Copperhead in the Coop

In the quiet hills of North Carolina, the most dangerous predator has learned to look like a devoted partner.Margaret 'Maggie' Fairchild has built a carefully tended life among her prizewinning Serama chickens, her beloved family heirlooms, and the wooded acres of Ravenspire Estate. Fiercely independent yet generous to a fault, she believes she can recognize trouble before it crosses her threshold. Then Sebastian King enters her life.A struggling organic farmer with big ambitions and an instinct for saying exactly what a woman wants to hear, Sebastian seems to understand Maggie’s passions. He praises her breeding program, promises a future together, and volunteers to improve the family’s properties. But his talk of 'we' conceals a relentless appetite for everything she owns.Small intrusions become audacious claims. Tools and heirlooms vanish. Construction projects turn into battlegrounds. Money moves, stories change, and troubling legal documents surface. Worse, Sebastian insinuates himself into the affections of Maggie’s aging mother, Diane, placing a treasured family legacy within reach of his schemes. By the time Maggie recognizes the pattern, the charming suitor has become a threat she can neither reason with nor easily escape.When a violent break-in is captured on a security camera, the question stops being what Sebastian wants and becomes just how far he will go to take it.Her oldest friend, architect Tom Wren, sees the danger growing behind Sebastian’s carefully rehearsed performances. With a watchful eye, a dry wit, and a stubborn commitment to the truth, Tom helps Maggie piece together a trail of deception. As the betrayal takes an increasingly sinister turn, the evidence may become as important to her survival as the courage to confront it.Copperhead in the Coop: Predation, Poison and Perfect Lies is a darkly humorous psychological suspense novel about coercive control, financial exploitation, family loyalty, and the terrible cost of misplaced trust. Against the backdrop of Carolina farms, historic property, and a fiercely protected inheritance, it follows one woman’s fight to reclaim her home, her history, and her voice.Some snakes strike without warning. Others spend years persuading you to leave the door open.