Debut Mystery Novelist Caroline Cleveland Visits the Conroy Center, May 11
story and photos courtesy of PAT CONROY LITERARY CENTER
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an afternoon with debut novelist Caroline Cleveland, author of the Lowcountry mystery When Cicadas Cry, on Saturday, May 11, at 2:00 p.m., at Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Cleveland will be joined in conversation by the Center’s executive director Jonathan Haupt, who has also reviewed the novel for the Charleston Post and Courier.
This event is free and open to the public. Books will be available for sale and signing through NeverMore Books. Please call to reserve your seat in advance: 843-379-7025.
About When Cicadas Cry (from the publisher):
In this stunning debut by a South Carolina attorney, Zach Stander, a lawyer with a past, and Addie Stone, his indomitable detective and lover, find themselves entangled in secrets, lies, and murder in a small Southern town.
A high-profile murder case—A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross in a rural church on Cicada Road in Walterboro, South Carolina. Sam Jenkins, a Black man, is found covered in blood, kneeling over the body. In a state already roiling with racial tension, this is not only a murder case, but a powder keg.
A haunting cold case—Two young women are murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro, and the killer disappears without a trace. Thirty-four years later the mystery remains unsolved. Could there be a connection to Stander’s case?
A killer who’s watching—Stander takes on Jenkins’s defense, but he’s up against a formidable solicitor with powerful allies. Worse, his client is hiding a bombshell secret. When Addie Stone reopens the cold case, she discovers more long-buried secrets in this small town. Would someone kill again to keep them?
“John Grisham meets Harper Lee in this immersive and thought-provoking Southern legal thriller. Caroline Cleveland’s talented storytelling propels this realistic tale of secrets and history, combined with the power of contemporary passion and prejudice. The setting is authentic, the characters relatable, and the story propulsive and engaging. Standing ovation for this brilliant debut!”—Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of One Wrong Word
“A twisty narrative of secrets and lies, I flew through When Cicadas Cry in a day. A haunting case from the past. A racially tinged murder in the present. And a small South Carolina town about to erupt like a powder keg. Equal parts courtroom thriller and gripping mystery.” —John McMahon, author of The Good Detective
About the Author:
Caroline Cleveland is a labor and employment lawyer based in Charleston. A native South Carolinian, Caroline grew up in the lowcountry and earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1991. When Cicadas Cry is her first novel.
About the Interviewer:
Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, the past director of the University of South Carolina Press, and co-editor of the anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, winner of 17 book awards.
To learn more about the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, please visit www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.
