The sold-out event held at Nineteen Restaurant featured presentations, Q&A, and book signings by Dean and Leah Weiss, Donna Everhart, J.G. Hetherton, Heather Bell Adams, and Nina de Gramont.

“The camaraderie and networking with such a great group of authors was amazing, as were the many conversations with the wonderful readers who we got the opportunity to visit with,” Dean said.

During his presentation, Dean discussed the genesis behind writing OBX, his action-packed murder/mystery novel set in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and the inspiration behind the strong female lead character Michael Francis. The State Bureau of Investigation agent and mother of three navigates dirty politicians, crooked cops, attempts on her life, crumbling marriage, unexpected romance, and a hurricane on her way to uncovering a serial killer who’s been operating in the shadows for years.

This is the first in a series of books featuring Michael Francis, one of the author’s complex characters who discover their true, authentic selves when faced with unforeseen challenges. Francis is set to appear in the follow-up sequel The Triangle coming out in Summer 2023.

OBX (ISBN: 979-8-218-00862-8) is available at bookstores and retailers like Quarter Moon Books as well as online at Amazon.com.

The other authors offered various takes on the process of writing as well as details on their backgrounds and their books:

Heather Bell Adams is the author of two novels, Maranatha Road and The Good Luck Stone. Maranatha Road won the gold medal for the Southeast region in the Independent Publisher Book Awards and was selected for Deep South Magazine’s Fall/Winter Reading List. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize and O. Henry Award, Heather has won the Doris Betts Fiction Prize, Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Award, Carrie McCray Literary Award, and James Still Fiction Prize.

Nina de Gramont (also known as Marina Gessner) lives in coastal North Carolina with her husband, the writer David Gessner. She’s the author of the acclaimed Meet Me at the River, Every Little Thing in the World, Gossip of the Starlings, The Last September, as well as The Distance from Me to You, which has recently been optioned for a movie. Her latest novel is The Christie Affair.

J.G. Hetherton is the Audible bestselling author of Last Girl Gone, a Sun-Sentinel Top Debut Mystery of 2018, and What Lies Beneath, nominated for the 2023 Beltie Prize for Best Mystery.

Donna Everhart is the USA Today bestselling author of Southern fiction with authenticity and grit, including the Southeastern Library Association Award-winning The Road to Bittersweet. Her fifth novel, The Saints of Swallow Hill, was released in February 2022.

Leah Weiss is a southern writer living in Virginia. Her debut novel If The Creek Don’t Rise was released in 2017 and selected as a Library Reads, Indie Next and SIBA Okra Pick. It was honored as a 2018 finalist for the Library of Virginia’s Literary Fiction and People’s Choice Awards. Her second novel, All The Little Hopes was released in 2021 and was a Library Reads, BAM’s December 2021 book club choice, and named a Best Book for Fall 2021 by Country Living Magazine. It was a 2022 finalist for the Library of Virginia’s People’s Choice Award.

Dean’s novel OBX (ISBN: 979-8-218-00862-8) is set in the popular beach destination of North Carolina’s Outer Banks and introduces readers to NC State Bureau of Investigation Agent Michael Francis as she investigates the murder of an influential politician’s staffer, right in the middle of a campaign. The struggling mother of three finds herself in a gathering storm of cover-ups, crooked cops, drug trafficking, and attempts on her life while she deals with a difficult separation from her police detective husband. In the midst of unexpected and confusing romantic overtures from a prime suspect, an approaching hurricane threatens to sabotage her investigation as Michael chases down a serial killer who’s been operating in the shadows for years, facing human threats more dangerous than mother nature herself in a climactic ending with an unexpected twist.

For more information on David Dean, visit www.daviddeanwriter.com.