Digital Book
ASIN #: B078QS9BD9
Lyrical Underground Publishing
269 Pages
$4.99 Amazon
September 25, 2018
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Trading the urban sprawl of Manhattan for the tranquility and exotic beauty of a Florida barrier island was the best decision author Liz Holt ever made. What could be more ideal for relaxing, regrouping, and getting a writer’s creative juices flowing than observing life at the unconventional hotel that has been in Liz’s family for generations? But it’s death that grips the island when a body sweeps in on the tide . . .
The victim was a member of a fishing crew lost at sea who may or may not have drowned. Despite the corpse in their crosshairs, the staff of the Indialantic by the Sea Hotel and Emporium continues its plans for its first annual Pirates’ Weekend. But things go further awry when both a hurricane and a killer leave a trail of destruction. Liz and her new boyfriend must figure out who’s behind the carnage before they also end up in Davy Jones’ locker . . .
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Liz Holt has returned to Melbourne, Florida after a disastrous breakup and is now living happily in the home of her childhood, the Indialantic by the Sea hotel with her father and great-aunt Amelia. She's also at the beginning of a new relationship with ex-firefighter and arson investigator Ryan Stone, who's moved here to help his grandfather run the deli at the hotel's emporium.
When everything at last seems to be going swimmingly for Liz, she sees a body on the beach and discovers it's the nephew of another emporium tenant, Minna, also a friend of Liz's. It's more tragic when it's discovered that Dylan was murdered, not merely fallen overboard the ship he was on, which is what everyone thought. But who would want to kill the young man who was also a budding photographer? While there is no dearth of suspects, it's not going to be easy to figure it out. Yet that's what Liz and Ryan have decided to do, even if they have to do it on the down low, since the lead detective also happens to be Liz's father's girlfriend, and has warned them away.
But when Minna's house is set on fire and Dylan's belongings have been rifled through, Liz is sure there's more to the story and wants to find out the real reason Dylan was killed, and if the killer didn't find what they were looking for, maybe she and Ryan can find it first...
I have to say that I really struggled with this book. I've said many times before that I'm a great believer in details, and there were several inconsistencies and things that didn't make any sense, which are in spoilers below:
For instance, it was little things like Liz noting that agent Pearson was wearing a jacket with a sleeveless blouse. If she wore a jacket, how did Liz know the blouse was sleeveless? (I get the jacket was white and the blouse black, but I'm guessing the jacket wasn't see-through or Charlotte has not sense of style, because who would wear a see-through jacket with a black blouse?) Also, she mentions as to how this isn't the first dead body she's seen/ Where? In the first book, she didn't discover the body and only saw it covered by a sheet. We're also not told why Dylan had Minna's last name if Minna is divorced and Dylan was her sister's son. Wouldn't he have a different last name? It is possible, but these are details, and details count.
Then there was the fact that it was mentioned that all the shops in the emporium were divided not by walls, but by four foot partitions. The words are: "...turned their heads to their right at the four-foot partition that divided the emporium shops from each other." Since this isn't explained further, do we take it to mean that this is all that divides the shops? Not walls? Becauseadults are taller than four feet (not counting little people), so these shops aren't separated at all, nor are they stores. They're basically just sections in one big building. You can look over a divider that short and see the 'shop' next door, and hear everything that's going on. Must be fun to be browsing books and listening to conversations about what they have next door. It's also mentioned in the last book that Kate has huge bookshelves. So they're obviously taller than the dividers, and the shop next door would see the back of them which would be an eyesore in my opinion. This also becomes a problem because if there are no walls, no one can lock up their shop. Then if someone stays late with a customer all the other shops are apparently "open" because with only dividers, there wouldn't be doors. So anyone at all could just walk through and take things. (People aren't always as trustworthy as you think, especially in this town). Or do they force everyone to enter and exit at the same time? As I've stated above, details count.
I also felt like the Indialantic hotel was a misnomer, because it didn't seem like one (since in both books she's only had one guest - and that was the last book; although it is mentioned that it's kept as a sort of boarding house), but merely a throwback to Amelia's past that she kept around as part of her memories - creepily like Miss Haversham from Dickens' Great Expectations. She surrounds herself with others like her - an eighty-one-year-old chef who thinks a script is a menu (why is this man even cooking anymore?) a housekeeper in her seventies who's had a hip replacement but apparently has no problem cleaning rooms, changing linens, scrubbing toilets, etc. (which is what housekeepers do), and going so far as to help out cooking in the kitchen. Nope. When was the last time you saw a maid/housekeeper either cooking or serving food to you in a hotel? And why is she doing the shopping for Pierre? Shouldn't a chef be choosing his own food and not trusting it to someone else unless they’re his trained assistant? I wouldn't send a neighbor/friend out to buy vegetables and meat for me, and I'm not even a professional chef. A boat captain that's in his seventies. A permanent boarder that’s eighty-three. And now, another elderly ex-actress who constantly snipes at Amelia and those around her. What fun. This place isn't a hotel; it's a retirement home for those who have no money so Aunt Amelia can foot the bill. Yes, they work there - part-time - but each has a 'suite' of rooms (!) and get room and board for their keep, so yes, she's footing the bill. My thoughts are this should be renamed the Indialantic Retirement Home.
Not to mention every single one of them is in excellent health (except for Pierre's memory loss which brings us back to why is the man still cooking instead of enjoying a leisurely retirement?) It doesn't seem realistic somehow; not a single one has any ailments - arthritis, heart condition, bad knees, etc.; not even Greta with her hip replacement (I fully expect her to take up hula dancing in the next book). While I know there are older people who are in good condition, there are many more whose health isn't what it was when they were in their fifties. Why doesn’t Amelia hire real help and allow these people to retire already? I'd hate to think I'd still be working in my seventies and/or eighties.
Then everyone in the book is compared to an actor (mostly from the 60's but not all). I'd like to think there weren't that many doppelgangers in this small town, but apparently I'm wrong. Instead of describing people, we're told they look like actors, and it gets annoying. Even the 'big kahuna' on the beach looks like - yup, you guessed it - the 'Big Kahuna' of the movie Gidget, Cliff Robertson. Seriously? (But note to Liz: if he does, dump Ryan for this guy. Cliff Robertson is a heck of a lot more masculine, not to mention better-looking, than that guy from Poldark, which is who Ryan is supposed to look like).
By the end of the book I was honestly getting tired of Amelia spouting her acting credits (and plots) over and over and over. Besides, anyone who thinks Basil Rathbone was the best Sherlock Holmes (Nigel Bruce was a bumbling Watson, to boot) instead of Jeremy Brett obviously hasn't seen any other Sherlock (sorry; had to add that because I was getting really irritated by her). She's not an interesting character, even if there are supposed 'exploits of her youth' thrown into each book. She really does seem sad and a lot like Miss Haversham, although unlike the latter, she wasn’t left at the altar. Personally, I think she never married not because she decided against it, but because her three fiancés just couldn't take listening to her talk about her TV appearances anymore.
This is the second book in the series but I felt that it was mainly centered on 1) Aunt Amelia's exploits; 2) Romance; 3) The mystery; when the mystery should have been #1 and Aunt Amelia should have been #3. We learn a lot about Amelia's TV shows, and almost everyone has a romantic interest; but Liz never gets close to danger and there's no nail-biting moments at all; it's more romance than mystery, and more Aunt Amelia than romance.
The worst thing is we're still not told the entire story of what happened to Liz to cause the scar on her face (although we're getting closer to finding out) and then it’s added in that we don't know what is going on with Susannah - why she's there and too broke to pay her way. (She's also pretty arrogant in telling Liz she needs to put her phone on vibrate. What business is it of hers?). So now there are two things that should be explained and haven’t been done so: what happened to Liz, and why is Susannah living at the hotel?
At the end, I struggled with the mystery, mainly because it was broken up so much by everything else going on that it seemed almost an afterthought; this wasn’t really a mystery at all, even if there was a murder; it was a book about Aunt Amelia and her career and exploits, with a “murder lite” thrown in. I really didn't care about the victim because not a lot was said about him, and I didn't see why Liz was even investigating because Charlotte isn't an inept detective and the police were doing their job. It just seemed 'off' to me.
I give three stars for the writing which was very good, but as you can read, I had a difficult time with this book, and I'm sorry for that. The reasons why are written above, and again, I am really sorry that I just couldn't get into the book. I'm a big believer in paying attention to details, and there was just so much missing for me.
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