Monday, May 6 ~ Johnathon Scott Barrett (Ship Watch) at Pawleys Tap House & Grill
Set around the renowned and historical homestead at the center of the drama, Ship Watch weaves together six intertwined relationships that extend from the gentrified city of Savannah and into the wealthy enclaves of Sea Island, Highlands, and Atlanta’s Buckhead. The novel’s characters are drawn in the loom by the family’s elegantly formidable matriarch, Grand Martha, and form a multi-generational tapestry that includes the misfortunes of divorce and betrayal – but in more and even better measure opportunities for redemption, rediscovery, and the rarified gift of ‘second love.’ By combining an encompassing setting having a solid sense of place along with characters that are captivating and rather extraordinary, Ship Watch is a sometimes bittersweet, yet often comedic, Southern tour-de-force debut novel. Heretofore, Johnathon, a seventh-generation Georgian who has a deep appreciation for the history, foodways, and culture of the South, has been celebrated for his highly readable, highly eatable, and highly entertaining cookbooks – Cook & Tell, Rise & Shine, and Cook & Celebrate
Wednesday, May 15 ~ Roger Jones (The Final Victory) at The Village House
Based on true events, The Final Victory is an exhilarating debut novel that acts as a “metaphor not only for the struggle to survive but also a pathway for redemption.” After he is diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer, Tripp Avery feels like all is lost. He finds himself coaching a team of twelve men and eight women with cancer diagnoses of their own, hoping to qualify for the Mixed Masters Dragon Boat national championship and defy their prognoses. If they win, they will represent the United States at the International Dragon Boat races in Hong Kong. But soon things get complicated, as four of Tripp’s teammates struggle with physical limitations and the psychological weight of their conditions. Members of the team collapse under the pressure and one is hospitalized. Faced with confronting his own failings and struggling to find a way forward, Tripp begins to question his motives, wondering if the win is worth the trauma. Despite the odds, he resolves to rally the team toward a comeback that seems impossible, if only for one final victory. In author Jones’ case, the businessman, philanthropist, humanitarian and avid athlete completed his first novel – a goal set during a 2012 trip to East Germany to receive an intensive radiation treatment for neuroendocrine cancer – after attending many writing classes and conferences and by following the oft-voiced advice: Write what you know. Pre-publication accolades from Mary Alice Monroe, Cassandra King, Bill Curry, Patti Henry and Jeffrey Blount ring with heartfelt praise for Roger Jones’ debut.
Tuesday, May 21 ~ Deb Richardson-Moore (Through the Window) at Hot Fish Club
Riley Masterson has moved to the vibrant city of Greenbrier, SC, anxious to escape the chaos that has overwhelmed her life. Questioned in a murder in Alabama, she has spent eighteen months under suspicion by a sheriff’s office unable to make an arrest. But things in gentrifying Greenbrier are not as they seem. Her cousin has an ulterior motive for inviting Riley into her home, and pieces of Riley’s past shadow her. As she struggles to forge a new life, forces are gathering in the tension-plagued neighborhood where glitzy new homes rise alongside crumbling mill houses, and everyone, it seems, is able to peer into a neighbor’s window. When murder explodes, someone unexpected is caught in the crossfire. Detectives are left to ponder: Are the deaths personal or the result of rich and poor living in such close proximity? And will Riley take the blame as someone so meticulously planned? Author of five fiction titles and a memoir, The Weight of Mercy, about her early years as a pastor at the Triune Mercy Center in Greenville, S.C., Deb is a former national award-winning reporter for The Greenville (SC) News and a popular speaker at book clubs, universities and churches. She has won numerous awards for community involvement, including the 2020 Humanitarian Award by Upstate Housing Connections and the 2017 Leadership Greenville Distinguished Alumni Award.
Wednesday, May 29 ~ C. Hope Clark (Edisto Bullet) at Quigley’s Next Door
In Book Ten of this mystery series, when a storm blows out power to half the beach, all hell breaks loose on Edisto Beach. Police Chief Callie Morgan is called to investigate a break-in at El Marko’s, the restaurant owned by the man who’s unexpectedly become a real part of her life. Then she sees Mark slide an unspent .41 caliber bullet from the bar into his pocket. A bullet seemingly left as a calling card. A bullet he has no intention of mentioning to her. Before they got involved, Callie knew ex-SLED agent Mark Dupree had a past, one he kept carefully buttoned-up and private around her. She understood, but now that past has come calling and his secrets could get someone killed. Suddenly, the man she thought she knew so well is disappearing, lost in secrets he won’t share. Soon more bullets are left as warnings, all on the doorsteps of people in Mark’s life. Adding to the uncertainty and chaos is a new-to-town physic, warning anyone who will listen that she sees danger around Mark, vowing that within six days someone will die. The hell of it is, Callie isn’t certain the psychic is wrong. She’s got six days to unearth a past Mark doesn’t want her to know and to protect the town she loves from whatever blew in with the storm.