The edge of the gulf : a novel of suspense

On a satisfying current of confidence, Charlie Brompton said his last goodnights and walked down the steps of his restaurant into the warm June evening. Laurel Beach is one of the last old-fashioned villages in the West Florida panhandle, one that has, so far, escaped commercial over-development. It presents both a haven and opportunity, and, this summer, it plays host to a varied cast. Grief has nearly destroyed Hudson DeForest. He?s barely been going through the motions, teaching in a Memphis girls school, writing about film, talking to the dog. He?s hanging on by a thread. It?s been two years since Kate died, two years of grappling with profound loss, with the impact of the marriage of a lifetime cut short. Hudson?s friend Charlie Brompton, the successful developer and restaurateur, is facing a different loss. He?s growing old. It?s time for him to let go of his most beloved enterprise, the mecca of fine dining known as the 26-A after the panhandle highway where it sits. And of its funky adjunct, The Blue Bar. With no immediate family as heirs, Charlie?s considering his choice of successors. And what he should do for his godson, Chaz? He also wonders if Hudson will return to Laurel Beach, to the cottage he occupied with Kate. Will Hudson ever forgive him? Meanwhile Chaz has met Sydney, a former actress. They?re living well in Atlanta, thinking about marriage. Thinking, too, that perhaps they should go to Laurel Beach, touch base with Charlie ... As Hudson settles in and doggedly takes up his summer project?he has a book contract for a collection of his film reviews?the undying past and a present struggling to be born exert their fierce, and sometimes indistinguishable, claims. So it is for Charlie, and for Sydney and Chaz. Gradually a bizarre maelstrom of deceit, betrayal, and murder evolves in Laurel Beach, ensnaring the wealthy and the beautiful, the misguided and the desperate. Will its force fill Hudson with newfound determination to celebrate life?or will it destroy those he still holds dear? It is late summer in the year 1270 and England is as weary as its aging king, Henry III. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs like smoke over the land. Even in the small priory of Tyndal on the remote East Anglian coast, the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevraud long for a return to tranquil routine. Their hopes are dashed, however, when the young and inexperienced Eleanor of Wynethorpe is appointed their new prioress over someone of their own choosing. Nor are Eleanor's own prayers for a peaceful transition answered. Only a day after her arrival, a brutally murdered monk is found in the cloister gardens, and Brother Thomas, a young priest with a troubled past, arrives to bring her a more personal grief. Now she must not only struggle to gain the respect of her terrified and resentful flock but also cope with violence, lust and greed in a place dedicated to love and peace Elderly restaurateur Charlie Brompton, his old friend Hudson DeForest, a grieving widower, and other inhabitants of Laurel Beach become caught up in a deadly web of betrayal, deceit, and murder. A first novel