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After Miranda Wood returns from a walk to find the body of her former lover, Richard Trem, stabbed to death in her bed, the police arrest her. Richard's brother Chase, long gone from the island, returns for the funeral. Miranda, bailed out of jail by an unknown benefactor, and Chase, who despite himself is falling in love with her, must work very hard to find who really committed the murder. This book could be classified as romantic suspense. There is a mystery in it, of course. Who actually murdered Richard? And there are clues and red herrings and detective work. But central to the story is the growing affection between Chase and Miranda, although neither quite trusts the other at first. The road to love is bumpy. There is a frightening ending where the real murderer stalks Miranda. But the suspense is not as great as in other Gerritsen novels. The characters are two dimensional. Miranda is the stock outsider, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, who has made her own way by sure determination and ability. She grew up on the mainland, came to the island, got a job on the newspaper run by Richard Tremain, and bought a house. She seems resigned to being convicted of murder at first. Chase is the handsome estranged family member who does not have the feeling of entitlement the other members of the family display. The other characters are pretty cardboard -- the helpful old spinster, Richard's wife, Richard's children, the other workers at the newspaper. The setting is intriguing. The action takes place on an island off the coast of New England hat can be reached only by ferry. It is a quaint island and above the town are a number of substantial vacation cottages. Main Street seems very like one in any New England town. Richard's cottage, Rose Hill, is the setting for much of the action as Richard and Miranda search for some clue about who might have wanted Richard dead. The action moves rather slowly. The listener is certain from the very first that Miranda is innocent and it will not take long for her to know that Chase and Miranda are falling in love. The only question is which of the other characters could possibly be a murderer. The denouement provides a certain amount of excitement before a satisfactory outcome is reached. The reader, Jennifer Van Dyke, does an excellent job. It was very easy to identify which character was talking for she had a slightly different voice for each one. She kept me involved in the story. This book, while interesting, falls short of other books by this author which are far more suspenseful and exciting. This is the first time this book, originally published in 1993, has appeared in audio. Though a bit disappointing in the light of other books by Gerritsen, it will still appeal to the author's many fans. § Sally Fellows is a retired history teacher with a M.A. in history and an avid reader of mysteries.
Reviewed by Sally A. Fellows, March 2011
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