This 1980s Carolina coast thriller “channels all the danger, intrigue, and thrills of a pirate’s life at sea for a twentieth-century criminal mystery” (Forward Reviews).

On an old sailboat named for his departed wife—as well as a legendary pirate—criminal justice professor Hershel Barstow is saying his final goodbye with a trip through the North Carolina Intercoastal Waterway. He expects his solo trip aboard the Anne Bonny to be a quiet one. Then the mysterious and seductive Maggie Adelaide Moore appears in the water and climbs aboard. His reluctant offer to help the distressed woman soon brings trouble, entangling Hershel with a dangerous drug cartel.

Now Hershel needs to call on old friends from his CIA days to stay safe and riddle out Maggie's mysterious past. In the weathered Anne Bonny, enemies could be lurking behind every river bend. Now Hershel must navigate his way through deadly waters on a quest for truth, safety, and justice.

Dick Elam