LOWCOUNTRY:
That portion of the Southeastern United States characterized by low country,
generally flat—whether barrier island, tidal marsh, tidal river valleys, swamps.
piney forests, or great cities like Charleston and Savannah.
CRIME: An act, forbidden by a public law, that
makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.
These four novellas capture the unique aspects of
the Lowcountry with stories incorporating Charleston high life and Savannah low
life, island vacations and life on a boat. You’ll be treated to thieves doing
good and rapscallions doing bad, loves won and loves lost, family relations
providing wonderful support and life after divorce.
Each novella can be read in a single hour to
hour-and-a-half sitting or enjoyed at a more leisurely pace, stopping at white
space along the way. Within the broad range of the crime genre, these tales fit
"north of cozy" and "south of noir."
“Trouble Like A Freight Train Coming” by Tina Whittle is a prequel to her
Tai Randolph Mysteries. Tai is accustomed to murder and mayhem . . . of the
fictional variety. As a tour guide in Savannah, Georgia, she’s learned the tips
are better
when she seasons her stories with a little blood here, a little
depravity there. She’s less experienced in real life criminality, however,
preferring to spend her days sleeping late and her nights hitting the bars. But
when she gets the news that her trouble-making cousin has keeled over while
running a marathon, Tai finds herself in a hot mess of treachery and dirty
dealings. Worst of all, the clues lead her straight into the moonshine-soaked
territory of the most infamous smuggler in Chatham County—her Uncle Boone.
The novella is set in Savannah several years
prior to the inheritance of her Atlanta gun shop and her first encounter with
security agent Trey Seaver, who ultimately becomes her partner in both romance
and crime solving. For readers familiar with the rest of Tai’s adventures, this
story is a chance to watch her develop her sleuthing chops. For those meeting
Tai for the first time...welcome to her slightly reckless, somewhat hungover,
not-quite-respectable world.
In
"The Last Heist" by Polly Iyer, Paul Swan, Iyer's character from
Indiscretion,
travels the world buying exotic automobiles for wealthy clients, but underneath
his believable cover is a first-class, never-been-caught diamond thief.
When he sees a picture in the Charleston
newspaper of a magnificent diamond necklace on the wife of a visiting South
American strongman, he can't resist the temptation to steal it. Paul doesn't
anticipate what he finds in the hotel room's safe besides the jewels. Now he has
to figure out how to stop a political catastrophe without exposing himself as
the thief who stole the diamonds, and he has three people complicating his
effort: a sexy TV reporter angling for a story, a suspicious cop eager for an
arrest, and a rogue mercenary bent on ending his life.
“Blue Nude,” by Jonathan M. Bryant introduces us to Brad Sharpe, who has problems. Not just the problems you would expect resulting from traumatic injury and a destructive divorce. His ex-wife has gone missing and a priceless Picasso has been stolen. The cops have pegged Brad as a person of interest in both cases. Worse, a violent sociopath might want Brad dead. Only with the help of friends and his knowledge of the Georgia Lowcountry can Brad fight to clear his name and resolve the case of the Blue Nude.
In
"Low Tide at Tybee," James M. Jackson brings three of his Seamus McCree series
characters (Seamus, his darts-throwing mother, and his now six-year-old
granddaughter, Megan) to Tybee Island, Georgia to vacation and escape winter up
north. Megan spots a thief going through their beach bags, after which their
vacation unravels with a series of twists and turns that will leave you guessing
until the end, trying to figure out who done what.