DEATH, ISLAND STYLE

A widow tries to rebuild her life only to have her past come back to haunt her.

After the mysterious death of her husband leaves her broke and floundering, MaryBeth Cashour moves to Sandy Shores Island. Her mother, who died from cancer soon after Bernie disappeared, has left her not only the paperwork showing that she was adopted, but enough money to purchase a Christmas shop. MaryBeth has no relatives or friends and not much self-esteem, but all that changes when she finds a body floating in the surf. She becomes the prime suspect when the police learn that the dead man may have connections to her past life in Maryland. Befriended by Daisy Pearl, who owns the sweet shop next door, and hunky pharmacist Russ Marchone, MaryBeth struggles to make sense of her past, which is considerably complicated when she discovers that her husband was either a gangster or a government agent with another wife and two children. Her house and shop are broken into, and she is stalked by people who will stop at nothing to find what they think she’s hiding and are utterly unconcerned about her low self-esteem.

In a departure from her Cleopatra Jones series (On the Nickel, 2011, etc.), Toussaint creates a gutsy heroine whose struggles with murder and romance add up to a very enjoyable read.