The Smuggler's Secret | Paperback | Book 5 The Tidewater Chronicles

Where secrets linger in the river breeze, follow the trail of deception…

Step back in time to 1892, when in a picturesque riverfront town, newspaper reporter Jo Felch is celebrating her marriage to Noah Elliott. But the joyous occasion takes a dark turn when Patrick, her best friend's adopted son, goes missing. The mystery deepens as Patrick is found disoriented in the woods, telling tales of a mysterious woman and a barrel that holds secrets.

As Jo grapples with the complexities of her expanding newspaper business, what started as a local mystery entangles her in a web of deception, smuggling, and dark alliances. Unyielding in her pursuit of truth, she uncovers a sinister trade in human lives and illicit narcotics that leads her to the port city of Victoria, British Columbia, where a shocking revelation awaits.

In the present day of this quaint town with a storied past, bookshop owner Olivia Crawford's life takes an unexpected turn when her well-meaning but overbearing mother, Stephanie, arrives from Boston to help plan Olivia’s wedding to Ethan Reed, director of the local historical preservation society.

As Olivia tries to sidestep her mother’s interventions, a seemingly worthless porcelain jar thrusts her into a perilous investigation, unraveling a century-old conspiracy that someone seems desperate to keep buried. The mystery intensifies as Olivia's bookshop is vandalized and her apartment is burglarized. Then her mother goes missing, and Olivia must piece together the puzzle before it’s too late.

"The Smuggler's Secret" is a gripping dual-timeline historical mystery that weaves together the lives of two resilient women separated by time but connected by a town's buried secrets. Join Jo Felch and Olivia Crawford as they navigate treacherous waters to unveil a smuggling ring's tangled web and bring justice in the shadows of a town’s past.

“I had a difficult time putting this book down! I can't recommend it highly enough!”

“Vanessa Lind has a a way with history, making it come alive and bringing you deep into the time period she writes about. The sense of place, the smells and the people, the waterfront..... All of it is so immersive and real feeling. Like you're there.”

“I never thought I would like historical fiction, but these are so well written with so much depth to the main female characters in both timelines that I could not put them down.”

“What a spectacular book. I loved it.”

“Another 5-star read for me. I love a dual time period story when it's done right, where each character in their own story's timeline somehow reaches into the other time period and character story in a meaningful and important way. This book does that over and over again.”

“With each new story I get to delve deeper into Jo and Olivia's world, and I haven't been disappointed yet. This series is in my top 5 of favorites and anyone who loves a good dual time period historical fiction read needs to get their own copy of this book as well as the previous books in the series. I know you won't be disappointed. They're just that good.” 

“This book might be my favorite of this series so far.” 

“I found myself reading well into the night, turning page after page and telling myself, ‘Just a little more!’ I simply couldn't put it down.”

“I love to learn while reading a page turner of a novel like this one, and all of Ms. Lind’s books.”