Shallow Waters – Kay Denning

Join us for a reading from Native Oregonian Kay Jennings, in which she introduces a thrilling new mystery series set alongside Oregon’s rugged Pacific coast.

A sleepy Oregon coastal village with secrets as dark as its January storms. A new police chief with his own shadowy past.

The last thing Port Stirling Chief of Police Matt Horning needed on day one of his new job was for the mayor’s daughter to turn up dead in a mysterious tunnel on the Oregon beach. Horning, escaping professional troubles in Texas, accepts the vacant job in Port Stirling, Oregon, looking for a fresh start in what he thought would be a peaceful coastal town. Nothing much ever happens here…or does it?

With only a ragtag county crime team to assist him, Horning must match wits with a diabolical killer, the likes of which this quiet village has never seen. An aggressive district attorney, who doesn’t fancy relinquishing the limelight to the new chief, makes his job even more difficult.

For one week in wild and stormy January, Horning calls on all of his detective skills to investigate the unlikely murder. As soon as he starts asking questions, Port Stirling begins to unveil its dark underbelly amid stunning revelations.

From the 300-foot bluffs ringing the white-sand pristine beach, to the posh golf resort at odds with the blue-collar town, Horning and his new team work at break-neck speed to uncover the facts. But will they find the killer before he – or she – strikes again? Will a psychopath ruin Matt Horning’s new life before he can even start it?

KAY JENNINGS was born in the southwest corner of Oregon in a small town not unlike her fictional Port Stirling, and she now lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, Steve, a technology entrepreneur.

Jennings has enjoyed a long career in corporate communications in such varied industries as tourism, healthcare, and sports. Since 2000, she has owned Paris Communications, a marketing, PR, and publishing firm. She is particularly proud of her writing and coaching role at BleacherReport.com, a sports website, where her focus was college and NFL football.

Like many Oregonians, Jennings is passionate about gardening, and earned Master Gardener status. A true plant nerd, she is obsessively zealous about growing vegetables, although with 39 mostly David Austin roses, one could also make the case that she is a tiny bit obsessed with roses, too.

She loves the outdoors, particularly in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, and is happiest hiking, playing golf, and enjoying the beaches, rivers, and lakes. A determined, avid traveler since her teens, Jennings has visited dozens of countries around the world.