Mary Ellis – Romancing the Research – Part 1 of 1

Shannon here: Mary Ellis shares her recent research trip to Sapelo Island for her latest Mystery, Island of Last Resorts. Comment or answer the question at the end of the post to enter the drawing for a copy of  book one in the series, Hiding in Plain Sight. U.S. only. Deadline: February 8th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Mary:

As part of my research for Island of Last Resorts, I visited Sapelo Island, off the coast of Georgia. Sapelo Island contains the community of Hog Hammock, which is the last known Gullah community in America. Many of the full-time inhabitants (estimated at 47) of the Hog Hammock Community are African Americans known as Gullah-Geechees, descendants of enslaved West African people brought to the island in the 1700s and 1800s to work on island plantations. Hog Hammock contains homes, a general store, bar, public library, and a few small businesses including vacation rentals, along with two active churches: St. Luke Baptist Church, founded in 1885, and First African Baptist Church, established in 1866.

The residents must bring all supplies from the mainland or purchase them at the one small store. The children of Hog Hammock take the ferry to the mainland and then a bus to school, since the island school closed in 1978. Hog Hammock is also home to the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society, Inc. (SICARS), a non-profit organization to increase awareness of Sapelo’s two-hundred-year-old African community. I was lucky during my trip to Sapelo Island to have Yvonne Grovner as my tour guide, whose husband is a direct descendant of the Gullah-Geechees.

About Mary: Mary Ellis is a USA Today bestselling author who’s written twenty-five novels including Amish fiction, historical romance, and romantic

Giveaway

suspense. Her first suspense, Midnight on the Mississippi, was a finalist for the RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Award and a finalist for the Daphne du Maurier Award. Sunset in Old Savannah was nominated for a Bookseller’s Best Award and the Daphne du Maurier Award for 2017. Her latest books are Hiding in Plain Sight and Sweet Taste of Revenge, and Island of Last Resorts from the Marked for Retribution series from Severn House. She also wrote a novella, Nothing Tastes So Sweet, in The Amish Sweet Shop anthology from Kensington. She lives in Ohio. Learn more & connect:          Mary’s Website           Mary’s Facebook

About the book – Island of Last Resorts: Kate Weller’s boss, Nate Price, has some exciting news: Julian Frazier, a friend of one of his PI agency’s wealthy clients, has invited the Nate Price Investigations team and their partners on a trip of a lifetime to his home on Elysian Island, an exclusive retreat off the Georgian coast. But there’s a catch. Frazier has written his own murder mystery script, and the PIs must work out whodunnit. As they’re about to discover, though, the murder Frazier wants them to solve is a real cold case, and there’s a killer twist that isn’t in the script . . . Unable to reach the island and her coworkers, Kate is sure that someone wants her to stay away. Can she reach Elysian Island and stop a savage killer before a deadly game reaches its conclusion?

Can’t wait for the drawing or want the whole series? Get your copy now!

Purchase Island of Last Resorts here:      Island of Last Resorts – Amazon

Question for Readers: What island do you enjoy visiting or dream of visiting?

Come back Feb 4th for Katy Lee!