The Creatures of Holden Beach

Summary

Early one spring morning, the residents of Holden Beach, NC, find what appear to be two aliens washed up on the beach. Alicia Greengrass, the local movie starlet, is home from Hollywood and is first to discover the aliens during a morning stroll. Her cell phone pictures are circulating on Twitter before the police arrive, but the social media frenzy is just getting started. The police soon discover another body on the beach; the local bar owner Gerald Reed has been murdered. Sheriff Stan Stoney knows the aliens are a well-orchestrated hoax designed to go viral, but the increasing public interest is impeding his murder investigation. The distraction of the aliens is tolerated until the sheriff concludes that the two events appear to be somehow connected. The pranksters must be found because they may hold a key to solving the crime. But he knows one thing for certain: The creatures did not commit the murder!

©2018 Chris A. Underwood (P)2020 Chris A. Underwood