At Loggerheads

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Murder on a South Carolina barrier island brings together a sea turtle biologist and a local detective to unravel a mystery that might impact the race for the White House.

Brooke Edens, a scientist who studies loggerhead sea turtles, has longed for a sense of home and belonging ever since her return to Anders Isle. But something is amiss on the Lowcountry island where she grew up. For years, loggerheads have been disappearing from the beach and development has been encroaching on the island’s natural beauty and maritime forest. When a dead body is found on the same day as a mutilated loggerhead, Brooke uses clues from her knowledge of sea turtles to help Detective Drew Young, her closest friend and potential love interest, investigate the many big crimes beginning to surface on their small island. Brooke’s life is further complicated by her ex-fiancé, Charlotte-based attorney Caldwell Madden, who appears on the island for a work trip and to support the presidential campaign of his father, a US Senator.

More than just a whodunit, this murder mystery includes romance, nature, politics, real estate, and science. With a captivating sense of place, the story unfolds as a love letter to the barrier islands and coastal towns of the South Carolina Lowcountry, where the often-opposing forces of mother nature and human nature influence what people will do for money, for power, and for love.

Amid the many revelations, betrayals, and twists that threaten to pull Brooke and Drew apart, will they be able to untangle the web of crimes, catch the murderer and, ultimately, find a way back to each other?

SKU: 978-1-929647-84-2 Categories: , , ,

Description

Brooke Edens, a scientist who studies loggerhead sea turtles, has longed for a sense of home and belonging ever since her return to Anders Isle. But something is amiss on the Lowcountry island where she grew up. For years, loggerheads have been disappearing from the beach and development has been encroaching on the island’s natural beauty and maritime forest. When a dead body is found on the same day as a mutilated loggerhead, Brooke uses clues from her knowledge of sea turtles to help Detective Drew Young, her closest friend and potential love interest, investigate the many big crimes beginning to surface on their small island. Brooke’s life is further complicated by her ex-fiancé, Charlotte-based attorney Caldwell Madden, who appears on the island for a work trip and to support the presidential campaign of his father, a US Senator.

More than just a whodunit, this murder mystery includes romance, nature, politics, real estate, and science. With a captivating sense of place, the story unfolds as a love letter to the barrier islands and coastal towns of the South Carolina Lowcountry, where the often-opposing forces of mother nature and human nature influence what people will do for money, for power, and for love.

Amid the many revelations, betrayals, and twists that threaten to pull Brooke and Drew apart, will they be able to untangle the web of crimes, catch the murderer and, ultimately, find a way back to each other?

Additional information

Cover Type

Hardcover, Softcover

About the Author

Kristen Ness grew up mostly in South Carolina, spending countless days with nature and falling in love with the ocean and its creatures on Isle of Palms, where she walks the beach at sunrise each summer in search of sea turtle nests as a volunteer for the Island Turtle Team. While practicing immigration law for the past twenty years, Kristen has been moonlighting in pursuit of her lifelong passion for writing and her obsession with marine biology. Writing, real estate, politics, and even publishing run in her blood as the daughter of an English teacher and a land developer, and the great-granddaughter of the 14th Governor of North Dakota whose family owned and published The Bismarck Tribune. She has a BA in English from Duke University, a JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law, and serves as an appointed member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Coral Advisory Panel. Kristen lives in Charleston, SC, with her husband, their two children, two guinea pigs, and a cat.
At Loggerheads is her first novel.

Praise for At Loggerheads

“Kristen Ness’s At Loggerheads is a thrilling debut novel intertwined with mystery, nature, romance, and betrayal. Set on a lush barrier island, Ness offers the reader a rich sense of place in a whodunit that reflects on the meaning of home. A must read—especially if you love sea turtles!”

MARY ALICE MONROENew York Times bestselling author of 27 books, including The Beach House series

“I came for the sea turtles and stayed for the mystery and intrigue! At Loggerheads is a delightful debut that deftly shifts from twisty to tender, delivering a page-turning murder mystery while examining the complicated relationship between humans and the incredible creatures we share this world with.

I loved this book!”

SHELBY VAN PELT, New York Times bestselling author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

 

“Sea turtles, murder, politics, romance . . . This masterful must-read murder mystery has it all.

A stunning debut.”

STEPHANIE ALEXANDER, author of the award-winning Tipsy Collins Series