to the Romans as the “beggar prophet,” to help rescue Lucius. To stay alive, Lucius and Getorix, with their friends, must overcome a plot by the most powerful men in Rome and evade members of Lucius’ own family. Can they escape the clutches of Roman intrigue and begin an odyssey to Getorix’s home in Jutland? This fictional adventure is set within the historical accounts of Saturninus’ and Glaucia’s plot to overthrow the Roman Republic and Gaius Marius’ desperate efforts to remain in power after the defeat of the Celtic Confederacy at the Battle of Vercellae.
The Vigilante: Vengeance is Mine,by Barbara Ingalls
Victor is determined to get even with Enid, that evil vixen widow who killed his father. Being wealthy himself he doesn’t begrudge her the inheritance, but wants her to pay for the string of elderly dead husbands. Victor has given up on finding love until he meets adorable Shelley. Ironically he discovers her vulnerable and dear father is Enid’s next victim. Victor has to move quickly and intensify his intricate plan for vengeance to stop wicked witch Enid with her murderous activities.....
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The Minister: Built on the Rock, by Barbara Ingalls
Matt pledged his heart and life to the ministry 25 years ago and served with love and faithfulness. Now at 50 can he help that his wife left him for another man? The church accepted his divorced status, but he has fallen in love with precious Rachel, a Christian widow perfect for him, but some in the church are against his remarrying. No wonder he feels burnt out after being so dedicated. He resigns with good grace and he and Rachel, along with his aging Mother, start a new church. While they will follow the scriptures totally, they will be uncritical and let God be the judge.
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