Set against the waters, islands, and working landscapes of Lake Champlain, Sam Clark’s novel Lock 9 (Onion River Press, 2026) continues the story begun in The Inland Sea, his acclaimed debut mystery.
When a convicted murderer arranges a hit on retired Vermont State Police detective Fred Davis, a case of mistaken identity leaves a respected forensic investigator dead and launches a tense investigation that stretches from the Inland Sea to the Champlain Canal and Hudson River.
As detective Janice Pearlstein becomes convinced that Davis was the intended target, she races to uncover the truth while a hired killer makes repeated attempts to finish the job.
At the same time, Fred faces challenges beyond the investigation: retirement from the State Police, the decline of his aging father, questions about family, work, and belonging, and the possibility of reconnecting with the woman he never stopped loving.
Part police procedural, part family saga, and deeply rooted in the waterways and communities of northern Vermont and New York, Lock 9 explores loyalty, aging, second chances, and the enduring pull of home.
Rich in atmosphere and populated by memorable characters, the novel offers both a compelling mystery and a vivid portrait of life along Lake Champlain.
Sam Clark is a Vermont builder, designer, cabinetmaker, and author. Over a career spanning more than fifty years, he has written several influential books on design and construction, including The Motion-Minded Kitchen, The Independent Builder, and Designing and Building Your Own Home Your Own Way.
A longtime resident of Plainfield, Vermont, Clark has spent decades exploring the waterways of the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain, landscapes that inspired his fiction.
Following a serious bicycle accident in 2008, Clark turned to mystery writing as a way to capture the people, places, and working communities he knew so well. The result was The Inland Sea (Rootstock Publishing, 2023), his first novel. Lock 9 is his second novel.
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