Kathy Herman Not By Chance

Not By Chance

Kathy Herman

Multnomah, August 2006, 382 pp.

ISBN: 1590524907

When Brandon Jones quits his job as regional vice president of Mavis and Stein, a manufacturer of women's clothing, he also loses his fianc e Kelsey who breaks their engagement. He leaves Raleigh and goes to his parents' home in Seaport off the Florida Coast but he doesn't get much sympathy from his father, a very successful lawyer who thinks his son is crazy to have left a job because he didn't find it significant.

Brandon's inner turmoil is reflected in the torment Seaport is experiencing due to an escalating series of racial incidents that leads to seven deaths and rioting. As the police try to find the killers, Brandon takes a job as a camp counselor where he befriends the lonely biracial Caedman Nash. When a hurricane threatens the town most people evacuate but Caedman has gone missing and Brandon is determined to find him.

NOT BY CHANCE is the fourth and last book in the fabulous Seaport saga. The next book talented Kathy Herman writes well be one of the Phantom Hollow series which focuses on Brandon and Kelsey. This book is filled with suspense and the racially motivated crimes with Brandon trying to find himself. Ms. Herman is a brilliant storyteller who readers can always count on for a good yarn.

Harriet Klausner