Blood in the Water: The Untold History of a Family Tragedy

Bestseller Sherman (A Murder in Hollywood) delivers a riveting true crime tale about a tragic fishing trip, a bitter legal fight among members of a wealthy New England family, and the years of police work required to unravel a murder—or was it two? From the moment a Chinese cargo ship picked up a stranded Nathan Carman, 22, off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard in September 2016, Carman’s story began to unravel. Though he claimed his fishing boat had sunk with his mother onboard, the autistic young man hardly seemed to his rescuers like he had been adrift on a lifeboat for seven days. After Carman was brought to shore, his insurance company refused to pay out for the boat, which, along with his mother’s body, was never found. Carman’s aunts accused him of murdering his mother over a multimillion-dollar inheritance—a theory given weight by Carman’s possible involvement in the murder of his grandfather three years earlier. Sherman relishes the story’s operatic qualities and paces the narrative like a thriller, managing to compensate for the loose ends left by Carman’s 2023 death in police custody. It’s a chilling examination of money’s corrosive power. Photos. Agent: Peter Steinberg, UTA. (Apr.)