Synopsis

It should have been an otherwise uneventful Sunday morning for Charleston attorney Noah Parks. Perhaps a trip to the beach or a run with his new Australian Shepherd, Austin. But with a cryptic voicemail, everything changes.

A client has vanished, leaving nothing behind as a clue to where he may be. Neither his family, friends, nor neighbors are able to provide help.”

Turning to his friend Emmett Gabriel, Charleston’s newest police detective, Parks can only watch as what started with a simple voicemail takes on a sinister life of its own.

Parks soon finds himself entangled in an affair that spans centuries, going back to the time of Charleston’s birth.

With a focus on learning his client’s fate, Parks will soon find himself facing a mystery that will not only be a test of his wits but leaves him challenged in ways he never imagined.

Facing down twists, turns, betrayals, and traditions of honor, will he break The Code?

Amazon * Rivers Turn Press

Excerpt

He looked into my eyes with something that could only be described as desperation. Suddenly, his look of despair faded as if a veil was lifted from his face. He stopped speaking and stood straight. His hands stopped moving, and he looked at each of them, turning them over, back to palm, as he examined them. He raised his head back to my eyes. As he looked at me, in an instant, the fearful look drained from his face, replacing it, a blank, expressionless gaze took hold of his features. He moved his eyes to my hand on his bicep, then shifted his gaze back to my face. He slowly twisted his arm from my slight grasp. He spoke slowly and methodically.

“No, Cash didn’t call. No one called. There was nothing from Cash.”

“But you just said…”

“I didn’t say anything. Nothing,” he said as he turned and faced the rear of the lot.

Interview with Sean

Thanks for the interview, Sean! Your book, THE CODE, sounds absolutely awesome. Can you tell us the story behind that intriguing title?

Sean: The title comes from a best selling publication from way back in 1838. The Code, the Noah Parks work, as with my prior books, is a murder mystery, but the foundation for the reason behind the murders goes back to the ideas in the 1838 book. I came across the 1838 book in some reading I was doing after The Solicitor, my second book, was released, and that started the basis for the plot that would become my third book.

Can you tell us a little about your main characters?

Sean: There are three main characters in The Code that are consistent throughout all of my mysteries.

Noah Parks – he is a Charleston, South Carolina attorney who has been practicing law for several years during the period of the events in The Code. An early morning phone call from a relative of one of his clients that sets in motion the story that is The Code. Noah doesn’t set out to be a detective and I would say he does not consider himself a detective, but is always curious to get to the bottom of a mystery.

Austin – he is Noah’s Australian Shepherd. In The Code, he was just adopted and has been living with Noah for about six months. He was a mainstay in my prior two books, and as I was researching The Code, I found some intriguing historical ties to canines, so it was logical to work those into the plot with Austin. As well, every character has a back story, and The Code starts Austin’s.

Emmett Gabriel – or Gabriel as he is known, is a Charleston Police officer. He has just been made a detective, and the murders in The Code are his first major cases. Gabriel and Noah, even though they grew up in Charleston, had never met prior to being randomly assigned as roommates at The University of South Carolina. They became fast friends and remain so.

Where is your book set and why did you choose that particular location?

Sean: The Code, like all of my books, is set primarily in Charleston, South Carolina. I’ve lived in the area for most of my life and love the city. It was logical for me to use it as the setting for my books. Unlike my first two books, The Trust and The Solicitor, which have scenes in other parts of the South Carolina coast, The Code occurs entirely in the Holy City as Charleston is known.

What part would you say was the most exciting to write?

Sean: It is tough for me to isolate any one part of the book as y favorite, though there are several scenes with Austin that I really enjoyed, Noah’s scenes, as the book is in first person, are always fun to create as well. I enjoyed the final scenes with Noah that began to close the book. However, the most two enjoyable things about the writing process for The Code were the research that allowed me to begin to craft the plot and, since The Code is a prequel, it was tremendously enjoyable seeing the character’s back story develop.

What’s next for you?

Sean: I became fascinated with the research behind The Code. Being able to have the historical underpinning and foundation that creates a mystery within a mystery was something that I really enjoyed. As a result, I have another idea I am researching that will be the next Noah Parks book. No title as of yet, but it will follow next in time after The Code.

About the Author

Sean Keefer is the award-winning author of three legal thrillers, The Trust, The Solicitor, and The Code, all set in and around coastal South Carolina.

He is also the author of Mediation in the Family Courts of South Carolina, a legal treatise on family law mediation.

He lives and writes in Charleston, South Carolina.

In addition to his writing, Sean is a recording and performing guitarist/singer/songwriter of Americana and Alt-Country music. Watch him sing Carolina Sunset which was inspired by his latest book, The Code. Listen here!

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