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Gulf Stream Fiction

Pub date August 29, 2025

ISBN 978-1967133000

Pages 285

Price $4.99 (USD) Kindle edition

Author interview

Keene launches her Maverick Key series with a tense, emotionally layered story of grief, romance, and mystery beneath the waves of coastal Florida. Maddie Carter arrives in Maverick Key raw with grief, hoping the seaside cottage her late brother left behind will offer peace. Nathan died diving in Carter’s Drop, a submerged cave system he discovered, and Maddie’s not convinced it was an accident. When she meets Scott Rickter, a stoic, widowed ex-SEAL leading the current dive expedition, she is drawn in, but so is Wes Harrington, a viral thrill-seeker with a camera crew and big theories about lost treasure. Tensions rise as a storm barrels toward the island and the dive team inches closer to something someone doesn’t want found.

Keene alternates between Maddie and Scott, gradually mapping their emotional terrain. He’s haunted by a past tragedy; she’s trying to outrun hers.  As their relationship grows, the novel weaves in the tactile realities of cave diving, such as rebreathers, dive protocols, and the silent pressure of the deep. The pacing is measured and the supporting cast solid, including a loyal dog, a nosy best friend, and an innkeeper who knows more than she lets on. The tone remains intimate and contemplative, even as the stakes widen. Keene keeps one foot in realism and the other in myth. The final pages suggest something deeper in Carter’s Drop than coral and darkness, something ancient. One part slow-burn romance, one part atmospheric thriller; this is a must-read.

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