Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for The Seafarer’s Secret by Carol Ann Collins. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
The Seafarer’s Secret
by Carol Ann Collins
The Seafarer’s Secret
Cozy Mystery
Setting – North Carolina
Publisher : Beaufort Books (March 26, 2024)
Paperback : 310 pages
Secrets are revealed. Lies are exposed. And in order to have a future, William and Eva will have to delve into the past.
William Templeton, widower and police chief of Eden, North Carolina is working the scene of a local woman’s drowning when the body is found with an old gold coin in her pocket – identical to a coin that was discovered on Catherine’s body, his estranged wife, over a year ago. Catherine’s case, originally deemed a tragic accident, has been reopened, forcing William to step down as police chief.
Historian and Blackbeard expert, Eva Knightly, is brought into the investigation to help identify the coins and can’t understand why her good friend Catherine never mentioned anything about it. When more coins surface at a local church, Eva and William know it’s more than mere coincidence. With the entire town whispering about Blackbeard, cursed coins, and lost treasure, it becomes hard to separate what is true and what is a myth.
The Seafarer’s Secret is a thrilling cinematic mystery featuring the exigent slow-burning romance between William and Eva as they work together to reveal the secrets and lies of Eden, North Carolina. Though, in order to have a future, they’ll have to look deep into the past to keep from being a modern-day killer’s next victim.
Character Guest Post: Never Before Seen Account of Millicent’s (aka “unknown woman”) POV on Seeing Blackbeard
Millicent had just sat down and retrieved the box containing the ink and quills she kept hidden in her afternoon resting spot, when she heard her cousin, Mary Elizabeth, approaching.
“Milli,” her cousin called. “Are you over here?”
While they were the same age, Millicent always thought of Mary Elizabeth as younger. Not in looks, Mary Elizabeth already had a line of suitors even in this wild land, nor in intelligence. After all, she tutored the governor’s children occasionally. Rather, Millicent saw her cousin and best friend as naive. Perhaps that was normal. Perhaps, Millicent was the odd one. Whatever it was, Mary Elizabeth saw the good in everything and everybody. She had a lightness to her spirit that others, such as Millicent, lacked.
“Here I am, cousin.” Millicent stood, shaking the sand from her skirts.
“You must come with me. At once.” Mary Elizabeth’s cheeks were flushed and her hair helplessly tangled, but she looked so alive. Was it any wonder Millicent always felt drab next her? “Make haste.”
Millicent had also learned it was nearly impossible to deny her cousin. When Mary Elizabeth stretched her hand out, Millicent took it and they walked hand-in-hand, the way they had when they were eight and Millicent newly arrived to the colonies.
“Where are we going?” Millicent asked.
“I’m going to show you the man I plan to marry.” Mary Elizabeth wasn’t walking, she was near skipping.
Millicent swallowed around the lump in her throat. She’d known this day would come eventually. The day her cousin left to start her own family. Leaving Millicent to stay behind and collect dust. There were no beaus waiting for her. “Marry?” she asked, not wanting to dwell on her own life. “Is he the gentlemen your father said will be staying with the governor this summer?”
Her uncle was not subtle when it came to the kind of man he wanted his daughter to marry.
Apparently, the governor’s guest was as close to perfect as he could hope for.
“That ancient earl?” Mary Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “No, not an old windbag.”
The colonies had grown, but there were very few gentlemen Mary Elizabeth’s father found appropriate for his daughter. Nor did he care if she would be miserable with an old windbag.
However, none of that explained why they were walking toward the ocean, instead of toward town or home. “Is he a merman?” Millicent asked joking.
“No, but I dare say he’s pretty close.”
They had only taken a few more steps when Mary Elizabeth pulled Millicent down behind a high patch of sea grass.
“What the devil?” Millicent asked, falling into an ungraceful pile next to her cousin.
“Shh!” Mary Elizabeth placed her finger over her lips and then pointed over the grasses, down to ocean. “His name’s Edward. I met him this morning.”
Millicent still didn’t see anyone. “This morning? I thought you were off gathering by the tide pools.”
“I was. It just so happened that he was there, too.”
“Where is he now?”
“Patience, my dear cousin. You will see him soon enough.”
It was another five minutes before Millicent noticed a disturbance in the marsh water. Mary Elizabeth sat up straighter, her eyes scanning the distant landscape. She’d noticed the movement as well.
Surely, the man she met this morning wasn’t going to appear in the marshlands. No one went there except —
“He’ll be with them,” Mary Elizabeth said, excitedly, as three men trudged out from behind a group of trees.
“Pirates,” Millicent finished her thought out loud.
She may as well have not said anything for all the attention Mary Elizabeth gave her. Her gaze remained fixated on the group of pirates. Pirates. Her cousin had lost her mind completely. More than likely, it was a voodoo spell from the southern seas that the Edward pirate had placed on Mary Elizabeth this morning.
How did one break a voodoo spell? Millicent couldn’t ask her aunt or her uncle. She should go to the church. The minister would know what to do.
“There!” Mary Elizabeth squeezed her hand so tight, Millicent feared broken bones.
There were now five men along the marsh. Two talking and three digging. Millicent wasn’t sure if they were digging to find something or to bury something, nor did she care to see which it turned out to be.
The man in the middle looked up their way at Mary Elizabeth’s voice and for a second, Millicent felt as if he both saw and heard them. Which was ridiculous because he could do neither hidden as they were. Yet, fear still danced down her spine.
“The one in the middle?” she asked Mary Elizabeth. She shouldn’t have asked the question.
She really didn’t want to know the answer, because when he’d looked their way, Millicent recognized him.
“Yes,” Mary Elizabeth said.
“But he’s Blackbeard, the Pirate King,” Millicent managed to whisper.
“Yes,” her cousin confirmed, her voice full of wonder. “And I shall be his queen.”
About Carol Ann Collins
Writing allows Carol Ann Collins to combine two of her favorite things, history and romance. Her work is a combination of historical fact, pure fiction, and a vivid imagination. Though she is an introvert who had no problem staying inside during quarantine, she enjoys traveling with her husband and two adult children. In her spare time, she is an avid book collector and bargain shopper who loves to combine the two. To date, her favorite find is an 1869 edition of Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain purchased for $10.
Author Links
Website: https://www.carolanncollins.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorcarolanncollins/
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/23031966.Carol_Ann_Collins
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Bookshop.org – Kobo
Enter the Giveaway
The Seafarer’s Secret TOUR PARTICIPANTS
May 15 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
May 15 – Carla Loves To Read – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 16 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – REVIEW
May 17 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
May 17 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT WITH SPOTLIGHT
May 18 – Jemima Pett, Author – REVIEW
May 18 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT
May 19 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
May 20 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
May 21 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
May 21 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT
May 22 – Ruff Drafts – REVIEW
May 22 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read! – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 23 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
May 24 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
May 24 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
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Thank you so much for having me on your blog today and sharing this scene! I always hated that I had to cut it!
You’re welcome! Thanks for sharing it!
Sounds like a really good mystery. I love reading about secrets and lies.
This looks like a great read. Thanks for hosting.
Sounds like a book I would really enjoy reading.
Sounds amazing, great cover.
I love intriguing stories like this. Thanks for the giveaway!