Death at High Tide
Death at High Tide: An Island Sisters Mystery
by Hannah Dennison
About Death at High Tide
Death at High Tide: An Island Sisters Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Minotaur Books (August 18, 2020)
Hardcover: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 1250194482
ISBN-13: 978-1250194480
Digital ASIN: B0818PVX81
Death at High Tide is the delightful first installment in the Island Sisters series by Hannah Dennison, featuring two sisters who inherit an old hotel in the remote Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall and find it full of intrigue, danger, and romance.
When Evie Mead’s husband, Robert, suddenly drops dead of a heart attack, a mysterious note is found among his possessions. It indicates that Evie may own the rights to an old hotel on Tregarrick Rock, one of the Isles of Scilly.
Still grieving, Evie is inclined to leave the matter to the accountant to sort out. Her sister Margot, however, flown in from her glamorous career in LA, has other plans. Envisioning a luxurious weekend getaway, she goes right ahead and buys two tickets—one way—to Tregarrick.
Once at the hotel—used in its heyday to house detective novelists, and more fixer-upper than spa resort, after all—Evie and Margot attempt to get to the bottom of things. But the foul-tempered hotel owner claims he’s never met the late Robert, even after Evie finds framed photos of them—alongside Robert’s first wife—in his office. The rest of the island inhabitants, ranging from an ex-con receptionist to a vicar who communicates with cats, aren’t any easier to read.
But when a murder occurs at the hotel, and then another soon follows, frustration turns to desperation. There’s no getting off the island at high tide. And Evie and Margot, the only current visitors to Tregarrick, are suspects one and two. It falls to them to unravel secrets spanning generations—and several of their own—if they want to make it back alive.
Introducing Margot Chandler...
Name: Margot Chandler, age 39, married (at the moment)
Occupation: Hollywood Film Producer, Los Angeles
Need to know: Big sister to Evie Mead who lives 5,000 miles away in England and who just lost her husband
When my little sister called to tell me that Robert had literally dropped dead whilst eating his morning cornflakes, I didn’t think twice and was on a plane that very night.
I didn’t care how much a ticket from LA to London cost. This was Evie we were talking about. She was distraught and needed me. True, my husband pointed out that I should have flown economy (money has been a bit tight recently), but seriously, why fly economy when I can fly first class?
Surprisingly, Brian suggested that I stayed as long as I liked. That suggestion should have been a big red flag but then it’s only with hindsight that you remember things like that. All I could think about was being there for my sister.
I always had my doubts about Evie’s marriage to Robert Mead. Sure, he was charming, charismatic and definitely seemed to make her happy but he was … well … too old for her. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with marrying someone who grew up with the Beatles. I mean, look at Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones? Their age gap is bigger and they’ve been married for over twenty years.
Those twelve hours on the plane gave me time to think about our relationship. Evie and I had been so close growing up and saw each other every day, even when we moved to London and she worked for the art gallery and I worked in PR. And then I met Brian and he whisked me off to Hollywood.
Over the last nine years Evie and I had hardly seen each other. Our daily phone calls became weekly phone calls and then dwindled down to once a month. The eight-hour time difference didn’t help. In fact when I really thought about it, I hadn’t actually spent any quality time with my sister for at least two whole years. I felt a terrible pang of guilt. I’d always promised Mum and Dad that I would take care of her.
But here I am now, standing on the deck of a ferry that smells of vom, (Evie’s childhood word for puke not mine), on a freezing cold November day en route for a tiny island twenty-eight miles off the southwest coast of Cornwall to scope out a mysterious hotel that Evie claims never to have heard of but apparently Robert left her in his Will.
I glance over at my sister’s pale face and my heart just goes out to her. I can’t bear to see her so unhappy. I want to make her laugh again and see her smile. At that moment, she turned to me, clutching a motion sickness bag and said, “I’m so happy you came Margot. We’re girls-on-tour aren’t we?”
“You bet,” I grinned. “You’re going to be fine. Just you see. No one knows what life has in store for any of us.”
Prophetic words indeed!
About Hannah Dennison
Hannah Dennison was born and raised in Hampshire but spent more than two decades living in California. She has been an obituary reporter, antique dealer, private jet flight attendant and Hollywood story analyst. For many years Hannah taught mystery writing workshops at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program in Los Angeles, California.
Hannah writes the Honeychurch Hall Mysteries and the Vicky Hill Mysteries both set in the wilds of the Devonshire countryside where she now lives with her two high-spirited Hungarian Vizslas.
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