Native South Carolinian Caroline Cleveland combines her lifelong passion for storytelling with thirty years of experience practicing law for her upcoming debut novel, When Cicadas Cry, which Union Square & Co. will publish on May 7, 2024 and now available for pre-order.
In When Cicadas Cry, Zach Stander, a young lawyer with a checkered past, gets a phone call that will change his life. It’s Elijah Jenkins, an older Black man he met while giving a one-day free legal clinic in rural Colleton County. A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross at the New Hope Baptist Church out on Cicada Road. Eli’s grandson Samuel was arrested after authorities found him kneeling over her body, covered in blood. Eli insists his grandson is innocent and begs Zach to take on his defense. The low country is fraught with racial tension, the victim’s family has deep roots in the community, and the local solicitor is powerful and influential. Zach’s life is already in shambles from his past mistakes, and he has reservations about taking on such high odds. But when Addie Stone, a private investigator—and Zach’s fiancée—convinces him that saving young Sam might be the only path to redemption, Zach gathers his courage.
At the same time, Addie investigates a local cold case—two young women were murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro. The killer left no trace, and thirty-four years later, their deaths are still unsolved. As Addie sifts through the evidence, she wonders if there might be a connection to the present-day murder. So many long-buried secrets…would someone kill again to keep them?
When Cicadas Cry is a dazzling, immersive, and surprising novel that’s ideal for fans of thrillers such as Karin Slaughter’s Pretty Girls and Stacy Willingham’s A Flicker in the Dark, as well as for true crime aficionados fascinated by high profile cases such as the Murdaugh murder trial (which was held in Walterboro, SC).
Caroline Cleveland shares the following exclusively with The Nerd Daily: “With When Cicadas Cry, I wanted to tell a story full of unexpected twists, old secrets exhumed, and high stakes that readers could feel looming. I also wanted to capture the complexity of the South—the breathtaking beauty of grand oaks and lush barrier islands, juxtaposed against our harsh history, and characters caught between their strong Southern values and the demons they’re chasing (or running from). It was too much to hope that any book cover could capture all that. I have never been so delighted to be wrong.”
About The Author
Caroline Cleveland is a labor and employment lawyer. A native South Carolinian, Caroline grew up in the Lowcountry and earned her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1991. Visit her website at www.carolineclevelandauthor.com
