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Whiskey Beach

Review

Whiskey Beach

When Eli Landon found his estranged wife, Lindsay, brutally murdered in their Boston home, he knew he would be the number one suspect. Lindsay's extramarital affair and their impending divorce certainly appeared to outsiders to give him a solid motive for murder. Fortunately, in spite of how things looked, the prosecutor never gathered sufficient evidence to bring suit against Eli in the time since Lindsay's death.

With his career as a prominent criminal defense lawyer in tatters, Eli heads to the only refuge he knows: his family home, Bluff House. Situated high on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Bluff House is his grandmother's home and a place he has not visited often enough in recent years. When his grandmother takes a dangerous tumble that leaves her injured and in need of medical care and rehabilitation, Eli promises to stay at Bluff House and tend to the place that he and his family hold so dear. At the same time, he plans to work on the novel he began in order to divert his thoughts from the harsh reality of his life.

"WHISKEY BEACH is an intriguing novel placed in an inviting setting that easily encourages readers to lose themselves for hours at a time in its pages."

Thin, wan and exhausted, Eli wants nothing more than to rest and heal after the traumatic experiences of the last year. He also wants to be left alone. Much to his initial irritation, his grandmother's young, attractive neighbor, Abra Walsh, isn't willing to give him the solitude he requires. 

Abra --- a massage therapist, jewelry artisan and yoga instructor --- also picks up a few extra bucks cleaning and shopping for Eli's grandmother, Hester. In Hester's absence, Abra is continuing her efforts on Eli's behalf. Before he knows what's happened, Abra is cooking for him, massaging him (professionally, of course), and drawing Eli out of himself and back into the world around him.

While Eli wants to solve the mystery of Lindsay's murder and clear his name, he never dreamed that the case would follow him to Bluff House. He has barely unpacked his bags when a private detective, hired by an unknown client, appears in town and begins asking the locals probing questions about Eli.

An attack on an innocent victim, a mystery surrounding a legendary, historic treasure supposedly hidden in Bluff House, and numerous twists and turns soon have Eli and Abra determined to get to the bottom of the alarming happenings taking place under their noses. As the stakes rise, they realize that they're dealing with a diabolical individual who will stop at nothing to achieve his desires. Unfortunately for the couple, they stand between a madman and what he wants badly enough to kill for.

WHISKEY BEACH is an intriguing novel placed in an inviting setting that easily encourages readers to lose themselves for hours at a time in its pages. The warm family relationships that Eli enjoys, particularly his close bond with his grandmother and his budding romance with Abra, create a feeling of normalcy amidst the coldly scary mysteries that surround the couple. Nora Roberts hits the perfect combination of romance and suspense in her latest work.

Reviewed by Amie Taylor on April 19, 2013

Whiskey Beach
by Nora Roberts