Welcome to Shadow's Landing

One of my all-time favorite authors is Kathleen Brooks.  You all know her by now, I'm sure.  Keeneston is one of my favorite places to visit and to write about.  In January last year, Kathleen published Forever Devoted, which introduced us to an extended branch of the Davies clan.  The Faulkners of Shadow's Landing, South Carolina, are related to Marcy Davies--they're all descended from Marcy's brothers and been separated from the family through a rift deepened by the biggest Mother Faulkner of them all, Marcy's mother.  Kathleen told us we were getting a spin off series to center around the Faulkner cousins, and in October of last year (I'm a little behind the eight ball) we got that introduction.

Gavin Faulkner is a doctor who was introduced in Forever Devoted, as a friend of Layne's future husband, Walker Greene.  When Gavin and Walker turn to Layne for help, the dark sordid past comes out and bridges start to be built between the Faulkners and the Davies.  Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the two families are oddly similar, with the same strong characters and dedication.  Tinsley, one of the cousins, is perhaps the dreamiest of the entire extended clan as an artist.  Gavin is the first Faulkner to get  his happily ever after.

Saving Shadows opens on a dark and stormy night... in the middle of a hurricane.  Gavin goes out to secure his boat more firmly to his dock and finds that there is a woman clinging to the end.  He takes her in, and it's clear to his doctor sensibilities that the woman is hurt, and not from an accident.  When she wakes up, she can't remember who she is.  Gavin turns to his Davies cousins and their facial recognition software to figure out her identity, although he lets her try to remember her life as organically as possible.

She is Ellery St. John and the last thing that she remembers before waking up to Gavin giving her CPR is something swinging at her head.  As with most of Kathleen's books, someone is out to get her!  But that head wound has given Ellery retrograde amnesia, and Dr. Faulkner is adamant about not planting false memories.  As the story moves on you meet some of the memorable characters of Shadow's Landing, which include Bubba the Gator and Gator, who catches him.  Granger Fox is the sheriff, and Cord is his deputy--and his Grandmama had a very good brownie recipe apparently.  The Rose Sisters of Keeneston find their matches in Miss Winnie and Miss Ruby.  There's a prayer group who throws prayer books like ninja throwing stars!  Ellery doesn't have all the time she needs to remember organically, because she is the only suspect in a murder investigation.

Here's the big question, though?  Will Ellery remember before she becomes another ghost to haunt Shadow's Landing?

And seriously, who keeps cutlasses in candlesticks?

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