Book Review: Death at High Tide by Hannah Dennison

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book from St Martin's Press, via #Netgalley, free of charge, for review purposes on this blog. No compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it, all opinions are my own

Death at High Tide is the delightful first installment in the Island Sisters series by Hannah Dennison, featuring two sisters who inherit an old hotel in the remote Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall and find it full of intrigue, danger, and romance.

Synopsis:

When Evie Mead’s husband, Robert, suddenly drops dead of a heart attack, a mysterious note is found among his possessions. It indicates that Evie may own the rights to an old hotel on Tregarrick Rock, one of the Isles of Scilly.

Still grieving, Evie is inclined to leave the matter to the accountant to sort out. Her sister Margot, however, flown in from her glamorous career in LA, has other plans. Envisioning a luxurious weekend getaway, she goes right ahead and buys two tickets—one way—to Tregarrick.

Once at the hotel—used in its heyday to house detective novelists, and more fixer-upper than spa resort, after all—Evie and Margot attempt to get to the bottom of things. But the foul-tempered hotel owner claims he's never met the late Robert, even after Evie finds framed photos of them—alongside Robert's first wife—in his office. The rest of the island inhabitants, ranging from an ex-con receptionist to a vicar who communicates with cats, aren't any easier to read.

But when a murder occurs at the hotel, and then another soon follows, frustration turns to desperation. There’s no getting off the island at high tide. And Evie and Margot, the only current visitors to Tregarrick, are suspects one and two. It falls to them to unravel secrets spanning generations—and several of their own—if they want to make it back alive.

Review:

This is a great new series to sink your teeth into! It has chick lit, a cozy mystery and charactrers to remember! With most of us staying home thisSummer, being able to 'vacation' in books is even more critical right now! Evie is a great character- she is older, trying to deal with all the secrets unearthed with her husband's death and finding out that everyone around her is harboring secrets as well. A new start is just the beginning of what she needs to move on. What she is expecting, isn't what she gets, but ends up being what she does need- a hotel with issues. This is a charming book and one to savor this Summer!

About the Author:

Hannah Dennison worked as an obituary reporter, an antique dealer, a private-jet flight attendant, and a Hollywood story analyst before turning to writing novels. For many years, she taught mystery writing workshops at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program in Los Angeles. In addition to the Island Sisters series, she writes the Honeychurch Hall Mysteries and the Vicky Hill Mysteries, both set in the wilds of the Devonshire countryside where she now lives with her two high-spirited Hungarian Vizslas.