When Emmy Hamilton's mother encourages her to buy the local book store, Folly's Finds, she hopes it will distract her daughter from the loss of her husband. But the seller has one condition: Emmy must allow Lulu, the late owner's difficult elderly sister, to continue working there. For the most part Emmy ignores Lulu, but a bundle of love letters she finds in a box help her better understand Lulu. As details of a possible murder and a mysterious disappearance during WWII are revealed, the two women discover that fate has brought them together.
“Dottie Frank’s books are sexy and hilarious. She has staked out the lowcountry of South Carolina as her personal literary property.” —Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides and South of Broad The incomparable Dorothea Benton Frank is back with her latest Lowcountry Novel, Folly Beach. As she has with Lowcountry Summer, Return to Sullivans Island, Land of Mango Sunsets, and so many other delightful literal excursions to this magical Southern locale, the perennial New York Times bestselling author enchants readers with a heart-warming tale of loss, acceptance, family, and love—as a woman returns to the past to find her future. Folly Beach is a constant delight from “a masterful storyteller” (Booklist) who has already secured her place alongside Anne Rivers Siddons, Sue Monk Kidd, Rebecca Wells, Barbara Delinsky and other contemporary queens of bestselling women’s fiction.
First impressions, thank goodness, really can't be trusted! When marine biologist Holly Leonard agrees to help Parker Brant write a book on giant sea turtles, she expects a charming and charismatic charter boat captain--not the strait-laced, all-business dud who greets her. For his part, Parker is surprised to find that Dr. Leonard is not the matronly grandmother he expected but a blue-eyed beauty who's lively, fun-- and a total klutz. Unfortunately, the harder Holly tries to shed her "Holly Folly" nickname, the clumsier she becomes. Holly's has breezed into Parker's well-ordered world like a hurricane--but will he welcome the disruption?
Discover the history of Folly Beach and how it transformed over the years from Coffin Island to a popular vacation destination. Folly Beach was not named for its carefree inhabitants' lifestyles, but it is a fitting moniker nonetheless. Originally dubbed Folly for its dense foliage and forests just across the marsh from James Island and Charleston, the six-mile sliver of land has served as an outpost for Civil War soldiers, an inspiration to George Gershwin, and a place of fond memories for thousands of residents, vacationers, and day-trippers seeking time to relax in the sea and sand. Long before Folly became a place for respite and relaxation, however, it served as a quarantine island for sick sailors, forebodingly referred to as Coffin Island. By the 1950s, Folly's dark history was sufficiently replaced with an amusement park, bowling alley, and moonlight dances out on the pier.
Chris Landrums morning has already started on a down note, as he stands in a cemetery listening to the eulogy for a friend. But his entire day deteriorates rapidly when he hears that a murder victim has been found in the marsh behind his retirement home on Folly Beach, South Carolina. Worse yet, the victim is the business associate of one of his friends. In a matter of hours, Chriss quiet, relaxed life is turned upside down. The police are convinced that Sean Aker, the victims law partner, is the killer. Chris has no reason to disagree other than the fact Sean is a frienda feeble defense at best. With the help of a group consisting of a tagalong buddy and wannabe private detective; an aging hippy and surf shop owner; a has-been country music singer; and a new acquaintance who runs a marsh tour business, Chris is thrust into a murder investigation that soon puts his dream of spending an idyllic retirement on hold yet again. As Chris and his merry band of misfit friends stumble, bumble, and come face-to-face with death in their amateurish quest to find a killer, they all wonder if the golden years are like this for everyoneor just them.
Bill Noels debut novel, Folly, introduced Chris Landrum and his adventures on the small, quirky island of Folly Beach, South Carolina, where he spent an extended vacation, purchased a retirement home, and solved a murder. In this second installment of A Folly Beach Mystery series, murder and mayhem continue to interfere with Chriss laid-back retirement plans. Praise for The Pier Louisville author Bill Noel, himself a seasoned photographer, has followed his debut offering, Folly, with another engaging Folly Beach Mystery. Armed with a gift for creating ultra-quirky yet believable characters, Noel shows how a healthy dose of cynicismeven among untrained, nonprofessional typescan lead to solving a murder mystery that the police had initially decided wasnt even a homicide. Kentucky Monthly Spend a little time at the Lost Dog Caf (Coffee and a bite) with Landrum and his troupe of amateur sleuths, and I bet youll be glad you made the trip. The Voice-Tribune
Living with the South Carolina Coast is the latest volume in the Living with the Shore series that comprehensively investigates the status of a specific state's coastal region. Completely revising a previously published work in the series that dealt with South Carolina, this book not only brings up-to-date a wealth of information on migrating shorelines, selection of building sites, and pertinent regulations, but also reflects an expanded concept of the coast to include a broad range of coastal hazards. Powerful storms have always played a major role in coastal processes in South Carolina, and the effects of Hurricane Hugo, the storm that ravaged the area in 1989, are thoroughly discussed. A series of Coastal Risk Maps are also included. These maps, graphically depicting areas of predictable erosion and storm damage potential, have been provided for every developed beach or barrier island in the state. Beyond the threat of hurricanes and coastal erosion, South Carolina, home of the Charleston Seismic Region, is also at risk for earthquakes. An entire chapter is devoted to earthquake-resistant construction, and the great Charleston earthquake of 1886 is examined in detail. Fires and floods are discussed. The Beachfront Management Act of 1990--the first state legislation of its kind that provides a system for dealing with migrating shorelines while preserving beaches for future generations--is also explained. Covering everything from a history of the development of South Carolina's coast to recommendations on how to select an island homesite, this book will be a resource to professional coastal planners and managers, residents, prospective homeowners, and naturalists.
When a movie production entourage invades Chris Landrums close-knit South Carolina island community, he is among the first in an excited crowd who gather to watch the filming. Unfortunately, it is not long before tragedy strikes and the films director drowns while on a fishing expedition. But when one of Chriss friends barely escapes death in an accident on the set one day, Chris becomes convinced the accident is no accident at all. As fear replaces anticipation on Folly Beach, Chris and his close friend Charlesa self-anointed private detectiveembark on an investigation. They get to know members of the movies entourage and soon suspect one of the actors might be playing more than the role of a killer. Immersed in determining why the movie set is plagued with accidents as well as dealing with their own personal problems, Chris and Charles are just as surprised as everyone else when a fisherman catches the one he wishes had gotten awaythe corpse of one of the movies stars. Now Chris must face what could be the final minutes of his life when he learns that nothing is what it appears to be in the magical world of the movies.
Folly Beach is a book-length personal essay about overcoming fears of mortality and loss through creativity. It begins when writer Steven Harvey, strumming his ukulele, watches his granddaughter dance on the boardwalk of his beach rental and has the uncanny sense that he is waving goodbye to all that matters. This valedictory feeling clings throughout the week to happy activities with his family. Having just retired from a lifetime of college teaching, he remembers his last classes and the last books he taught. All seems to be slipping away, a common feeling no doubt for many who retire. Folly Beach never loses sight of the inevitable losses that the passage of time brings, and the wistful feeling never entirely goes away, but loss doesn't have the last word. Instead the book breathes new life into the old truth that the end is not as important as the many creative ways we get there: children, poetry, cross-rhythms, kitesurfing, wave-hopping, and late night conversation as moonlit breakers lap the shore to name a few. In the face of the grim, Folly Beach holds up the human capacity to create as our sufficient joy. It is the thought of architectural follies inspired by the name of the beach that keeps the feelings of loss at bay. Harvey finds himself looking up those useless and at times poignant buildings that do little more than celebrate their own creation and devises ways for the family to build their own. An elaborate fort made of sand, flattened and swept away by the tides, is a kind of doomed folly on a small scale, but in the making of it Harvey and his family become part of a boundlessly creative universe, and the realization of that simple truth serves as a balm.
