What do you think?
Crystal Coast Mysteries #1
Blackbeard's Curse
Clara Dare Ivankova, an independent and strong-willed attorney, has always been the black sheep in her old Southern family. But when she returns home to North Carolina's beautiful Crystal Coast to attend her Uncle Jack's funeral, she begins to realize that while she has always managed to avoid most of the family drama, she may have unintentionally sacrificed too much. When Clara Dare is summoned back home a month later, she finds her Aunt Eloise in a fierce legal battle over Uncle Jack's estate. New details about Uncle Jack's secret life arise that, combined with Clara Dare's cousins' strange behavior and the discovery of a series of cryptic journal entries made by the infamous pirate, Blackbeard, just months before his capture in 1718, soon draw Clara Dare into a race against time with a ruthless killer.
With the help of her childhood friend, Detective Tara Thompson, her brother-in-law, Vasek, and a contingent of her mother's friends who are privy to all of the local gossip, Clara Dare must get to the bottom of the nearly 300-year-old mystery of Blackbeard's treasure before another body is found and priceless artifacts are lost forever.
With the help of her childhood friend, Detective Tara Thompson, her brother-in-law, Vasek, and a contingent of her mother's friends who are privy to all of the local gossip, Clara Dare must get to the bottom of the nearly 300-year-old mystery of Blackbeard's treasure before another body is found and priceless artifacts are lost forever.
240 pages, Paperback
First published December 21, 2009
About the author
Chessen Parker
2 books9 followersChessen Parker is an avid mystery reader and writer, living in Atlanta, Georgia and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Raised in North Carolina, where she attended Meredith College and Duke University School of Law, she chose to set her first amateur sleuth series on North Carolina’s beautiful Crystal Coast and Outer Banks.
The author's goal in developing the series was to recreate the elegance and wit of Christie, in a modern, coastal village setting. The series features strong, independent, witty and intelligent women; promotes volunteerism; and allows readers to experience the often humorous, aristocratic flavor of a small Southern town (steeped in tradition) from the inside.
Blackbeard's Curse is available in Kindle Edition and paperback. It is the first book in the Crystal Coast Mysteries. Cargo to Kill For is available in Kindle Edition. A pre-release preview of Duck and Cover is included in the author's writing section below.
Join Clara Dare Ivankova and her friends as they comb the North Carolina coast for clues to uncover the who, why and how of the clever, and often desperate, murders that hit close to home. Experience beautiful beaches, remote island villages, cozy harbors, and coastal living at its finest with the sleuths in the Crystal Coast Mysteries.
The author's goal in developing the series was to recreate the elegance and wit of Christie, in a modern, coastal village setting. The series features strong, independent, witty and intelligent women; promotes volunteerism; and allows readers to experience the often humorous, aristocratic flavor of a small Southern town (steeped in tradition) from the inside.
Blackbeard's Curse is available in Kindle Edition and paperback. It is the first book in the Crystal Coast Mysteries. Cargo to Kill For is available in Kindle Edition. A pre-release preview of Duck and Cover is included in the author's writing section below.
Join Clara Dare Ivankova and her friends as they comb the North Carolina coast for clues to uncover the who, why and how of the clever, and often desperate, murders that hit close to home. Experience beautiful beaches, remote island villages, cozy harbors, and coastal living at its finest with the sleuths in the Crystal Coast Mysteries.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 23, 2010
Introducing a new “cozy” murder mystery series - The Crystal Coast Mysteries. Author Chessen Parker’s goal in developing the series was to recreate the elegance and wit of Christie, in a modern village setting. The two main characters in the series are women in their mid-thirties -- old school chums who find themselves "back home" in a quaint fishing village on the North Carolina coast, and begin an unexpected partnership in detection.
The series features strong, independent, witty and intelligent women; promotes volunteerism and community service; and allows readers to experience the aristocratic flavor of a small Southern town, steeped in tradition, from the inside.
The first book in the series, Blackbeard's Curse is now available!
Join Clara Dare and her friends as they comb the North Carolina coast for clues to uncover the who, why and how of the clever, and often desperate, murders that hit close to home. Experience beautiful beaches, remote island villages, cozy harbors, and coastal living at its finest with the sleuths in the Crystal Coast Mysteries.
In Blackbeard's Curse ...
Clara Dare Ivankova, an independent and strong-willed attorney, has always been the black sheep in her old Southern family. But when she returns home to North Carolina's beautiful Crystal Coast to attend her Uncle Jack's funeral, she begins to realize that while she has always managed to avoid most of the family drama, she may have unintentionally sacrificed too much.
When Clara Dare is summoned back home a month later, she finds her Aunt Eloise in a fierce legal battle over Uncle Jack's estate. New details about Uncle Jack's secret life arise that, combined with Clara Dare's cousins' strange behavior and the discovery of a series of cryptic journal entries made by the infamous pirate, Blackbeard, just months before his capture in 1718, soon draw Clara Dare into a race against time with a ruthless killer.
With the help of her childhood friend, Detective Tara Thompson, her brother-in-law, Vasek, and a contingent of her mother's friends who are privy to all of the local gossip, Clara Dare must get to the bottom of the nearly 300-year-old mystery of Blackbeard's treasure before another body is found and priceless artifacts are lost forever.
Please visit the author’s website, www.chessenparker.com for a peek at future mysteries, series publication updates, Crystal Coast and Outer Banks travel information, artists' links, free writing contests and more!
The series features strong, independent, witty and intelligent women; promotes volunteerism and community service; and allows readers to experience the aristocratic flavor of a small Southern town, steeped in tradition, from the inside.
The first book in the series, Blackbeard's Curse is now available!
Join Clara Dare and her friends as they comb the North Carolina coast for clues to uncover the who, why and how of the clever, and often desperate, murders that hit close to home. Experience beautiful beaches, remote island villages, cozy harbors, and coastal living at its finest with the sleuths in the Crystal Coast Mysteries.
In Blackbeard's Curse ...
Clara Dare Ivankova, an independent and strong-willed attorney, has always been the black sheep in her old Southern family. But when she returns home to North Carolina's beautiful Crystal Coast to attend her Uncle Jack's funeral, she begins to realize that while she has always managed to avoid most of the family drama, she may have unintentionally sacrificed too much.
When Clara Dare is summoned back home a month later, she finds her Aunt Eloise in a fierce legal battle over Uncle Jack's estate. New details about Uncle Jack's secret life arise that, combined with Clara Dare's cousins' strange behavior and the discovery of a series of cryptic journal entries made by the infamous pirate, Blackbeard, just months before his capture in 1718, soon draw Clara Dare into a race against time with a ruthless killer.
With the help of her childhood friend, Detective Tara Thompson, her brother-in-law, Vasek, and a contingent of her mother's friends who are privy to all of the local gossip, Clara Dare must get to the bottom of the nearly 300-year-old mystery of Blackbeard's treasure before another body is found and priceless artifacts are lost forever.
Please visit the author’s website, www.chessenparker.com for a peek at future mysteries, series publication updates, Crystal Coast and Outer Banks travel information, artists' links, free writing contests and more!
April 25, 2015
Interesting in a light cozy mystery way but it was not a very satisfying book in the end.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews