Lowcountry boil : a novel / by Carl T. Smith.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Sam Larkin is an enigma. A former Merchant Marine and environmental officer in Louisiana, Larkin was unjustly sent to prison by Judge Thornton Hunnycut, who had eyes on the UnitedStates Senate. Released under mysterious circumstances after serving four years, Larkin moved to Covington, South Carolina, to begin a new life painting and teaching school. He has set out on a search for peace. His isolation is shattered when he discovers a conspiracy involving Covington's most respected townspeople. Karen Chaney comes to Covington as an undercover federal agent. She knows drugs are making their way into the country through the sleepy Carolina coast, but she doesn't yet know where or how. Chaney needs to earn her stripes by uncovering the smugglers' secrets, but she risks her career to discover the secrets in Sam Larkin's past. Together they face an entrenched society willing to look the other way when crime pays and a group of high-profile conspirators are ready to kill to make sure it does.