The Southport Chronicles

Erin Sloane was sixteen when high school senior Andre Villiers was murdered by his friends. They were her friends, too, led by the intense, charismatic Ricky Hell. Five people went into West Cypress Woods the night Andre was murdered. Only three came out. Ativan, alcohol, and distance had dimmed Erin’s memories of that time. But nearly twenty years later, an aging father will bring her home. Now a journalist, she is asked to write a story about the Southport Three and the thrill-kill murder that electrified the country.

Erin Sloane, investigative journalist for Inside Island, a Long Island newspaper, was shot to true crime fame after her reporting on a decades-old case was adapted into a bestselling book. The book also spawned several spin-offs, including a successful podcast called Eerie Island. When Erin’s paper is tipped off to a crime that is strikingly similar to the kidnappings and killing that occurred decades ago, her editor urges Erin to investigate. However, the reporting Erin did for that cold case resulted in post-traumatic stress that she’s only recently gotten under control.