Thursday, June 16, 2011

Shadows on the Sand-Gayle Roper

Shadows on the Sand
Gayle Roper
Multnomah, Jul 19 2011, $13.99
ISBN: 9781601420848

In Seaside, New Kersey, Carrie and Lindsay Carter run Carrie’s Café. The thirtyish Carrie is attracted to former cop and widower Greg Barnes, an early morning customer at the café, but he shows no indication he reciprocates. Both have had traumas in their life with she being a child abuse victim and his wife and children died three years ago in an explosion; so neither is capable of taking that first step. Greg is attacked, which awakens his cop instincts for the first since his family tragically died and much more when Carrie tends to his injuries.

Someone murders one of the dishwashers and a waitress vanishes. Greg’s gut thinks someone from his past has come to haunt him and anyone remotely in his sphere. He and Carrie investigate allowing each to reveal to the other their desires and fears, but both ponder whether they can take their attraction to the next level.

The first Seaside mystery is an exciting thriller starring two wounded warriors attracted to one another as an external threat breaks down their barriers. Carrie and Greg are terrific characters as each has to come to grips with their respective pasts including their anger at God though more so Greg as Carrie has used distance from her mom to forgive her mom but Lindsay hugs their mom. With a strong mystery and a deep character study, fans will appreciate Gayle Ropers engaging return to Seaside, New Jersey; the setting of the Seaside Seasons series (see Spring Rain).

Harriet Klausner

No comments: