Name: Sarah Sammis's review of Death By Beach Read by Eva Gates
Item: Death By Beach Read
Rating: 5
Author: Sarah Sammis

Eva Gates

Librarian Lucy’s new historic house comes with a lot of baggage and family secrets. Can she put them to rest or will a killer bring Lucy’s family to their downfall, in the 9th Lighthouse Library mystery. 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 their 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 Nathanial 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?

Death By Beach Read

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Sarah Sammis

** spoiler alert **
           I knew what the treasure was (though not why exactly). Had no idea who the murderer was.

This series uses the Bodie Island book club selection as a thematic counterpoint to the mystery at hand. In this volume it's Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables (1851). While the book club is primarily aimed at older adults in the town, one mother does bring along her teenage daughter. Lucy makes an aside that the book probably won't interest teenage readers but I can recall pulling an all nighter to read it in junior high. It was one of the books that cemented my life long love of Hawthorne's books. It's also made me realize it's been far too long since I read that book and I plan to reread it soon.

With such a Gothic piece as the cornerstone of this mystery, the present day mystery is shrouded in a similar atmosphere. Lucy and Connor's home has a sordid history, including an incident from the 1970s (and now I feel old!) where a then teenage girl was driving from the home and into a life of isolation because of prank she believed (and still does) was her grandfather haunting her the one time she chose to have a boy over, contrary to her strict upbringing.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2022/comm...

Latitude Tamarind

Incredibly, I have actually read another book in this series! It was part of the big stack of library books I took home for over winter break. Anyhow, I liked this second entry (for me) into the series, and the ninth book overall. Eccentric small town characters! A lighthouse! Charles the cat! A library nemesis!!!! Four stars from me.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Death By Beach Read by Eva Gates

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &Death By Beach Read by Eva Gates

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Join the club

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Death By Beach Read by Eva Gates