Book 92, 2022

[chez_jae]

Death at High Tide by Hannah Dennison

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Last night I finished reading Death at High Tide by Hannah Dennison. It is the first book in the "Island Sisters" mystery series, featuring newly-widowed Evie Mead and her flamboyant sister, Margot Chandler.

After Evie's older husband, Robert, dies a note is found among his paperwork indicating that he'd loaned money to a friend with the friend's hotel as collateral. It seems that Evie may now have an interest in Tregarrick Hotel. Her sister, Margot, insists that Evie needs to get away from London and that a trip to Tregarrick in the Islands of Scilly will be just the thing. Evie agrees, but she begins to regret her decision when Margot concocts a cover story of them being there to scope out the location for a future film. Compounding her unease is the eccentric cast of characters on the island. The stern man who owns the hotel, his flighty wife, their handsome son, a housekeeper who's an ex-con, and the dotty old woman who uses her telescope to spy on everyone on Tregarrick. When the hotel's owner is found dead, Evie and Margot become suspects in his murder.

I wasn't enthralled with this book. It was as if the author was trying too hard to write something a la Agatha Christie. Instead of being clever, it came across as confusing and annoying. There was no need for Margot's subterfuge, and I can't believe that Evie went along with it, although in her defense, she sort of got swept up in Margot's riptide. The villain, while not completely surprising, was a rather implausible choice, simply because the reader is given to believe that no one could get on or off the island during certain tides. Characterizations were over the top, frankly. The most engaging character was Mister Tig, the hotel cat. The plot zoomed in some places and plodded in others. It didn't do a good job of holding my interest.

Favorite lines:
♦ "Is that a Harry Potter scarf?" I asked. // "It's Gryffindor."
♦ "When people are in love and things like dainty farts are endearing."
♦ "In Hollywood you're in the grave at thirty. At the sign of the first wrinkle women are shipped out to Death Valley on a one-way ticket."
♦ "They're all like sticks over there. Sticks with big tits--tits that aren't their own tits. They buy them as if they're shopping at Macy's."

I'm ambivalent about this book. I can't say as that I'd read another in the series unless, perhaps, if I could get a used copy for a pittance. Three stars.