Haint Blue

In 1986, a novice businessman, Kip Drummond, rescued a sentimental landmark-the Lady's Island Oyster Factory-in Beaufort, South Carolina. But six years later, he finds himself pressured by corporate greed and paralyzed by Lowcountry desperation. On one side, a trio of predators from Philadelphia, spurred by plans to replace the rundown factory with a megamillion dollar waterfront development, enlists the aid of a local mole and an Italian connection to deliver a no-holds-barred squeeze for the sale. On the opposite side, fueled by rumors of the undisclosed sale of the factory, the restless Gullah workers prod their ex-Marine foreman, "Gunny" Brewer, to go head-to-head with Kip in an effort to squelch the deal, knowing his failure to stop it will cost them the livelihood that has sustained them for decades. Caught in the maelstrom, Kip soft-pedals the relationship with his blond-bombshell wife, Sandi, who longs to return to her socialite life in Charleston and becomes a willing prey to an unexpected influence. When Kip turns to his friends for advice, he finds himself at a table in a former slave's shack with Madam Ayanda, a tarot reader who channels Kip's energy through cards that unveil a secret Kip had fought desperately to conceal, but he would need to reveal to beat the hex on him. Filled with century-old strife, passion, grisly violence, LIARS tales, and local legends, HAINT BLUE lures the reader into the "pluff mud" and out of the South Carolina marshes in a compelling story of guilt, forgiveness, and hope.