Watery Grave (sample)

Watery Grave is a crime thriller that explores the topics of racism, injustice, revisionist history, and the distorting effects of time and memory. Based loosely on historical events, it takes place in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. As escaped slaves fled to Canada via the Underground Railroad, crossing these lakes was a crucial leg of the journey. What the history books don't say is that not everyone there cared about freedom, dignity, or the value of human life. Highwaymen and ruthless opportunists preyed upon the refugees. They took advantage of these desperate souls, betraying them, stealing their possessions and worse. No evil deed can stay hidden forever, and after two centuries, the truth will be revealed. Four hundred feet below, in the cold, murky depths. As a sleepy lakeside town celebrates its bicentennial, the ugly truth of it's founding reopens old wounds. When the murders begin, a retired cop and an amateur genealogist race against time to stop the killings, exposing a sordid tale of betrayal, racism, and revenge in the time of the Underground Railroad. Using flashbacks, we see the town's original sin, it's aftermath, and the reason for the vengeance that is being visited upon the founder's descendants. As the investigation gains traction, it threatens to expose a web of corruption, deceit, and systematic racism among the town's elite. But some would do anything to maintain the cover-up that cost an innocent man his freedom and set a wealthy sociopath free.