Tag Archives: mary kay andrews

Sunset Beach by Mary Kay Andrews

Drue’s estranged father shows up at her lowest point, unemployed and unmoored, at her mother’s funeral. Married to her childhood frenemy, he offers her a job at his ambulance chasing law office, working with his wife. But with it comes her grandparent’s beach bungalow, replete with beloved memories. All she has to do it fix it up. She stumbles into investigating a mysterious death at a nearby resort, which may somehow be connected to her father’s business. MKA threads hints and doubts throughout, leading Drue and Dear Reader on a wild ride, always entertaining. I was fortunate to receive this fun mystery from the publisher St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley.

The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews—pub date May 8, 2018

Brooke Trapnell, the runaway bride in Save the Date, continues her story, having moved back to little town, Georgia, with her son, Henry. The resident wealthy socialite philanthropist of nearby Sea Island, Josephine Bettendorf Warrick, contacts Brooke to represent her against the state of Georgia, who wants her land for a state park. The secrets of nonagenarian Josephine slowly seep out as she lays out her plans to atone for her sins and defend her estate by passing it on to descendants of her long ago best friends. Brooke discovers a related family secret she would have never thought to guess.

Andrews’ description of friendships in the 50s deep South feels less like crossing a color line and more like pushing into an invisible, flexible barrier that they can’t quite break through. The re-emergence of The High Tide Club through the descendants of the original members is meant to be poignant, yet it’s hard to imagine the remaining original member at 95 walking naked into the ocean in chilly October. Though Andrews’ writing continues to be fully engaging, this novel seemed to go long, and it felt as though the author decided at one point to simply wrap up all the loose ends, with revelations coming fast and furious after the typical length of a novel, around 300 pages. There’s a contemporary would-be killer paralleling the murder mystery from decades past, and neither seems credible, nor true to character, even given the circumstances. Despite this, it’s an interesting story and worth it for a sandy good beach read.

I was fortunate to receive a pre-release copy from the publisher of one of my favorite authors.