Author: Eva Gates
Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781643859101
Crooked Lane Books
288 Pages
$26.99; $12.99 Amazon
June 7, 2022
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It's spring in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and Lucy and Connor have moved into their new home at last, a historic cottage on the Nags Head Beach. The house needs a lot of renovations, but they worked hard over the winter to get it ready. Lucy is now happily immersed in her work at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, planning her wedding, and decorating the house. That is, until a dead body disrupts their peaceful new abode.
The first night Lucy's alone in the house, with the company of Charles the library cat, she hears sounds. Investigating, they see footsteps in the dust of the unfinished living room, and the door to the outside is open. Lucy's reminded that the house is said to be haunted. Forty years ago the teenage daughter of the owners fled in the night, and never again stepped foot inside her family home.
But the sounds have an all-too-human origin and one evening Lucy and Connor find the dead body of a man they don't even recognize in the kitchen. They soon realize he has a long-time connection to their house. Lucy's forced to find out what happened all those years ago and why it's threatening her happiness today.
Meanwhile, the Classic Novel Reading Club is reading The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a book about another old house full of secrets. Can Lucy find parallels to her own situation in Hawthorne's fiction before the killer strikes again?
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Lucy Richardson and Connor MacNeil are engaged, and have found a house in which to begin their life together. It's a beach cottage previously owned by Ralph Harper, the cottage has sat empty for decades, not wanted by Ralph nor his sister Jo, but he's refused to sell until now, stating that he knows Lucy and Connor will take care of the home.
But since it's been empty, there are many renovations that need to be done, and are being handled by Connor and his father, Fred. Still, Lucy doesn't mind living in the home while everything is being fixed, and her co-worker Louise Jane is ecstatic because now she's living in the library loft once occupied by Lucy. But it doesn't stop Louise Jane from telling tales about the house, especially that it's haunted. While Lucy refuses to listen, one night while Connor is out of town she hears noises, and awakens to find footprints in the dust in the living area and her patio door ajar. Not telling Connor, she still refuses to believe it's a ghost.
But when Connor returns home and they go out one evening, they return to the house only to find a dead body in the kitchen -- which turns out to be the twin brother of Ralph Harper. Jimmy Harper has been gone for decades, the black sheep of the family who's spent time in jail for various crimes.
They've come to believe that he was searching for something valuable, but everything worth anything Ralph has already removed. To add to the mystery, Jo hasn't stepped foot in the house for decades, ever since she was chased away by the ghost of her grandfather. Since then, she's lived with Ralph and refused to leave the house except for short walks. Now Lucy wants to know who's going into her home when she's away, and more importantly, who is the person who killed Jimmy, and why?
They've come to believe that he was searching for something valuable, but everything worth anything Ralph has already removed. To add to the mystery, Jo hasn't stepped foot in the house for decades, ever since she was chased away by the ghost of her grandfather. Since then, she's lived with Ralph and refused to leave the house except for short walks. Now Lucy wants to know who's going into her home when she's away, and more importantly, who is the person who killed Jimmy, and why?
This is the ninth book in the series and I have read them all. In my opinion, this is the best of the series. I love mysteries, and I especially love historical mysteries within them. Since the original mystery is decades old, that needs to be solved also, and Lucy is on top of both. She likes Ralph and when she meets his sister Jo, she likes her too, and doesn't want to believe that either one of them killed Jimmy. But the suspect list is sparse, since there aren't a lot of people around who knew the man and would have a reason forty years later to kill him.
Yet there most definitely is someone stalking Lucy, and she wants to know who it is, and why. She can't put her head to planning her wedding or decorating her new home until she knows what is going on, and she's not getting the information she needs from the Harpers.
I think part of the reason I like this book the best is the fact that Lucy finally grows a spine and stands up to people. It's about time that she stopped allowing everyone to walk all over her and push her around just because it was the path of easiest resistance. It's good seeing this 'new' Lucy; she finally is able to say no to people and it helps in her investigation. It also strengthens (believe it or not) her relationship with Louise Jane, who had always pretty much been a nemesis until this point.
In the end, when the killer is revealed, it comes as a surprise, which is a good thing, and the reasons are as old as time itself. The mystery is solved (as we know it will be) and Lucy and Connor can look forward once again to planning their wedding, and I hope that we as readers will be right there with them. Highly recommended.
I received an advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Eva Gates's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/eva-gates/
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