DEAD BELOW DECK by Jan Gangsei - Spotlight

 

When an heiress disappears from her superyacht and security footage shows her getting pushed, the main suspect has to prove her innocence in Jan Gansei's new novel, DEAD BELOW DECK (HarperCollins). 

It was supposed to be the best-ever girls’ trip: five days, four friends, one luxury yacht, no parents. But on the final night, as the yacht cruised the deep and dark waters between Florida and Grand Cayman, eighteen-year-old heiress Giselle vanished. She’s nowhere to be found the next morning even after a frantic search, until security footage surfaces . . . showing Maggie pushing her overboard.

But Maggie has no memory of what happened. All she knows is that she woke up with a throbbing headache, thousands of dollars in cash in her safe, a passport that isn’t hers, and Giselle’s diary. And while Maggie had her own reasons to want Giselle dead, so did everyone else on board: jealous Viv, calculating Emi, even some members of the staff.

What really went down on the top deck that night? Maggie will have to work her way backward to uncover the secrets that everyone—even Giselle—kept below deck or she’s dead in the water.

Jan Gangsei crafts a compulsively readable tale of privilege, family, and identity wrapped in a wholly original mystery that will keep readers on the edges of their seats until the final twist.

Jan Gangsei has been making up stories as long she can remember—thanks to a childhood in rural Vermont, where she had to invent her own entertainment (when she wasn’t busy putting on backyard shows with her best friend or trying to get out of stacking wood). While her early attempts at book-writing might not have gained publication, Jan was already pondering the Big Questions from a young age (she’s still waiting for someone to explain the meaning of Wednesday)…

After graduating from the University of Vermont with degrees in Political Science and English, Jan began her career as a journalist and photographer. From there, she went on to work for a beachside resort in Key West and a start-up dot.com outside Washington, DC. Her travels then took her to NYC, Barbados, northern Virginia, Vermont, and back to northern Virginia, where she currently lives with her family.

Through it all, one thing stayed constant: she never stopped making up stories (or asking “why?”).

Now, Jan writes full-time with her rescue pup Willie curled at her side. Her books have been featured on several award and reading lists, but nothing makebs Jan happier than hearing from a young person who discovered a love of reading through one of her books. For that, Jan considers herself the luckiest person on earth.