Hey, I’m Jamie August. It’s great you could meet me for a drink, and I’m glad you found the place. It’s kind of hard to describe how to get to my favorite watering hole on the Ocean City boardwalk—mostly because the bar is kind of dark and doesn’t seem to have a name. It’s down by the inlet, past the arcade where the Skee Ball lanes are so old that my grandma played ’em when she came down here from Baltimore as a teenager.
First round’s on me. I usually drink Coors Light, but your visit calls for a celebration. I’m trying to decide between a mai tai and a fuzzy navel. Do you want to go on the Haunted House carnival ride later? That’s going to factor into my drink decision. The last time I rode one of those coffin-shaped cars through the spooky, black-lit funhouse I was with my best friend Tammy. She laughed so hard at the skeleton (or is it a zombie?) getting flushed down the toilet that she lost her cookies. She’d been drinking Piña Coladas, so I’m just saying you might want to be careful. Plus, there’s Kohr Brothers Frozen Custard to be had on the boardwalk later, and Thrasher’s fries with vinegar, so don’t fill up too much on those bar peanuts.
I’m kind of obsessed with that Haunted House. In the second Jamie August adventure, Ocean City Cover-up, the Haunted House plays a ghoulish role. There’s a crime spree going on during the height of summer at Maryland’s favorite beach resort. The tourists are getting nervous, and the bodies are piling up. One of ‘em is sprawled by the tracks at the Haunted House, and it’s hours before somebody realizes—hey, that body next to the tracks is not a new Haunted House feature. It’s a real corpse.
Anyway, it’s good that we got here early, before the big crowds arrive for the evening. You may have noticed a lot of interesting accents as you walked down the boards. These days many of Ocean City’s summer workers—you know, cashiers, carnival barkers, cocktail waitresses, Whack-a-Mole attendants—are college kids from Eastern Europe. They come to town for summer work exchange programs. Ocean City Cover-up takes a peek into the world of those summer workers, and one glamorous frozen custard server, in particular, who is not at all what she seems.
When the Russian mafia shows up, and a Billboard Top Ten rap star rolls into OC, the clash of cultures gets a little ridiculous—and very dangerous. I’m a Maryland girl, born and raised in Baltimore. Until I made friends with these summer workers, I didn’t know the difference between Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi. Certainly I couldn’t have pointed to either of them on a map. All that has changed now. If I spill any more details I’ll spoil Ocean City Cover-up’s many surprises! So, enough said.
Well, okay, I’ll tell you one more thing. I met a guy. Crap, this is the drink talking. Is this really my second mai tai? How’d that happen? Anyway, the guy. I met him around the same time I got tangled up with those summer workers. Really threw a wrench in the works, I gotta say. I was doing fine with my sexy surfer friend-with-benefits. He was fun, he was hot, and he was just a text message away. No fuss, no drama. And then I met Sam, and things got messy, dramatic, and really complicated. I even uttered the “L” word. Oh, man. I don’t know where that whole thing is headed.
So things are different now. I guess I don’t have any more of life’s answers than I ever did, but I sure have a lot more questions. My eyes are open to a much wider world than I had ever before considered. The Old Line State is a beautiful place—I can say that with more confidence now that I’ve seen a little more of the world.
You can read more about Jamie in Ocean City Cover-up, the second book in the “Jamie August” mystery series. The first book in the series is Ocean City Lowdown.
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 12 a.m. eastern on July 3 for the chance to win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up. The giveaway is open to everyone. Winner will be notified within 48 hours after giveaway closes and you will have three days to respond after being contacted or another winner will be selected.
Meet the author
Kim Kash is a 1991 graduate of the College of Creative Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara. She is the author of two Jamie August mystery novels: Ocean City Lowdown and Ocean City Cover-up, and the best-selling travel guide Ocean City: A Guide to Maryland’s Seaside Resort. She divides her time between Maryland and the Middle East. Which can be weird. Visit Kim at www.kimkash.com
Sounds different and interesting reading.
Thanks Barbara
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
It sounds like a great book.. want to read the whole thing.. is any of this from personal experience? or did you witness some girls having a great time ?
Love it !!!
Thanks Patricia! Jamie’s life is much wilder than mine–but the whole Ocean City vibe that I write about is taken from my experiences and impressions over years of visits.
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
Another new author. Jamie August sounds like someone I would like to get to know better.
Thanks Kathy
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
Sounds interesting. Thank you for this opportunity to win a copy of this book.
Thanks Peggy
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
I’ve been to Ocean City, Maryland. This sounds interesting, would love to read it
Thanks Debbie
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
What a great introduction not just to this book and author but to the amusements on the boardwalk of Ocean City. This is definitely a book I would like to read so I can get familiar with the author her.
Thanks Robin
Ah yes, the drink talking.
Yeah, the drink can say the darndest things.
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
Nice cover-up! Thanks for telling us about this one Dru.
Thanks Mary Jane
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
Woo Hoo…this looks like an awesome book…..I love to go to Ocean City, NJ and have been to Ocean City, MD once and it would be sooooooo awesome to read about it!! Would be so neat to win a book and read about a place where I have really been. Thanks so much dearest Dru for the chance!!! God bless you girl…..you ROCK!!!!
I’ve been to Ocean City, New Jersey once–it’s really different from OCMD, and I’d like to go back again to get a better feel for it. Thanks, Beverly.
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
Adding this series to my tbr list! Sounds awesome! Grew up going to Ocean City every year, not to mention the memories of senior week. Can’t wait to read this!
Senior week–oh NO! I kind of forgot about OC senior week. I’m going to have to work that whole concept into a future Jamie August installment.
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
Add this to the list of series I need to read.
Fabulous! Thanks.
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
I think I’d enjoy joining Jamie for a mai tai.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
I would like to give this series/author a try….
Thank you for the intro….
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
Nice review. Hope I win.
The bar sounds like some of the dives I used to frequent in my previous life. I’d love to read this series; Ocean City, MD,, yay!
Congratulations! You win a Kindle version of Ocean City Cover-up! Please email me at kimkash@kimkash.com to let me know the email address where I should send it. Thanks, and enjoy!
Thank you! I’m emailing my address. Thanks to Dru for hosting & to Kim for awarding. Thank you.
Thanks Kim for commenting and interacting with my readers.
Contest is closed.
Thanks Dru! It was a pleasure. And, how can I choose one winner? Answer: I cannot. Everyone wins!
That is awesome Kim. Thanks. If you don’t hear from anyone, let me know and I’ll send them to this page.
sounds like a great read, would love to read it