Best Beach Read Nominee: RELATIVE SILENCE from Carrie Stuart Parks

Pursuit of the American Dream can create enormous wealth and privilege, and Piper Boone's family seems to have it all — including Curlew Island, off the South Carolina coast. The family's foundation holds its board meetings there; Piper's politician brother when in residence manipulates his media coverage; and Piper's mother wields power over Piper as well, although she's far from a child. Fifteen years earlier, her daughter died when the family's boat was stolen, and although her ex-husband still comes to family business meetings, there's no joy here for Piper, locked in nonstop mourning and guilt.

Until one day, a terrorist attack at the café where Piper's gone to meet a woman friend tears bloody gashes in the fabric of her family, her self-esteem and her life. Ironically, the only person she feels almost able to trust is the man who's just saved her from gunfire: a former alcoholic who's half-drowned in his own losses and guilt, but working his way upward as both a forensic artist and member of a brotherhood of men helping each other find a way back to the love of holiness and a caring God expressed in the support of the people around them.

For Carrie Stuart Parks, RELATIVE SILENCE is the latest of seven published books -- some of which have been linked as a short series. This one appears to be a stand-alone, and the pace and strands of pain and doubt are expertly spun. So are the strengths that lead both Piper Boone and forensic artist Tucker Landry forward, through attacks that multiply, and a finale that lets loose all the force of the sea—and promises astonishing rewards for the road forward.

Here's the turning point for Piper:

I wasn't reasonable and rational at the moment. Someone had tried to gun me down. Tucker uncovered evidence that my father might have been murdered. The video I found indicated [my sister] Sparrow's death might have been more than an accident. My daughter had somehow survived and another child had died.

All I had to do was prove it all was true.

Adding spice to this great summer read is knowing that the author herself is a forensic artist and a speaker much in demand. Her ability to mesh a striking work of crime fiction with the harsh lessons of love and faith, without a single "soppy" moment, makes the book un-put-downable. Stash in the beachbag or move it onto the home deck. Test yourself: Can you figure the responsible criminals before Piper gets it sorted out? She'll keep you running, and turning the pages.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.