Carolina Slade Mystery

A bribery case gone wrong leads a woman into the deep, dank Carolina Lowcountry on a manhunt. Carolina Slade, a by-the-book federal county manager in the coastal Lowcountry of South Carolina, reports an attempted bribe only to find herself a key player in a sting operation run by Senior Special Agent Wayne Largo from the Inspector General's Office in Atlanta. However, the IG isn't telling Slade everything about this case or the disappearance-presumed-murder of Slade's boss the year before. When the sting blows up, both cases are put on hold and Wayne is yanked back to Atlanta, leaving Slade to fear not only for her life and job, but for her children's safety. Suddenly, operating by the book is no longer an option.

In the deep waters off the coast of Beaufort, South Carolina, corpses are turning up faster than dolphins chasing a shrimp boat . . . When federal agricultural investigator Carolina Slade's best friend is suspected of embezzlement and fraud in a sordid case involving drugs and migrant slavery, Slade must question her own long-held loyalties. She's desperate to believe in Savannah Conroy's innocence despite every scrap of evidence pointing to her friend's guilt. Still, she heads to the coast, the best and most diligent person willing to investigate to the degree needed. After a tomato farmer dies in a shrimp boat explosion, Slade's colleague, Senior Special Agent Wayne Largo, manages to force Slade off the case, citing conflict of interest. Refusing to quit even if it means violating agency orders, Slade fights to save her friend's career. Soon, Slade's the target of escalating threats meant to frighten her off the case. But threats might be the least of Slade's worries. She's also juggling a co-worker's sudden romantic interest, voodoo, and her teenage daughter's determination to solve mysteries like her mother. Slade struggles to keep her life, and the lives of those around her, safe and sane when, once again, digging up dirt on the ag business threatens to put her six feet under.

Are peanuts capable of murder? Carolina Slade will bust this shell game. Big money, big politics, crime, greed, and big farming-Slade, an agriculture department investigator in the steamy state of South Carolina, once again finds herself planted in a dangerous mystery. Her assignment? Find out if there's a sinister connection between the drug-dealing arrest of wealthy peanut farmer Lamar Wheeler and the gruesome death of Lamar's teenage son in a car wreck. Especially since the dead teen is Governor Dick Wheeler's nephew. Of course, the governor's people practically sky-write STAY AWAY FROM THE FIRST FAMILY over the Palmetto state's capitol dome in Columbia, which doesn't make Slade's job easier. Couldn't she simply back off from what appears to be a tragic and ugly-but private-family matter? Not with hot-tempered DEA agent Pamela Largo on the case. Ex-wife to Senior Special Agent Wayne Largo, Slade's romantic interest, Pamela's hell-bent on using Lamar Wheeler's situation to re-open a cold case involving an Atlanta drug lord and Wayne's long lost sister, Kay. Soon Slade's fighting an uphill battle against Pamela's obsessions, a drug lord's vendettas, the Governor's politics, family secrets, and the bizarre realization that those secrets involve peanuts.

Beneath an idyllic veneer of Southern country charm, the quaint town of Newberry, South Carolina hides secrets that may have led to murder. When a local landowner's body, with pants down, is found near Tarleton's Tea Table Rock-a notorious rendezvous spot, federal investigator Carolina Slade senses a chance to insert herself back into the field again. Just as she discovers what might be a nasty pattern of fraud and blackmail, her petty boss reassigns her fledgling case to her close friend and least qualified person in their office. Forced to coach the investigation from the sidelines, Slade struggles with the twin demons of professional jealousy and unplanned pregnancy. Something, however, is rotten in Newberry. Her personal life is spiraling out of control. She can't protect her co-worker. And Federal Agent Wayne Largo complicates everything when the feds step in after it becomes clear that Slade is right. One wrong move and Slade may lose everything. Yet it's practically out of her hands . . . unless she finds a way to take this case back without getting killed.

A dead federal agent and Lowcountry secrets stir up a hornet's nest. . . A Carolina Slade and Callie Morgan crossover! Carolina Slade's long awaited engagement is put on hold as Senior Special Agent Wayne Largo leads the manhunt for his missing partner-a naïve fresh recruit, who may have jumped the gun on an investigation from Slade's case load. When the agent is found dead next door to the jurisdiction of friend and Edisto Beach Police Chief Callie Morgan, Slade calls in a favor to add support for Wayne's investigation. Soon the two women are hip-deep in the secrets, black water swamp land, and farms of the Salkehatchie region. And anyone attempting to uncover those secrets gambles with their life.

EPIC Award Winning Series When wedding planning purgatory turns deadly... Carolina Slade finds herself unable to agree with her fiancé Special Agent Wayne Largo on how and where to tie the knot. She's finally willing to visit rustic wedding venues around Lake Murray, but marriage plans take a back seat when she stumbles on a body which might be the latest in a series of worrisome farmer deaths. Worse, when she's brought into the case, her boss-a longtime friend-isn't forthcoming with information or his reasons for having her investigate accidents and suicides. Suddenly Slade is running a case off book, forbidden to discuss any details with her fiancé, and wondering if Lake Murray money schemes are going to get her and those she loves killed. Praise for C. Hope Clark: "[Salkehatchie Secret] is another hit. Enjoyable story line. Wonderful characters. Multiple story lines. Would definitely recommend."-Pernette Wells, Netgalley Review "Riveting. [Tidewater Murder] is a first-rate mystery."-Donnell Ann Bell, Bestselling Author of The Past Came Hunting and Deadly Recall About the Author: Author C. Hope Clark, is the multi-award winning writer of the Carolina Slade Mystery Series and the Craven County Mysteries as well as the Edisto Island Mysteries. She is also the founder of FundsforWriters.com, which Writer's Digest has recognized in its annual 101 Best Web Sites for Writers for .two decades. Hope is married to a 30-year veteran of federal law enforcement and lives in South Carolina on the banks of Lake Murray. Visit chopeclark.com for all the latest news.