Imagine if a murder happened at Fawlty Towers, and you've got the setting of Danger at the Cove. Evie and Margot are two sisters trying to get a historic hotel in the Isles of Scilly set for it's grand re-opening, but a storm, an electrical re-wiring project, a missing staff member, and some unexpected guests seem to conspire against them. When a body is discovered, and the local constabulary show up, things rapidly go from bad to worst. Engaging book two in the Island Sisters Mystery series.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for access to a digital ARC via NetGalley.

I think I liked this even more than the first in the series. It was a fast, engaging mystery that pulled me in right away. Sisters Margot and Evie are almost ready to debut their boutique style hotel with old world vibes on Tregarrick Rock in the Isles of Scilly, off the Cornish coast. As a sort of preview, Margot reveals a friend, recently widowed, is coming for a visit. Louise turns out to be a tall order, lots of luggage and a lothario in tow. As the renovations are finalized, and the tide reveals the skeleton of a sunken ship, having not one but two members of the hotel group die is worrying. There is a bit of humor, a nice sense of sisterly bonds and a bit of secluded island a la Christie thrown in. I particularly chuckled when the local law, Patty, quoted Lee Corso. How would she know this?! A fun read. ( )

In Danger at the Cove, we meet a cast of characters involved in the re-opening of a local hotel on an isolated island. Two sisters have taken over stewardship of the hotel and are making improvements to reopen; one sister invites an old friend with Hollywood connections to stay, in the hopes that those connections might drum up interest for the hotel. A mysterious newcomer joins them with ideas about a business endeavor involving an old shipwreck and investor funding that seems a shade off.

The whole vibe of this book was sort of a cross between Murder on the Orient Express and Murder, She Wrote. The setting and characters created by Ms. Dennison are fun and quirky. I felt so immersed in the Tregarrick Rock Hotel, and felt as though I could see the cove and sea of the Isles of Scilly.

I enjoyed the slow pace and character building of Danger at the Cove; the style and tone of the writing feels like a lazy Sunday afternoon with a cuppa and a visit with your best friend.

Thanks to Hannah Dennison and Minotaur Books for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my review. ( )

I have to be honest and say that I began reading Danger at the Cove with a bit of trepidation because of my reaction to the first book in the series, Death at High Tide. In that first book, Evie's sister Margot was a Diva of the highest order, packing six months' worth of clothing for a weekend stay and demanding a herd of minions be constantly at her beck and call. I have no use for divas, especially when they're major series characters. Fortunately, all the renovations being done at the Tregarrick Rock Hotel have evidently knocked most of the diva out of Margot, and her high-end attitude is seen mainly in what she wants the hotel to become.

On the other hand, Evie is much more my type of character. She tends to be a bit more hesitant and doubtful of her own abilities than I'd like, but she's still mourning the death of her husband. Evie wants to take the hotel back to its glory days when it was a writers retreat, and I'm all for that. I loved the descriptions of some of the rooms in the old place, just as I enjoyed the ambiance and bits of history about the Isles of Scilly that Dennison weaved into her story. Anyway, what's not to like about shipwrecks, treasure, and clinging to the side of a cliff during a raging storm?

For anyone who does like divas, they can feast upon the character of Louise. Good old Louise. I wanted to wring her scrawny little neck but, knowing that she was just temporary, I was able to restrain myself.

What made me happy was that Danger at the Cove reminded me of my favorite Dennison series, the Honeychurch Hall mysteries... the way the characters play off each other, the gentle humor, the enjoyable mysteries to solve. If this is the direction these Island Sisters mysteries are going to take, I am going to be very happy indeed. Bring on book three!

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) ( )

cozy-mystery, island-life, Scilly, family-dynamics, friendship, innkeeper, secrets, law-enforcement, amateur-sleuth, murder, murder-investigation, red-herrings, relationship-issues, relationships, relics, restoration*****

The characters drove me batty because they were so (disgustingly) realistic! The publisher's blurb is excellent, and this is one of those books that proves the adage that books in series get better with each new one (unlike TV!). Trying to give a decent review without doing the spoiler thing is hard, so I'll just say that I loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )