2021 Carol Award Finalists: Carrie Stuart Parks & Relative Silence

Hello again! Through September 11th (culminating with a list of winners), I have the privilege of chatting with all of the 2021 ACFW Carol Award Finalists! Today I’m continuing with Carrie Stuart Parks and her mystery/suspense/thriller Carol Award finalist book Relative Silence! You can check out a list of all the finalists HERE and you can follow along with the posts HERE.

FYI – There will be 2-3 posts per day, many of which are offering a giveaway, so make sure you catch them all!

RELATIVE SILENCE
GENRE: Inspirational Suspense
PUBLISHER: Thomas Nelson
RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2020
PAGES: 316

A powerful family with lots of secrets. A forensic artist with his own tragedies. And a hurricane drawing bearing down on their private island. 

Fifteen years ago Piper Boone’s only child died in a boating accident, and Piper’s almost perfect life came to an end too. After living through a divorce and losing her job, she retreats to Curlew Island and her childhood home—a secluded mansion for the politically powerful Boone family, who are practically American royalty.

But Piper’s desire to become a recluse is shattered when a mass shooter opens fire and kills three women at a café where Piper is having lunch. The crisis puts her family in the spotlight by dredging up rumors of the so-called Curlew Island Curse, which whispers say has taken the lives of several members of the Boone family, including Piper’s father and sister.

Forensic artist Tucker Landry also survives the shooting and is tasked with the job of sketching a portrait of the shooter with Piper. They forge a bond over their shared love of movies and tragic pasts. But when police discover a connection between the shooting and two more murders on Curlew Island, they face a more terrible lineup of suspects than they could have imagined: Piper’s family.

Unraveling the family’s true history will be the key to Piper’s survival—or her certain death.

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I asked the author…

What do you most want readers to take away from relative silence?

As in all my books, I want to present a bit of relatively unknown history (in the case the Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship in war–the Civil War!) I want to share some aspects of forensics — again in Relative Silence it’s about age progression and composites. A light romantic thread with a bit of faith are rolled up with a huge adorable dog. I placed this in South Carolina in an imaginary town and island as we teach forensic art every year in Mount Pleasant. Once I have the location, dog, history, forensic aspect, Bible verse theme, and a few characters, I’m ready to start.

Carrie Stuart Parks is an award-winning, internationally known forensic artist. She travels across the US and Canada teaching courses in forensic art to law enforcement professionals including the FBI, Secret Service, and RCMP, and is the largest instructor of forensic art in the world. Her best-selling novels in the mystery/suspense/thriller genre have garnered numerous awards including several Carols and Inspys; the Christy, Golden Scroll, Kudos, Maxwell, and Wright. Her books have finaled in the Daphne du Maurier, Silver Falchion, Selah, and Cascade competitions. As a professional fine artist, she has written and illustrated best-selling art books for North Light Publishers.

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What about you? What makes you want to read the mystery/suspense/thriller Carol Award finalist Relative Silence by Carrie Stuart Parks? Or, if you’ve read it already, what did you love about it?