Brenda H. (booksinvt) -
Seaside Secrets is the first installment in the Dune House Mystery series. Suzie Allen is a retired investigative journalist with dreams of restoring old historic buildings, but her finances won't allow her to purchase anything in her hometown of Burlington. Mary Brent is Suzie's best friend, an empty nester who is in the middle of a nasty divorce.
Suzie receives a phone call that her Uncle Harry has passed away and left her "Dune House", his majestic old home on the beach in Garber. Suzie and Mary arrive to find the house almost in ruins from years of neglect and that Mayor Thomas Ralley is anxious to purchase the property so he can bulldoze it down and start new development in the sleepy town.
Deciding that she can not let her Uncle's home be destroyed, Suzie and Mary set about cleaning and renovating parts of the house with the idea of returning it to the B&B her Aunt and Uncle had been running prior to her Aunt's death. Suzie discovers an old lockbox under the floorboards containing clues that might mean her Uncle hadn't passed away from a sudden heart attack, and that the townspeople may be hiding something.
This is a very short book taking only an afternoon to read. Not much depth to the characters but hopefully they will evolve as the series continues. It was pretty easy to identify the villain with the standard motive of greed.
A charming cozy is how I would best describe the book; the friendship between Suzie and Mary is fun, and Suzie's relationship with her newfound cousin, Jason (who is also the Chief of Police) started off on rocky footing but definitely has potential for future installments.
Suzie receives a phone call that her Uncle Harry has passed away and left her "Dune House", his majestic old home on the beach in Garber. Suzie and Mary arrive to find the house almost in ruins from years of neglect and that Mayor Thomas Ralley is anxious to purchase the property so he can bulldoze it down and start new development in the sleepy town.
Deciding that she can not let her Uncle's home be destroyed, Suzie and Mary set about cleaning and renovating parts of the house with the idea of returning it to the B&B her Aunt and Uncle had been running prior to her Aunt's death. Suzie discovers an old lockbox under the floorboards containing clues that might mean her Uncle hadn't passed away from a sudden heart attack, and that the townspeople may be hiding something.
This is a very short book taking only an afternoon to read. Not much depth to the characters but hopefully they will evolve as the series continues. It was pretty easy to identify the villain with the standard motive of greed.
A charming cozy is how I would best describe the book; the friendship between Suzie and Mary is fun, and Suzie's relationship with her newfound cousin, Jason (who is also the Chief of Police) started off on rocky footing but definitely has potential for future installments.
