Liz Holt is bewitched, bothered, and bewildered when a wicked killer objects to a wiccan wedding . . . Island life can get pretty weird. Wiccan weddings, psychic brides, mermaid parades, eccentric parrots . . . Novelist Liz Holt has gotten used to it since moving back to the barrier island of Melbourne Beach, Florida, and once again working in her family’s hotel and emporium, the Indialantic by … hotel and emporium, the Indialantic by the Sea. But one thing she’ll never get used to is murder.
Groom-to-be and leader of the Sunshine Wiccan Society, white warlock Julian Rhodes is poisoned at his rehearsal dinner on the hotel’s sightseeing cruiser. His psychic bride, Dorian Starwood, never saw it coming. An old friend of Liz’s great-aunt Amelia, the celebrity psychic engages Liz to find out who intended to kill her intended. With her Macaw, Barnacle Bob, squawking “Pop Goes the Weasel” at Dorian’s pet ferret, and the streets teeming with mermaids in tails, Liz has got to wade through the weirdness and cast a wide net for the killer—before she’s the next one to sleep with the fishes . . .
Recipes included!
Praise for Kathleen Bridge
“A delightful sneak peek into life in the Hamptons, with intricate plotting and a likeable, down-to-earth protagonist. A promising start to a promising series.”
—Suspense Magazine on Better Homes and Corpses
“The descriptions of furniture and other antiques, as well as juicy tidbits on the Hamptons, make for entertaining reading for those who enjoy both antiques and lifestyles of the rich and famous.”
—Booklist on Better Homes and Corpses
“An excellent read.”
—RT Book Reviews on Hearse and Gardens
“Ghostal Living is a marvelously entertaining tale of revenge, murder, quirky characters—and disappearing books! With a clever protagonist, wonderful details of life in the Hamptons, and plot twists on top of plot twists, Kathleen Bridge will have mystery readers clamoring for more.”
—Kate Carlisle, New York Times bestselling author
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“Evil By The Sea” the 4th instalment in the (A by the Sea Mysteries Series) by Kathleen Bridge. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan on reading the complete series. Even though it can be read as a standalone I do recommend reading in order.
Even though this is the first book I have read in the series I was able to follow along easily and having the character list in the beginning really helped. I really enjoyed it and practically read in one sitting and have since purchased the other books in the series.
The protagonist Liz is really likeable and the rest of the eccentric family characters at the Indialantic were fun, plus I loved all the fur babies. The barrier island of Melbourne Beach, Florida and the Indialantic seemed fun and an interesting place to visit or even live.
There are plenty of twists and turns in this story, and I kept guessing and second-guessing myself on whodunnit right to the very end. The story moves at a steady pace, and I had a hard time putting it down.
I recommend this book to all my cozy lover friends, and fans of Kathleen Bridge’s A Hamptons Home & Garden Mystery series.
I requested and received an advance reader copy of this book from Lyrical Press and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’m hooked on the By the Sea Mystery series! This fourth story is fun and compelling as protagonist Liz Holt assists her Aunt Amelia in hosting a wedding party at their beachside hotel in Melbourne Beach, Florida. One of Amelia’s old friends is in danger. I always enjoy the regular cast of eccentric characters who must mix with the small pool of suspects in this intriguing cozy. If you enjoy beach settings, quirky characters, and pets in your cozy reading, EVIL BY THE SEA should be on your Wish List! Savory recipes are provided after the story.
I honestly reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and Kensington Lyrical. Thank you.
The Indialantic by the Sea hotel is getting ready to host a wedding. Auntie’s friend plans to marry a younger man who claims to be a white witch. Though the wedding party is small, there is such a huge amount of strange things happening around them. All of the quirky characters we’ve come to love return for this fun adventure. The setting is someplace I would definitely love to visit and I love how the characters work together to find clues and solve the mystery. So many fun quirky characters and their quirky animal sidekicks, including a visiting ferret. Definitely read the series in order to enjoy getting to know the characters. I love this series and am looking forward to their next adventure.
A fun story set on a beautiful barrier island of Florida! Liz’s aunt’s hotel, The Indialantic By the Sea, is hosting the wedding of Aunt Amelia’s old psychic friend, Dorian, and her groom-to-be, Julian, who is part of the Sunshine Wiccan Society. Things don’t start off well when Julian, Dorian’s children, Dorian’s money advisor, and Julian’s supposed cousin, Wren, all arrive. With the mermaid festival going on at the same time, it’s a lot for Aunt Amelia and Liz to handle. During the wedding rehearsal dinner on the inn’s boat, Julian ends up dead. Now, Liz and her boyfriend, Ryan, as well as inn resident, Betty, are looking into all of the guests and Julian to see who could have killed the man. Julian had seemed controlling and the Wiccan Society seemed to be a bit suspicious as well. I love this charming little beach inn and Liz and Aunt Amelia. It sounds like a wonderful place to visit. This mystery was definitely intriguing and had me guessing which one of the wedding guests could have been the killer. I look forward to more stories at the Indialantic and seeing what’s next for Liz, Aunt Amelia, Ryan, and the rest of the group at the inn.
Fun beach setting. Interesting characters and intriguing mystery. It’s book 4 in the By the Sea Mystery series. I haven’t read the books in the series, but I was able to follow along without any problems. I very much recommend.
Thank you to thepublisher, Kensington/Lyrical Press, and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor.
Evil by the Sea earns 5/5 Mermaid Tails…Engaging Fun!
I am a fan of Kathleen Bridge’s A By the Sea Mystery series, and book four with its mermaid legends, solstice celebration, and Wicca wedding was way too fascinating to pass up. Newbies can start her, but do ready the rest of the series to see how characters have evolved and predicaments are solved. Liz and the staff at the Indialantic by the Sea Hotel and Emporium are all excited and very busy with the annual Mystical Merfest approaching and Aunt Amelia’s long-time friend Dorian Starwood’s Wicca wedding. Mermaid folklore makes it the perfect theme for wearing costumes and reveling. Dory is a very famous, and wealthy, psychic who is set to marry the much younger Julian Rhodes, a white warlock and Wiccan leader of the Sunshine Wicca Society. They met only a few months ago, and his preference for a small, intimate ceremony isn’t quite what Dorian wanted. But her vision, or dream, has her more anxious than the proverbial “pre-wedding jitters.” It’s the least of everyone’s worries with the appearance of an uninvited guest, a dark figure skulking around the property, Dorian’s son and daughter far from best friends, and then…at the rehearsal dinner cruise, the groom ends up dead!
The drama is well-written in a third-person narrative filled with descriptive language creating marvelous images and entangled in secrets, family issue, greed, and several business issues. Although the murder mystery occurs later than I prefer, it was excellent fun to try and weed through all the suspects…with an ultimate surprise ending! It’s the characters about whom I look forward reading. Liz is great, bruised a bit from her past, but she’s strong, clever, and a realistic lead. Family is fun, (I love Aunt Amelia). The “fur” and “feather” friends play prominent roles, too, whether to assist, rescue, or just mess things up; they are lots of fun, especially Barnacle Bob! Great tale with a karmic twist! Bonus! Kathleen Bridge provides a delicious bonus with three easy-to-follow recipes. It’s exciting that the recipes aren’t random, but actually connected to Sam’s Island Eats Food Truck: Savory Grilled Cheese, Chicken Sandwich, and Apple Pie Fries.
Liz Holt, a writer, is living in Melbourne Beach Florida at the family run hotel. Her Aunt Amelia is here at the Indialantic Hotel. Liz loves her. When her Aunt’s psychic,Dorian Starwood, and her Wiccan fiancée decided to hold their nuptials at the hotel, Aunt Amelia is thrilled. It will be a very special event. However, plans change when the groom-to-be is murdered. The police are at the hotel investigating the crime. Liz wants to help her Aunt so she and her PI boyfriend start looking into Julian’s murder. Did someone want the white warlock dead or were they trying to kill Dorian? All the suspects were at the hotel. Liz knows that she can help by questioning those people with motives. Ryan is there to assist and keep Liz safe. I liked all the characters especially Aunt Amelia. Her stories about being a character actress in 1960s television kept me entertained. I remember the shows she mentioned which brought back happy memories, but the mystery kept me reading. The twists were plentiful and so were the suspects. I didn’t know until the very end who committed the crime. Kathleen Bridge has a fast paced and exciting writing style that I enjoyed. The setting was beautiful, the hotel enchanting and the mystery puzzling. I couldn’t ask for more.
I received a copy of this book which I voluntarily read and reviewed. My comments are my honest opinion.
At a small barrier island in Florida, Liz and her great-aunt, and an assortment of miscellaneous characters live. This weekend is a psychic-wiccan wedding and a mermaid festival. As you can see life isn’t dull. The bride and groom seem to have issues. When there’s a murder at the rehearsal dinner, everyone is busy trying to find the killer.
This is the second book I’ve read in this series. I enjoy the characters and love the setting.
What can be more fun than to escape to the Indialantic Hotel on Melbourne Beach, Florida and spend time with Liz and her great aunt Amelia plus a wonderful cast of hotel residents and locals. Just what I needed in these trying times. Liz is working hard to make the Mermaid Parade and festival a roaring success and one of her great aunt Amelia’s long time friends is going to have her wedding there. Sounds normal but, in the world of the Indialantic Hotel, normal takes a back seat. The bride is a psychic senior citizen who is going to marry a white warlock, leader of the Sunshine Wiccan Society. Oh and he’s twenty-five years her junior. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty. The list of people who have a beef with him is longer than Barnacle Bob’s tail feathers. (I love that Macaw) The soon to be dead groom is hiding something – he’s insistent on having a very small wedding, that only a tiny group join them for their night before the wedding boat cruise and even his bride is being controlled. There is something fishy going on and it comes as no surprise that he dies at dinner.
There are a lot of characters but it’s not hard to keep them straight. The puzzle is wonderfully intricate with twists and turns and blind alleys to stumble down in the readers quest to figure out who dunnit. It did take the first 25% of the book to get to the killing but there was a lot to set up and I was fine with that.
This is the fourth book in the series and I would say it can be read as a stand alone but a new reader would get much more out of the connections between the characters if they start with the first book. I already have a spot on my TBR list for book #5.
My thanks to the publisher Lyrical Press and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
From Lyrical Underground comes a new addition to Kathleen Bridge’s “A By The Sea Mystery” series, Evil By The Sea.
Aunt Amelia may not be the main character, but she is the most interesting. Her way of referring back to her heyday as a movie and television star whenever an odd occurrence comes up, or a murder investigation keeps readers smiling. In this quirky cozy, most of the characters have great personalities and are more than willing to lend a helping hand when Liz gets involved with solving a crime.
I say that this book is a quirky cozy because it doesn’t fit into any particular genre within cozy book categories. It is a standard murder mystery, a paranormal mystery but has no ghosts, and even a witchcraft based mystery all rolled into one. All of these things are also what makes this book a page-turner and hard to put down.
Evil By The Sea is an adventure where nothing is as it seems. We have psychics who apparently can’t really see the future but are good at guessing. We have business owners who are willing to overlook the obvious and do whatever is needed to keep their guests happy and paying their bills. To say the least, the characters are quirky, or maybe I should say they are oddballs in every way, which makes them a delight to read about. The victim is not liked but not necessarily a bad guy. The suspects are all a little demonish worthy, and when the killer is revealed, it comes as no big surprise to the reader, but a massive surprise to some of the characters.
All in all, this cozy book stands on its own, has great entertainment value, and keeps the story in line and on target. Readers will love the characters and the location and will crave more. I am happy to recommend this book and series to readers who delight in quirky stories and fun-filled action.
Quirky characters, twisty mystery, sunny locale, warm, cozy feeling that you know nothing God-awful is going to happen, just what we need right now. This is the 4th book in the author’s By The Sea series and I loved it. It’s the kind of series where the characters and the surroundings stay in your head even after you’ve finished the book. She is so good at explaining the location and making the characters come to life that I feel like if I go to the beachside, I’ll run into Aunt Amelia and Liz. Then on top of that the author writes a twisty story with a true mystery. I like the TV references and cozy feeling I have when reading. These books don’t need to be read in a row but it’s more fun to gobble one up after another, first in series to this one. I can’t wait for book 5.
Book four of this series another fun book with a good plot and storyline . I loved the characters made me laugh picturing them in my mind I have not read the rest of the series but am going back to read them . This book can be read alone but I think reading the others will make it even better hope there will be more of these
Was looking for something different to read during this lockdown crisis, and the cover and blurb caught my eye. While reading, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this eccentric cast of characters that made for a fun grown up Nancy Drew type mystery! Evil by the Sea is the first whodunit I’ve read by this author, and look forward to investigating more of her stories! Would recommend to fans of this genre!
**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **
I really enjoy this series and was happy to dive into an ARC of the next book. Ms. Bridge has written a wonderful cast of diverse, quirky characters and set them in a great setting – the Icelandic by the Sea. I was engaged from the start and was happy to catch up with Liz, Ryan and the rest of the gang. Once again, there is a murder at the hotel and Liz is determined to solve it for Dorian – a close friend of her great Aunt Amelia. Each character is developing and growing nicely. The relationships between the cast of characters are warm and genuine. I enjoy Liz as a sleuth, but sometimes she can be just a bit nosy which results in getting herself in trouble.
The mystery was well done. The victim was not well-liked and came off a rude before he was bumped off. While the suspect pool is small, the author does a nice job of creating enough doubt that as a reader I was never quite sure if I guessed the identity of the killer correctly. There was a nice little twist thrown in at the end that I didn’t anticipate, which is always nice.
This is a terrific series. It has great characters, solid mystery and is an easy, fun read.
I voluntarily reviewed a digital advanced review copy provided to me by the publisher, Kensington, through Netgalley.
Evil by the Sea by Kathleen Bridge is the fourth book in her By the Sea series and was another stellar story by Ms. Bridge. I was drawn into the story from the first page.
I love each one of these characters and look forward to each new addition. Aunt Amelia is quirky and fun. I enjoy the numerous references to the television shows and actors that Amelia was a part of during her prolific acting career. Liz has grown so much in each one of these books. I like to see her coming out of shell. A quickly paced plot, several suspects and a few twists and turns that lead to a dramatic resolution. I’m already looking forward to the next one in this series.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book from Lyrical Underground via NetGalley. All of the above opinions are my own.
friendship, amateur-sleuth, law-enforcement, private-investigators, family-dynamics, murder-investigation, florida, barrier-islands, psychics
It all happens at a beautiful restored family hotel on one of the barrier islands of Florida. Mystery novelist Liz whose love interest is a PI, her father is a lawyer, his fiancee who is a police detective, her own rescued parrot (prone to voicing obscenities), but it’s her Aunt Amelia who was an actress in many of the mid century TV shows whose friend is remarrying to a rather inauspicious but charismatic much younger man that is the center of all the activity. The publisher’s blurb is a pretty good hook, but there’s lots more to recommend the plot with its twists and red herrings than meets the eye. I admit that I enjoyed another in the series, but there is enough clear referencing to make this one enjoyable all by itself! I loved it and couldn’t stop until finished!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books/Lyrical Press via NetGalley. Thank you!