FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. (September 11, 2026) – Ponte Vedra Beach author Shelley Marsh will celebrate the release of her fourth novel, Up the Creek, with a free public launch event Friday, October 2, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Beaches Museum, 381 Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville Beach.
The evening will include an author talk, Q&A, and a book signing centered on the inspiration behind Up the Creek, an eco-mystery exploring the tension between rapid coastal growth and protecting environmentally sensitive land.
The novel follows Amanda Wright, a research scientist who returns home to help save her aunt and uncle’s struggling ecotour business after a massive resort opens nearby. She soon discovers larger forces threatening the nature preserve she believed was safe from development. When a former colleague is found dead in the wetlands she is striving to protect, Amanda realizes she has uncovered a truth someone is willing to kill to keep hidden.
Marsh drew on her knowledge of Northeast Florida and her volunteer experience at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR) while researching the novel.
“I wanted to give back, but I’ve gotten so much more out of my time there,” Marsh said. “The fictional river at the center of Up the Creek is called the Iyola River, but its atmosphere and stakes are deeply inspired by the real-world beauty right here.”
The novel’s conflict reflects a familiar Northeast Florida question: how can rapidly growing communities accommodate development while protecting environmentally sensitive coastal lands?
In 2024, Marsh became a Guy Harvey Certified Educator. Up the Creek follows her humorous Estate Sale Mysteries series, also set in a fictionalized version of Northeast Florida. Marsh previously worked as a staff writer at Void Magazine and contributed to Shorelines, the Florida Times-Union, and the Ponte Vedra Recorder.
The October 2 launch event is free and open to the public.
About Shelley Marsh
Shelley Marsh’s upbeat, character-driven mysteries celebrate the eccentric charm of Florida’s First Coast. Her debut, Dying to Live Here (Fawkes Press, Feb 10 2026), launched the Estate Sale Mysteries starring Emma Stewart, a former tech worker turned estate-sale sleuth whose knack for unearthing heirlooms (and motives) keeps neighbors and readers guessing. Shelley’s fiction mixes crisp plotting with beach-town atmosphere, sun-splashed humor, and a hint of slow-burn romance.
For more than twenty years, Shelley has called coastal North Florida home, researching at estate sales and spending her free time combing beaches and bookstores for shark teeth, seashells, and story sparks. Shelley is the current vice president of the Northeast Florida chapter of Sisters in Crime. Find updates, events, and reader bonuses at ShelleyMarsh.com and @A1ABeachwriter.
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Contact:
Shelley Marsh
Author, Up the Creek
[email protected]
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