Quinn Sterling left the FBI for the Lowcountry, and no one questions her loyalty to Craven County or her willingness to do what it takes to nail the truth. When a school board member hires her for a domestic issue, the marital problem morphs into a treacherous stew of politics and corruption. Public school board squabbles turn into threats, then arson, then murder, and Quinn suspects that the crime spree is more sophisticated than the rural county's small-time politicians. Someone is willing to kill for financial gain, and Quinn recognizes a dark, sinister force threatening the lives of every board member... and every member of Quinn's adopted family when Jonah Proveaux, the Sterling Banks foreman and Quinn's childhood friend, steps in to shield an elderly woman from harassment and a land grab scheme.

Quinn is kicking a hornet's nest, only these hornets play with fire, death, and guns.

C. HOPE CLARK has a fascination with the mystery genre and is au-thor of the Carolina Slade Mystery Series, the Edisto Island Mysteries, and now the Craven County Mysteries, all of which are set in the Lowcountry and her home state of South Carolina. In her previous federal life, she performed admin-is-trative investigations and married the agent she met on a bribery investigation. She enjoys nothing more than editing her books on the back porch with him, overlooking the lake, with bourbons in hand. She can be found either on the banks of Lake Murray or Edisto Beach with one or two dachshunds in her lap. Hope is also editor of the award-winning FundsforWriters.com.