{"product_id":"the-long-quiet-michael-d-ryan-9798272453747","title":"The Long Quiet","description":"\u003cp\u003eRecovering from their harrowing Philadelphia case - \u003ci\u003eThe Final Encore\u003c\/i\u003e - Nick and LuAnn Nova retreat to the Cape for peace. They rent a small seaside cottage near the forgotten town of \u003cb\u003eGreyhaven\u003c\/b\u003e, a place that seems suspended between seasons. But even their first night feels wrong: from across the dunes they hear the faint strains of carnival music, and see flashes of light that shouldn't exist - the remnants of a fairground fire that supposedly destroyed everything twenty years earlier.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe locals don't talk about the \u003cb\u003eGreyhaven Summer Carnival of 2003\u003c\/b\u003e, or the tragedy that followed. When LuAnn befriends bookstore clerk \u003cb\u003eBecky Moorefield\u003c\/b\u003e, she learns that not everyone believes the official story - and that a few people, including a former cop named \u003cb\u003eEmmett Hale\u003c\/b\u003e, might be keeping it alive for reasons darker than nostalgia.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNick uncovers a \u003cb\u003ehidden basement\u003c\/b\u003e in their cottage, along with a rusted \u003cb\u003emetal box\u003c\/b\u003e containing a ledger and a hand-drawn map leading toward the old lighthouse. Against Sheriff \u003cb\u003eJohn Alden's\u003c\/b\u003e warnings, the Novas follow the trail, discovering that the fire wasn't an accident but a cover-up tied to \u003cb\u003esmuggling, trafficking, and political corruption\u003c\/b\u003e stretching up to nearby Gloucester. The barrels once hidden beneath the pier carried more than contraband; they carried evidence of something the town couldn't face.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHaunted by the ghostly lights of the \u003cb\u003e\"phantom carnival\"\u003c\/b\u003e, the Novas trace the clues to \u003cb\u003eMayor Vickers\u003c\/b\u003e, who inherited the power structure that Hale once enforced. When they realize that Hale himself has been planting \"tickets\" around town - mementos from the old carnival, stained and torn - the case becomes personal. The tickets mark witnesses, and Nick and LuAnn are next.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe climax unfolds amid smoke and flame as the pier burns again, the fire echoing the one that began the town's silence two decades earlier. But this time the truth escapes with the flames: the hidden records, the recorded confessions, and the men who thought themselves untouchable.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy dawn, Hale and the mayor are in custody, their network exposed. Beth, the local activist who risked everything to help the Novas, disappears quietly back to her life. Greyhaven begins to wake from its long quiet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNick and LuAnn drive off the Cape without stopping. They spend the night at a \u003cb\u003eHoliday Inn Express\u003c\/b\u003e, of all places - a neutral stop between nightmares - and finally, finally sleep. For once, no shadows follow them, no eyes at the window, just the ordinary hum of a hotel HVAC and the slow return of peace.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGreyhaven won't be the same. And neither will they.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael D. Ryan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798272453747\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/01\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 230\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.69lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.52d","brand":"Michael D. Ryan","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49170884493567,"sku":"9798272453747","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-long-quiet-michael-d-ryan-9798272453747","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}