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Hatteras Island is a barrier island, part of the famed Outer Banks that run parallel to the North Carolina coast. But any map, let alone a satellite view from space, shows the island is not part of North Carolina at all. Hatteras belongs to the Atlantic Ocean, as much a part of the sea as fish and waves, and as much at the sea's mercy as sandcastles on the beach. And it belongs to the heart. In Hatteras Island: Keeper of the Outer Banks, award-winning coastal writer Ray McAllister returns to the site of his family's annual vacations a quarter-century ago.

On Monday, February 13, 1905, eight- year-old Kenneth Beasley walked to the back of his school's playground and into the melting snow of the woods beyond. He never returned. A massive search was undertaken for the North Carolina state senator's son, and a reward was offered. Despite clues, rumors, and even a ransom note, he was never found. A year and a half later, a political rival hurriedly was charged. Accused of the most bizarre and twisted of plots, he faced a courtroom overflowing with jurors, star lawyers, spectators, and newspaper reporters.

Uncle Jack's Outer Banks: The Ultimate Collection, by award-winning OBX humorist Jack Sandberg, features more than 50 of the long-time humor columnist’s laugh-filled essays and letters. Author Ray McAllister has added an introduction on the importance of Sandberg’s more than three decades of writing.

On an October night in 1905, a horrifying scene was found on a wooden vessel off the coast of Cape Fear, North Carolina. Onboard the Harry A. Berwind, one crewman lay dead, his blood streaming down the deck. The four officers all were gone - murdered, too, it would turn out, their bodies dumped into the sea. Only three sailors remained alive, one tied up, all telling different stories, all blaming each other. The three sailors were Black. The dead officers were White.

Soon after crossing the drawbridge from the mainland, bearing left will take you to the famous Johnnie Mercer's Fishing Pier and near the site where a giant sperm whale named Trouble once washed ashore and refused to leave. Bearing right will take you to the classic downtown and points south, including the Coast Guard station and the site of the late, great Lumina Pavillion. Wrightsville Beach is Ray McAllister's homage to a special place, a book that captures not only Wrightsville's history but its heart.

Topsail resembles resorts of decades past. It has the small-town feel of a family beach, a place with few commercial trappings. McAllister blends interviews with stories of early pirates, devastating hurricanes, a 1940s dig in search of a 1630 Spanish galleon's treasure, the US government's secret rocket program, a modern-day sea-turtle preservation project, and a black bear that came to stroll the beach. McAllister tells the many stories of Topsail with the help of those who love the island best.