Nags Head Affair: A Novel by T.L. Peters

A young man from Cleveland, OH falls in love with Nags Head, NC

Jimmy Spiegel has a goal—to retire from his law career, the sooner the better. As good fortune would have it, he has inherited almost a half-million dollars, and now can live out his dream. He has a strong sensory recall about a vacation to Nags Head, NC, of floating on his back in warm salty ocean water near white beaches. Ah, this is it, the life he’s been waiting for. Nags Head, NC is expensive, but he can buy a small place a mile from the ocean.

Jimmy’s small but nicely furnished dream house has everything he wants, and after buying it has enough left to live on for the rest of his life, assuming he is a careful spender. That means no extras, like wine, women, song. But trouble finds Jimmy. At a gas station, he meets a lovely blond young woman with a charming accent he assumes is French. Jimmy is a plain fellow who, in the interests of staying away from the dangers of money-consuming females, makes no effort to improve his looks.

Nags Head lesson: Beware of French accents on girls short of cash

The French charmer is short a few dollars of what she owes for gas, so Jimmy pays the difference. She hugs him in gratitude. He goes home and after a modest meal, checks his bank balance on his laptop. Woe betide him; the sweet French accent belongs to a charming thief who has stolen his credit card—his only credit card—and has already begun charging.

After cancelling his credit card and changing his bank password, Jimmy decides on a swim. At the beach, he spots a cute young surfer—female, naturally—coming in on one of the glorious waves that surfers so love. And he realizes it’s the chick who stole his credit card.

The Nags Head Mafia? I don’t think so, says Jimmy

The cute young thief, who calls herself Yvette, claims she’s in danger from the Mafia, but Jimmy, bright young lawyer, disbelieves this story. Later, though, he finds himself followed by two men in a BMW. Whatever they are, Mafia or angry locals, they appear to want Jimmy’s hide. Or his car and money, at the very least.

When his small Sunfire gets stuck in the sand, Jimmy and Yvette abandon it and try to escape on foot, to no avail. Much of the rest of the story follows Jimmy and Yvette on a chase throughout the Nags Head area, through soft sand, hard sand, water, creeks, stands of trees. At one point, the chase takes place on wave runners–individual watercraft.

Hand-to-hand full-body combat

Later, the sweet and delicate young woman proves to be far from that, when she engages in hand-to-hand and full-body combat with seemingly stronger men, as Jimmy watches. The story ends nicely with the baddies losing out, the goodies coming in on top. In the midst of all the situations Peters creates for his characters, he gives readers a good sense of what that area is like. He—Peters—seems to very much like the Outer Banks, as he has written three novels set there.

An entertaining if highly improbable story with loads of action

Peters doesn’t take his characters, his plot, or himself too seriously. These novels are a good break from the vividly described horror and viciousness of so much modern mystery writing. That makes these novels perfect for reading on a beach, in a hammock, or a creaking porch swing.

For fun—and lots of action on land and sea—consider spending a couple of hours with Peters at Nags Head, NC