Cocktails and Books

Maddy, a mystery writer, goes back to her hometown to solve (and write about) the disappearance of Chelsea Hannigan and the prime suspect in that case, reclusive millionaire and Maddy’s crush, Adam Ward. I have a love dislike relationship with this book. I love the mixture of romance and mystery. I even love the remote setting on a private island in Maine. But I dislike the decisions made by the main character Maddy. She frustrated me from the beginning. Maddy starts out by “telling” us that she is investigating the Harbour Falls Mystery in secret, then proceeds to ask fifty million questions which make it obvious that she is investigating the Harbour Falls Mystery. Maddy, the mystery writer, cannot figure out who the killer is even though all the clues point to this person. Instead she falls into a really clichéd trap and almost gets killed herself.

S.R. Grey spends a lot of time building up the setting and fleshing out the backstory of all the inhabitants of Harbour Falls. As a result, I was pulled into the story. Grey did and even better job of making Maddy a real person. However, the mystery itself is thin and when it is finally unraveled, although not what I expected, it also wasn’t as explosive as the build up led me to believe. Unfortunately, the “mystery” really doesn’t end and Grey adds a twist by creating a cliff hanger ending. Again, Maddy instead of doing the logical thing prepares to solve another mystery based on clearly false information. Oh well, I’m prepared to follow Maddy through another

Reviewed by Karon for Cocktails and Books