Widow's Salt

Her husband left her a house, a mountain of debts, and one very suspicious shipping ledger.When Mara Bell's pirate husband dies unexpectedly, she expects widowhood to mean mourning, creditors, and perhaps a respectable life far from the sea. Instead, she discovers that the family business is not shipping.It is smuggling.Hidden beneath innocent cargo manifests are coded names, secret routes, stolen goods, and enough evidence to hang half the merchants on the coast. Worse, Mara learns that her late husband's relatives have been running the operation for generations—and they have no intention of letting a newly widowed woman ruin it.But Mara has other plans.With a sharp mind, a talent for deception, and a growing appreciation for just how profitable illegal cargo can be, she begins taking control of the business her husband left behind. Soon she is bargaining with customs officers, outwitting rival smugglers, concealing contraband in respectable warehouses, and discovering that the dead man she married may have kept secrets even from her.Then a dangerous privateer arrives asking questions about her husband's final voyage.Mara realizes someone is hunting for the same secret hidden in the family ledger.To protect her inheritance—and perhaps her own life—she must decide how far she is willing to go into the family business.After all, becoming a smuggler was never part of her plans.Neither was becoming very good at it.