Jon StojanCharlotte Hudson is excited to announce the upcoming release of the fifth novel in her ‘scuba mystery’ series, titled Shades of Remorse. Set to release in early November 2024, the new installment will follow Bev Henderson as she uncovers a decades-old cold case, weaving together the waning tragedies of the women she encounters along the way.
Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Hudson has written over twenty works since she began her career as an author, amassing a die-hard cult following along the way. Author of bestsellers such as Small Town Quilting Blues and Small Town Quilting Treasures, Charlie serves her tight-knit audience with novels that are a unique blend of sly humor, empowering characterization, and captivating, suspenseful, airtight mysteries.
Highly awaited by her beloved fans, Shades of Remorse utilizes a three-point perspective to let readers into the complex web of despair and regret that spans the multiple threads of the novel.
After much anticipation, Bev Henderson returns to the familiarly dazzling waters of Verde Key. When a local’s fishing trip hauls in the skeletal remains of a man who’s been dead for over thirty years, all eyes turn to Bev to solve her first cold case. Once the body is identified, links to the dead man emerge as Bev weaves thin threads together to develop likely scenarios as to who murdered him and why. With no useful forensics evidence, will this be the one time in Bev’s career she can’t solve a case?
Shades of Remorse revolves around a central theme of, namely, remorse. The novel follows the broken families left in the aftermath of women who wish they had done more and women who wish they had done less. As they interconnect and entangle themselves with each other, the novel is a study of how people can find solace and understanding through the bonds that shades of remorse make with each other.
Charlie’s entire bibliography has always placed a subtle emphasis on her resilient female characters. Without casting a glaring spotlight on attempting to prove their strength and capacities, Charlie’s novels presuppose her characters’ inherent value. “In my books, whatever my female characters come up against, they always figure their way out. It’s not about answering the question of ‘whether women can,’ it’s about knowing we already do,” Charlie explains, demonstrating that her readers’ potential to reach their dreams was always within them.
As an inadvertent pioneer since her military career from the 1970s to the 1990s, Charlie’s authorial legacy has always centered on themes of strength and womanhood. But, what makes her work stand out is its ability to get readers’ minds buzzing as they piece together clues along with Bev and her partners. With every installment in her Shades series, Charlie demonstrates her perfect method to write a murder.
A forever-satisfying ending to a mystery does not need sensationalist violence to shock readers into attendance. “I don’t chase trends. I write stories,” Charlie says, describing the elegance of the plot devices she uses to get to conclusions that beautifully tie themselves in a bow. Whether the book’s central question is how the mystery was executed or who executed it, the Shades series never fails to deliver thought-provoking puzzles to fans of Sue Grafton, John D. MacDonald, or Columbo.
“If you like a good mystery and a good read, you need to get to know this author,” a reviewer states. With four other novels in the series, readers need not worry about waiting long for new material. Her fans recommend beginning the series with Shades of Truth to dive head-first into the vivid world Charlie created, featuring scuba diving, murder, and a thrilling investigation. Charlie Hudson looks forward to hearing her readers’ theories as they sleuth along Verde Keys when Shades of Remorse hits bookshelves this November.