Below the Surface

When the hurricane hits, the truth will surface.The police ruled the death at Lion's Bridge Marina an accident. Dr. Dahlia Knight knows better. A professor at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, Dahlia has spent her life building a career that is comfortable and secure. But when a tragic incident at the marina raises more questions than answers, she finds herself drawn into an investigation no one else is willing to pursue. And below the surface of a quiet coastal community, something dangerous is being concealed.As Hurricane Eris dances toward Florida's northeast coast, Dahlia joins forces with retired FBI operative Hunter Kensington. Together, they uncover signs of a sophisticated criminal operation hidden in plain sight. One built on secrets, influence, and a network willing to do whatever it takes to keep the truth buried.With the marina shuttered, the storm closing in, and time running out, Dahlia must piece together the truth before the chaos of Eris erases it for good.Gripping, atmospheric, and relentlessly suspenseful, Below the Surface is a Florida coastal thriller where justice is elusive, and survival has a cost.

Anastacia LaCombe grew up on the coast of Maine, where boats, saltwater, and storytelling were part of daily life. Her parents ran a marina on the Sheepscot River, and her father owned the factory that built Lincoln Canoes. This meant she spent much of her childhood on the water, in the water, or helping people around the water. She learned to sail at an early age, much preferring Hobie Cats over monohulls, and spent her youth racing her father's canoes or pumping gas at the river marina. Long before she turned to writing mystery novels, she was navigating Maine's rivers and harbors or hiking the woods in search of the perfect reading spot. With a teacher for a mother, her summer adventures stretched across the state in search of local history, theater, forgotten spaces, and the occasional quest for the world's best hot dog.Anastacia earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Humanities from Florida Atlantic University before completing her Doctorate at Florida State University in 2023. She then spent several years as a high school English teacher, a career that fostered a deep appreciation for sarcasm, critical thinking, and coffee...lots of coffee.Although Maine will always hold a special place in her heart, Anastacia has lived in Florida for decades and truly calls it home. She spent more than ten years near St. Augustine, where much of the inspiration for her fiction was born. Today, she lives in the Orlando area with her husband of twenty-five years and two oversized dogs: Sally, a 100-pound Mastador who features in her first book, and Zeus, a 150-pound Great Dane set to debut in a future release. She also has two adult sons who inspire her to stay curious, and a rotating collection of house plants she is trying very hard not to kill.An avid reader and lifelong beach lover, Anastacia has survived at least five hurricanes, and likely more that have blurred together over her years in the Sunshine State. Those experiences, combined with her maritime upbringing, frequently steer her fiction, where storms are rarely just weather and boats are far more than mere transportation.When she's not writing, you'll likely find her walking the beach, devouring thrillers, admiring flowers, attempting to garden despite overwhelming evidence of a black thumb, or zipping up the coast in her beloved Mini Cooper...Stella (because one must always name them).Her fiction seamlessly combines a love of coastal communities, boating culture, and mystery with the complicated ways people bury secrets. Fortunately for her readers, she is far better at uncovering fictional mysteries than she is at growing tomatoes.