Marvin Levine
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Lowcountry Author
New release - The Ghosts of Wellington Manor
Now available on Amazon in print, ebook, and Kindle Unlimited
Evil took root in Wellington Manor generations ago. Now, a stranger’s arrival will stir the dead — and expose the living.
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When Denise accepts an invitation to her new boyfriend’s family’s annual pre-Christmas dinner in their South Carolina ancestral plantation home, she has no idea the home’s spectral inhabitants will awaken — and fixate on her. What begins as a holiday gathering soon unravels into chaos as the family’s fractured dynamics come to light.
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The drama follows the family to Brookgreen Gardens’ dazzling holiday light show — and to a murder that transforms dysfunction into full-blown horror. Caught in the aftermath, Denise becomes a key figure in the investigation. But she’s not alone. The ghosts who haunt Wellington Manor have been waiting for this reckoning — and hold the secrets needed to uncover the truth.
Behind the scenes of The Ghosts of Wellington Manor
After finishing The Lost Fleet, I knew I wanted to return to the themes of a murder mystery and a wealthy, powerful but highly dysfunctional family. In 2024 I had the opportunity to do a book club meeting with the folks from the Litchfield Plantation subdivision. I was so enamored with the home and its history, I decided to use a place like that for the setting of the next book. Like the Litchfield Plantation, Wellington Manor is a former rice plantation set on the Waccamaw River, this time just south of Pawleys Island.
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When choosing the family, I wanted to exhibit a good deal of diversity, not so different than many other real-life families – this one maybe a little more so. I embraced the idea of my protagonist, Denise, a young Black law student, as the new girlfriend of the Wellington’s younger son Will. Throw into that mix a powerful corrupt patriarch, a no-nonsense dominant matriarch, a gay lawyer older daughter, a redneck trash older son, and a Yankee son-in-law and you have the making of some real volatility. The fact that Denise is the county sheriff’s daughter (my recurring sheriff Leroy Keating), hidden from the family at first, creates great tension in the family dynamics.
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Since the book is coming out in the fall (as will all my future books) I wanted this one to have a Christmas setting. This then tied into bringing Brookgreen Gardens’ Nights of a Thousand Candles light show into the story. Spectacular in its own right, I tried to keep the details as close to the real event as possible. Readers familiar with the show will identify with many of the descriptions, as well as a few places where I varied. What the show doesn’t have (thankfully) is a murder right in the middle of it. But in the book, somebody is going down.
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One of my favorite scenes in the book is the dinner that devolves into chaos. I got the inspiration for this scene from the Netflix series The Perfect Couple. In that particular dinner scene, secrets and accusations are tossed around like hand grenades. I tried to match the intensity of it in my story.
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And then there are the ghosts. Two former slaves with their own story to (eventually) tell. I started with no ghosts, just a straight murder mystery. Then I added the ghosts to give the novel an added angle. But somehow the ghosts worked their way deeper into the plot. By the time I was halfway through writing, the ghosts deserved to be in the title as well as part of the central plot. It’s my first venture into magical realism since Clairvoyance Rain and I embraced it wholeheartedly. There’s a great legacy of ghosts and haunted houses throughout the Lowcountry. Here’s one more.
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More than anything else, I want my writing to connect with the reader on an emotional level. I want you to feel the joy, the fear, the anxiety, the anger, the astonishment, and the sorrow as they unfold in a suspenseful thrilling plot. I sincerely hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
New Release - 2/14/25
The Lost Fleet
Now available on Amazon in print, ebook, and Kindle Unlimited
Hidden off the South Carolina coast for over three hundred years, a missing ship from a lost Spanish treasure fleet has been discovered by an unlikely source. But fishing boat captain Jack Abromski’s lucky find is short-lived. Now, Emmy Sweeney, Jack’s determined fiancée, takes it upon herself to seek justice through her own investigation and soon finds herself spiraling down a dangerous rabbit-hole full of trouble.
Tracking down the clues of Jack’s discovery and fate brings Emmy face to face with a savage cartel, determined to grab the gold for themselves. She’ll need the help of friends, family, law enforcement, and a whole lot of luck to survive an ordeal beyond her worst nightmare.
Behind the scene of The Lost Fleet
I began the concept for The Lost Fleet in the fall of 2023. Coming off the drug theme of Stilton Pine, I had begun a new novel with another central drug theme but backed off after some initial feedback. I wanted to have a suspense theme with some kind of contraband and settled on shipwrecked treasure. The research I did on the 1715 Treasure Fleet was amazing, and when I saw that three ships from the fleet were never found, it was BINGO, let's find one of them off the coast of Georgetown, South Carolina.
Setting the novel in and around Georgetown was a special treat for me. The town has so much character and history. Including nearby DeBordieu, the Hobcaw Barony, and McClellanville added extra geographical depth to the story. That and, of course, the adventure out at sea.
Even though I love the ocean so much, my knowledge of boats, Coast Guard rescues, and scuba diving was limited. I owe a great deal of thanks to my nephew John Knight for passing along his extensive knowledge of boating and to the contacts I made at the USCG who allowed me an onsite visit to the Georgetown Coast Guard Station, conveniently located right next to the Georgetown Landing Marina, which plays a key role in the story.
The Lost Fleet is a bit different subgenre than some of my previous books. It is an action suspense thriller with clear protagonists and antagonists. Although it’s not a who-done-it mystery, it’s an edge of your seat survival thriller of an adventurist young woman who gets into a whole lot more trouble than she bargained for. I hope you enjoy The Lost Fleet. I sure enjoyed writing it.
BOOK CLUBS
Ever wonder where the author came up with a particular plot twist or how they decided on a certain character? Why did they choose the setting they did and why did they pick that character to be the killer?
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Book clubs are a great way for you and your friends to personally to meet the author. They are fun for both the author and the readers. If you are in a book club and would like to arrange a meeting with me, I would be happy to share my insights on any of my novels. If you are local to the South Carolina coast I can join your club in person and if you are not in the area, I would be happy to participate in a Zoom meeting.
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Just call me at 312-489-0138 or
email me at mr20.levine@yahoo.com and we can let your next book club meeting be a personal one on one with the author.
New Release - 3/4/24
Stilton Pine
Available on Amazon Print, ebook, and kindle unlimited
In a place where trees keep secrets, evil takes root.
Deep in the South Carolina Lowcountry’s dense pine forests, trouble lurks at the Stilton Pine lumber mill. Corey Matthews has just discovered a mangled body at his workstation and fears the worst when his best friend, Donnie Johnston is missing. Has the methamphetamine drug ring also been busted?
An outbreak of meth in the mill has Corey and many of his fellow union coworkers hooked on its cheap, easy high. The mill owners along with the town’s police chief are intent on driving out the scourge. But Donnie’s estranged wife, Deputy Valerie Johnston, has her own mission in mind.
Stilton Pine sizzles with rage, jealousy, fear, and addiction as the normally peaceful town of St. Michael descends into chaos amidst the unleashed turmoil. Who is responsible for the death of one of their leading citizens, and will they be held to justice? Who can be trusted, and who is being framed? It’s a race against time as a cross-team of law enforcement pool their resources in a desperate search for the source of the drugs and the perpetrators behind the brutal murder.
About Stilton Pine
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In keeping with my recent genre trend, Stilton Pine is murder mystery / suspense thriller set in the South Carolina low country. For this book, however, I took several new angles which were not present in the last two novels.
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First is the setting. The town of St. Michael and the Stilton Pine Lumber company are purely fictional. I placed them on the western edge of the Francis Marion National Forest. St. Michael is probably closest to the town of Huger on the map. But the draw to the area is the National Forest. When I had the opportunity to drive through that part of the forest last year, I was struck by the denseness of the woods. For miles long stretches along Highway 41 the forest seemed almost to swallow you up, turning a bright sunny day to a dusk like gloom. Although the first part of the story stays in the town and the mill, the ending moves to these woods where I hope to capture their mystique.
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The second new feature of Stilton Pine was a kind of nod to my career in manufacturing. Much of the drama revolves around the tension between the union employees and the mill management. I saw 38 years of this in the metals and printing industries from the management perspective. Corey Matthews is the kind of quintessential blue-collar worker I had had the privilege of working with those many years. And although I have seen some questionable managers and management practices over time, no one in my experience was ever as bad as Kirk Stilton.
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The workstation where Corey and Donnie work is a giant Debark mill. I had the opportunity to see one in action at a paper mill in Quebec many years ago. It is a huge, deafening machine that peels the bark off the logs as they tumble through. The idea of having a body go through that equipment added an extra layer of shock value to Chapter One.
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Lastly, my favorite character in the book is Valerie Johnston. Her beauty belies her toughness. Although she can come across as self-centered, it is her call to duty and justice which stands out the most. That and the insatiable revenge.
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Hope you enjoy the read.
Culligan's Way
Available now in ebook and print
BOOK
Book Clubs
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Marvin's books have a way of drawing you in from the very beginning and never slowing down. Each chapter give you a few more bread crumbs to lure you along the way of a crazy journey. In A Trail Of Vengeance, you're hooked from chapter one. Throughout the story you can feel the tension growing with every flip of the page. From start to finish, this book does not disappoint.
Robin S.
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Praise & Reviews
I enjoyed the book from cover to cover. The story kept me guessing and anticipating Shannon’s next move. There were lots of surprises and twists that kept my full interest. Also loved the Lowcountry Pawleys Island setting. A very interesting read that won’t disappoint.
Meg C.
Appearances
In Trail of Vengeance author Marvin Levine has spun a tail of murder and intrigue from start to finish. Crisp detail, shocking revelations, and a frightening ending on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean leaves the reader asking for more novels like this.
Jim M.
Culligan's Way is off to a great start with two launch events.
On March 18, 2023 I was with Becky and Nikki from SCWA at the Trinity Presbyterian Art and Craft show. Then on March 25, I formally launched Culligan's Way at Litchfield Books
It's been a busy December for A Trail of Vengeance. I participated in two great book signing events. On December 1 I was in Conway SC at the Barnes and Noble on the Horry/Georgetown Technical College campus for an author's signing event. Seven local authors were present including Caleb Wygal and T.I. Lowe. It was great to meet them and get some good advice from some established writers.
Then on December 10, Wendy and Olivia from Litchfield Book invited me back for an encore book signing. Had a great time meeting many of my local readers. What a great store. I'm so happy to have such wonderful support right down the street.
New book signing in Beaufort SC !
This coming Monday, May 30, Memorial Day, I will have another book signing at the Beaufort Bookstore in Beaufort SC from 10 am to 1 pm. Many thanks to Bruce Page for allowing me this opportunity. Hope to see you there !
Book launch at Litchfield Books on April 7 was a great success. Thanks Wendy and Olivia for all your help
See Upcoming Appearances
Look for my launch party at Litchfield Books
Listen in to WOHM 96.3 Charleston radio Thursday March 24 at 2:00 PM for a live radio interview. My first media contact !
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About Marvin Levine
There are three main factors I focus on in my writing. The first and foremost is to make the
story compelling. The plot must be original, exciting, but also based in reality. The characters
must be identifiable to the reader, and I want them to either love or hate them. The second factor
is to create tension in the storyline. I love to use chapter ending twists and turns, suspense, and
the gradual release of facts to keep the reader surprised and guessing. The third element is to tap
into the emotional state of each character, through both dialogue and description, so that the
reader ‘feels’ the story as it unfolds.
Above all, I write because of the passion I have for turning ideas, concepts, and pictures
conjured in my imagination into words, prose, and a compelling story other people will enjoy
reading. It truly gives me great pleasure to present a finished product.