Missing Witness — Craig Parshall

After a nerve shattering encounter with military justice in The Accused, Craig Parshall's third novel, all lawyer Will Chambers wants to do this summer is relax with his wife, Fiona...

A long stay on the North Carolina coast seems perfect. But when Will reluctantly looks into a local inheritance case involving Jonathan Joppa, a down-on-his-luck preacher --

“Piracy charge -- Joppa's ancestor? What...when?”

“Why, for being part of Blackbeard's pirate crew...in the early 1700s...”

Will just wants to rest, but Fiona keeps insisting there's something missing...buried. Soon the two have had a near fatal brush with smugglers -- and together they've unearthed the truth: about a pirate's history, about Jonathan Joppa, and about two remarkable women -- one in the past, and one in the present.