Spring has arrived in the small New Hampshire coastal town of Rye Harbor and all seemed right in the world. Jack Beale and Max, the feisty red haired bartender at Ben's Place, are back together after their split up the previous year and are looking forward to enjoying a carefree summer together. Then, someone who they thought was just a memory reappears, pursued by a psychotic killer. When he ends up dead, Jack and Max become the killer's new targets. What should have been an easy, relaxing summer for Jack, Max and his cat, Cat, becomes a battle of wits and a fight for survival.

A summer heat wave blankets the New Hampshire seacoast. In an attempt to beat the heat, Jack's best friend, Dave, arranges for a day of fishing far off shore on the boat Miss Cookie. Even though they land only a few fish, they pronounce the day a great success-until Jack spots smoke on the horizon and they convince the reluctant captain to bring them to investigate. What they find will have a profound effect upon all of their lives as they deal with the consequences of an Unexpected Catch.

Jack and Max hire a delivery skipper, TJ, to bring her catamaran from Belize to Rye Harbor, New Hampshire. TJ takes on a mysterious woman as crew in Florida, but after she jumps ship in Gloucester, TJ enlists Jack's help for the final leg of the delivery. In Gloucester, TJ, an incorrigible womanizer, reconnects with a former lover and crew mate, and that chance meeting triggers a search for a black schooner from his past-along with the chance it affords for closure and revenge. His search takes him through Kennebunkport, Boothbay, and Camden, Maine, and finally to the Isles of Shoals, where...

Fate. Chance. Destiny. Call it what you will, but sometimes life changing events begin in the most innocent and unexpected ways. For Jack Beale that moment came on a perfect summer morning as he stood overlooking Rye Harbor when something caught his eye. In that small space between the bow of his boat and the float to which it was tied, a lifeless body had become wedged as the tide tried to sweep it out to sea. That discovery, and the arrival of Daniel would begin a series of events that would eventually take Max from him. Who was the victim? Why was Daniel there and what was his interest in...