Archie Royce recently published his new legal thriller, “Cold Tide.” The story is set in 1994 Fernandina Beach and Amelia Island, and follows Jacksonville crisis management professional, Dan Foster. He spent his career managing other people’s reputations, but when a cold case is reopened, his life begins to fall apart. He grapples with a wrongful conviction, old loyalties and conflict with the coastal community.
“It’s a legal thriller but it’s really about aftermath ... what justice costs the people left standing when it’s over,” Royce said.
Royce drew inspiration from his own experiences growing up in Amelia Island in the late ’70s and early ’80s. He felt that era on the island deserved to be captured.
One night, Royce and his brother sneaked out of the house to Main Beach after midnight and discovered a band playing at the old beach ramp.
“It was a raucous crowd, open drinking, clouds of smoke, loud music,” he recalled. “It was like a sliver of Woodstock had spilled onto Amelia Island.”
He said that they watched for about 15 minutes before returning home and the memory sticks with him to this day.
“It felt like it was the last gasp of that era,” he said. “By the 1980s it was gone. That evolution: what a place was, what it became, what got buried in between. That’s exactly what ‘Cold Tide’ is about.”
Royce drew inspiration for Dan Foster’s character from his experience working with a large PR agency in Minneapolis and crafting narratives for corporate clients.
“I kept thinking about what it would feel like to turn that skill on yourself. That is, to be the one whose reputation is under siege rather than the one protecting it,” he said.
Royce has been a writer his whole professional life and predominantly wrote nonfiction for work. He crafted narratives and worked to find the story inside complicated situations. He began experimenting with fiction. He said that although you have more freedom in writing fiction, you need more discipline to keep the story going.
Before writing, Royce mapped out the plot and spent a lot of time getting to know the characters.
“I needed to understand what each person wanted, what they were hiding and what they were afraid of,” he said. “Once I knew those things, the scenes started writing themselves.”
Royce said the idea for “Cold Tide” was in his head for years before he committed to finishing it. Once he got started, he treated the project like a deliverable. He said he was a bit nervous to put his book out there, but has received great feedback from locals so far.
“These are people who know the streets and the history I’m writing about,” he said.
Royce takes inspiration from bestselling legal thriller authors, John Grisham and Scott Turow and award-winning crime novelist Randy Wayne White.
Royce revealed that he is working on a follow-up book set in a deep South small town with a new case and different characters. Similarly, it is “rooted in the same conviction that justice is never clean and always leaves a mark,” he said.
Royce wants readers to know that “Cold Tide” comes from a familiar place where things tend to stick around.
“Things settle in here and don’t leave easily,” he said. “‘Cold Tide’ comes from that place, written by someone who grew up in it. If you’ve ever driven over the bridge onto Amelia Island and felt the pace of the world change, this book is written for you.”
Readers can find Royce’s books on Amazon in paperback and eBook amazon.com/dp/B0DXDGVVHH. They can also be purchased through his website archieroyce.com.
