The Drowning Season
Eliza Morrow left Carrion Falls at eighteen and never looked back. Twenty years later, a body in the harbor and a summons she can't ignore drag her home to a coast that doesn't forgive easily. The town has changed on the surface, new storefronts, a deputy named Owen Pyle who remembers more than he should, a federal marshal asking questions nobody wants answered, but underneath, the old families still hold their breath, and the water still keeps its secrets. Constance Breck greets her with a smile that cuts. Alma Tate, who runs the bait shop and the rumor mill, watches from her doorway. Ezra Cull and his daughter Sadie are suddenly reluctant to make eye contact. Mayor Frank Tolliver insists everything is under control while the tide climbs the seawall. As Eliza digs into the death, she uncovers ledgers that don't balance, a missing person report filed and quietly buried, and a stretch of shoreline the locals call the drowning season for reasons no one will explain. With the storm closing in and the marshal's deadline ticking down, Eliza must choose between the safe distance she's kept for two decades and the truth waiting in the deep. Some debts are paid in coin. The rest are paid in water.