The Wrecker's Lantern

Retired travel photographer Clara Whitcombe has finally convinced her longtime friend Emmy Drayton to join her on assignment—a peaceful week photographing wild ponies on North Carolina's remote Ocracoke Island. But when Clara discovers a body in the surf beneath the historic lighthouse, their reunion becomes something far more dangerous. The victim was investigating a Civil War shipwreck that the locals have protected for generations, and someone on this tight-knit island will kill to keep its secrets buried.

As a nor'easter bears down on the Outer Banks, Clara and Emmy find themselves caught between a community bound by blood and silence and a killer who has inherited a murderous legacy. The answers lie in a shipwreck from 1863, a lighthouse keeper's betrayal, and a conspiracy that has claimed lives for over a century. With her loyal dog Atlas at her side and Emmy's Charleston resourcefulness finally on the ground instead of on the phone, Clara must unravel a mystery older than anyone alive—before she becomes its next victim.

In this thrilling conclusion to The Coastal Clues Mysteries, Clara faces her most personal case yet. Six investigations. Three years. One final truth to uncover. The light that once led sailors to their deaths still burns in the memories of those sworn to protect it—and Clara Whitcombe is about to discover what happens when you drag a 160-year-old secret into the light.