[Alton Rhode Mysteries 07] • Turtle Dove

“If you read KILLERFEST, you know De Maria, a Pulitzer-nominated journalist, has a unique view of the literary scene. Now, in TURTLE DOVE he has even more fun with it – and you will, too!” – JOHN CRUDELE (New York Post)

“A master of thriller dialogue.” (WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF BOOKS); “While De Maria may have been an award-winning financial reporter, he's an awfully good fiction writer as well.” (NAPLES DAILY NEWS); “What is really almost beyond belief is how easily De Maria has transitioned from the dry world of financial reporting to the wild and lavish world of novel writing.” (COLLIER CITIZEN)

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Private eye Alton Rhode has been asked to give away the bride at a “destination wedding” on remote Bald Head Island. It is a weird situation, given the fact that the bride once worked for people trying to kill him! But Rhode decides to make the best of it. He and his lady love, the beautiful Alice Watts, turn the occasion into a week-long vacation at the exclusive resort off the coast of North Carolina. Taking a break from the wedding festivities, they attend a luncheon honoring the island’s most-famous resident, the reclusive Ashleigh Harper, whose only novel is a classic that inspired a generation of America’s youth.

But Rhode is soon involved in a real-life plot involving the first murders on idyllic Bald Head in 500 years! Before he solves the case, Rhode almost brings down a publishing empire and finds himself the target of a cold-blooded temptress and her maniac lover, who feeds his victims to sharks!

With scenes shifting from Wall Street to Cape Fear, TURTLE DOVE is a typical De Maria blend of mayhem and humor – with a dollop of sex thrown into the mix.

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Winner of an Associated Press award for crime reporting, Lawrence De Maria later cut his teeth on financial corruption at The New York Times and Forbes.