Dahlonega
Literary Festival
An Annual Celebration of Readers, Writers, and Books
Candace Carter
Candace J. Carter has walked many paths in life. She served in the military, earned a degree in veterinary medicine, and worked for the National Park Service. Much of her professional career was spent with Threatened and Endangered species, including the black-footed ferret, Florida scrub-jay, and four species of sea turtles.
Her stories are drawn from these experiences. Growing up in a rural town, she was often found fishing, hunting, or horseback riding. She shared a love of watching western movies with her father. Her stories reflect small town life and the feeling of family shared by people in rural communities. Thanks to her father, there’s a bit of the Old West in her stories, too.
She was awarded a Carrie McCray Memorial Literary Award from the South Carolina Writers Association for Muddy Waters, the first in the Henry "Whispering" Smith mystery series. She's also received a Royal Palm Literary Award from the Florida Writers Association. Muddy Waters was a finalist for the 2020 Indies Today Awards.
Muddy Waters
Range detective Henry "Whispering" Smith returns to his North Carolina hometown to be best man at his uncle's wedding. After years of tracking livestock rustlers in the desolate Colorado Plateau country, Henry still isn't prepared to face the two things that drove him away -- a pig-headed father he doesn't like and an unfaithful ex-girlfriend he does.
When a close friend is murdered, Henry's plan for a brief visit falls apart. Local police suspect cattle theft gone wrong, but it doesn't add up. When police ignore his suspicions, he's determined to use his own detective skills to hunt down a killer. Struggling with reconciling his past, can Henry follow a trail that leads too close to his heart?
