Perils and inherent dangers of the sea, and of island living, are cloaked behind a facade of sunny beaches, balmy tradewinds and swaying palm trees. Two women fall prey to nature's wrath during inclement tropical weather. In "Child of a Storm," during the late '60s the ketch, "Mercy," sinks during a sea storm off Culebra near the Virgin Islands. Ciara Malloy inherits her drowned financee's son, learns a devastating secret about the boy, and faces the most crucial decision of her life.In the late '90s, underwater photographer Lillian Avery gets "Caught in a Rip" current and swept out to sea off Kauai in Hawaii. In facing death, she identifies strengths she never knew she had.A few years later, in "Hurricane Secret," the two former neighbors from Puerto Rico meet again on Kauai. A hurricane wreaks havoc in both their lives and threatens to expose secrets tightly held since the sinking of the Mercy.
Mary Deal, a native of Walnut Grove in California's Sacramento River Delta, has lived in England, the Caribbean, and now resides on the island of Kauai in Kapaa, Hawaii. She was Founder and past President of Kauai Writer's Roundtable. She is also an artist, photographer and newspaper columnist.
She is the author of four suspense novels: "The Tropics," an adventure/suspense trilogy, "The Ka," a paranormal Egyptian suspense, and "River Bones," a thriller that takes place in her childhood hometown area. A fourth novel, "Down to the Needle," also a thriller, takes place along the West coast. She has also published a third ebook, "Off Center in the Attic," which contains thirty over-the-top short stories and flash fiction pieces.
"River Bones" was a winner in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards competition and a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Books Awards. Two sequels to "River Bones" have already been started. Her short story "The Last This I Do" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
She has published a nonfiction eBook for writers titled "Write it Right - Tips for Authors, Volume I." Also, her novel, "The Tropics," has been rewritten and is available in eBook format as "Legacy of the Tropics." Her mega-Web site, Write Any Genre, is a valuable resource for writers and covers topics from creative writing to business writing.
