REVIEW: Death by the Sea

Death by the Sea
Author: Kathleen Bridge

After a horribly public and violent breakup of her relationship with a best-selling novelist, Liz Holt returns home to Melbourne Beach, Florida and her family's island resort hotel. She grew up at the historic hotel, and it seemed the best place to go to recover her sanity following her disgrace in New York. She bears the scars of her old relationship, literally....and wants to leave all that behind and focus on her next book. The Indialantic Hotel is run by her Aunt Amelia and Liz's father. Amelia was an actress in the 50's and 60's and loves to tell stories about all the shows she was on and the actors she met. Liz settles back into life at the hotel, enjoying the touristy emporium shops and quirky guests. Just as Liz's life seems to be calming down, a wealthy and very difficult guest is found murdered in her suite at the hotel. It might have been a robbery...but what if it was murder? Liz has to be sure which...so she starts to investigate. Who wanted Regina Worth dead?

I loved all of the classic television and movie references in this book! I'm a huge Ghost and Mrs. Muir fan. I love the 1940's movie! But I had no idea there was a television show in the 1960's! A reference in this book led me to start watching the old show! It's wonderful! (It only had two seasons. But all episodes are available to watch on Youtube!) I think it's cute that Liz and her Aunt Amelia always compare their quirky guests to old television or movie actors. The hotel, movie references and discussion of classic movies and television make for a nice background theme!

Liz is great as a main character. She is dealing with personal problems stemming from her prior relationship, and is struggling to get her writing back on track. She's intelligent, strong and a brave person, but has her flaws just like anyone does. I like all the quirky side characters...Aunt Amelia who talks about her former acting career, Betty who wrote some of the Nancy Drew novels, The Captain with a weakness for the ladies, Pierre the Chef who is having memory problems......it's a great cast of characters! Quirky and sweet. :)

The mystery moved along at a nice pace. There were plenty of twists and surprises, although I wasn't very surprised at the murder's identity. This book is a great start to a new cozy mystery series! I'm definitely going to read the next book! I'm a huge classic radio, television and movie fan! This book was perfect for me!

Kathleen Bridge also writes the Hamptons Home & Gardens cozy series. The second book in the By the Sea Mystery series, A Killing By the Sea, will be out in September 2018!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own. **