Additional Information:

Format: 6 x 9 trade
Release Date: December 8, 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-57869-032-9
Hardcover ISBN: 9781578691524
LCCN: 2020902121
eBook: 978-1-57869-033-6
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Here.

SYNOPSIS

Set in a sequestered part of Lake Champlain known as the Inland Sea, this book is about the people and families who have spent their lives there. Paul Brearley, part owner of Osprey Island, is a handsome, athletic, successful young minister with a beautiful wife and son. In 1990, he suddenly disappears, presumed drowned. Eighteen years later, in 2008, his body, shot dead, is found nearby propped up in a campground lean-to, as if resting from a long walk.

The detective in charge, Fred Davis, is 53, divorced, and just two years from retirement. He knows the lake as well as anyone and dives in to solving Paul’s murder and disappearance. What was Paul doing for 18 years? Who shot him? As the investigation develops, Fred finds himself unraveling a web of small events that lead him back in time to a single moment, a boating accident in 1972. This is where our story begins. 

ADVANCE PRAISE

“I love this book. Religion, in all its bizarre, ominous, American permutations, pulses in this mystery like the springs that feed into a lake.”

—Jon M. Sweeney, author of The Pope Who Quit, optioned by HBO

_______________________

“Part police procedural and part mystery, The Inland Sea deftly weaves together past and present, drawing us in to the lives of men at home on the waterways of Lake Champlain. As Detective Fred Davis searches for clues to a murder victim’s secret past, he is forced to confront his own sense of loss and loneliness. Sam Clark's debut novel tells the tantalizing tale of men yearning for authentic lives, defying the expectations of family and a community defined by the pull of the Inland Sea.”

—Susan Ritz, author of A Dream to Die For

_______________________

“A novel crafted with intricate straight lines and curves, like a boat. A mystery that’s also about lake lore, boats, engines, fishing — and about men, what they talk about and what they don’t, about vanishing acts, New England religion, and the unpredictable consequences of revenge. Take a ride with Sam Clark’s sure hand guiding you through time and space and detection in the environs of Lake Champlain!”

—Dick Cluster, author of Return to Sender and other novels in the Alex Glauberman mystery series

_______________________

“Evidence of intelligence and emotional complexity is everywhere in the characters Sam Clark has created for his unusually constructed and sophisticated mystery, The Inland Sea.  An assortment of rebuilt boats skim across a lake bordered by forest and farm, carrying readers between islands, slamming waves, treacherous rocks, and the unpredictable currents of human capability. Designed with a craftsperson’s care and a philosopher’s depth, The Inland Sea covers a lot of territory.”

—Judith Chalmer, author of two books of poetry, Out of History’s Junk Jar and Minnow

 _______________________

“Like his Detective Fred Davis, Sam Clark likes to take his time. Both the investigator and the author are after the details, whether of boats, intricate waterways, the varieties of Vietnamese cuisine, or above all the people they encounter in the course of the investigation. Together, through Davis’s meticulous dedication and Clark’s clear, precise prose, they unpack the case of a strange killing in the intriguing landscape of the Inland Sea.”

—Larry Duberstein, author of Five Bullets , The Handsome Sailor, and other novels and story collections

IN THE NEWS

The Rutland Herald/Times Argus, December 19, 2020, A roiling 'Inland Sea' kicks up mayhem by Jim Higgins. Read the article here.

NewPages Blog, December 4, 2020, The Inland Sea Covers a Lot of Territory, review by Judith Chalmer. Read here.

Burlington Free Press, December 1, 2020, Big names attached to new Vermont books by Brent Hallenback. Read the article here.

WCAX TV, interview aired December 17, 2020. Watch here.

Seven Days VT, December 23, 2020, Page 32 Short Takes on 10 Vermont Books. Read here.

Review by Laura Stevenson, February 2, 2021. Read here.

WDEV Radio Interview, February 5, 2021. Listen to the interview here.

Worthen Library Interview & Discussion, February 9, 2021. Watch below.

MEET SAM

Sam Clark is a builder, designer, and cabinetmaker based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Plainfield, Vermont. He has written several books on design and building, including The Motion-Minded Kitchen, and The Independent Builder. This is his first mystery. Learn more about Sam at his website, samclarkdesign.com.