{"id":4065,"date":"2021-06-04T09:21:39","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T16:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=4065"},"modified":"2021-06-04T09:21:39","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T16:21:39","slug":"murder-on-the-beach-a-destination-murders-short-story-anthology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/murder-on-the-beach-a-destination-murders-short-story-anthology\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder on the Beach: A Destination Murders Short Story Anthology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This is a perfect summer read \u2013 short stories are the perfect thing for waits in the car, on a line, at an airport or yes \u2013 on the beach before you drift into a sun infused nap.\u00a0 They are even perfect for lunch breaks at the office.\u00a0 Have lunch, read a whole story.\u00a0 Stories are kind of like poetry in that they can\u2019t waste words, are, as the description tells the reader, short, and really must pack a punch and a memory into a short space of time.<\/p>\n

These were all fun reads, all set on different beaches from the east coast to Cabo San Lucas (a yummy destination to read about in Eleanor Cawood Jones\u2019 Cabo San Loco<\/em>).\u00a0 In keeping with the summer theme these were all on the lighter side, some of the stories not even involving a murder.\u00a0 One of the most successful stories, A Tale of Two Sisters<\/em> by Barb Goffman, has no murder, just some petty theft.<\/p>\n

Goffman\u2019s story is set at the narrator\u2019s sister\u2019s wedding \u2013 as the sister tries to make sure the day goes smoothly for the bride, her borrowed from an aunt\u2019s wedding tiara keeps going missing, and practical sister Robin hares off after a variety of nefarious cousins and uncles who are bent on retrieving the beautiful (and valuable) tiara for themselves.\u00a0 Goffman really nails the feel of a wedding and the intrigue of family while keeping a light, humorous hand at the controls. Great way to spend your lunch hour.<\/p>\n

Another successful and beach drenched read is Shari Randall\u2019s Footprints in the Sand, <\/em>which finds former ballerina Allegra out for her morning swim and discovering not just giant footprints in the sand but a beautiful (and huge) diamond ring.\u00a0 As she and her Aunt Gully set out to investigate, the tricky and clever story takes Allegra from the beach to the jewelers to the front of a police cruiser to her dad\u2019s beach house.\u00a0 Randall really has the feel of a small New England town, and the proceedings \u2013 footprint of a sea monster included \u2013 are suitably mysterious.<\/p>\n

All of the writers tell a good story, and the beaches they describe, whether homey or fancy, are totally inviting, but perhaps none as inviting as Cabo San Lucas in Cawood Jones\u2019 Cabo San Loco, <\/em>where a group of friends who met on jury duty are treated to a vacation \u2013 complete with bucket list \u2013 by their ultra-wealthy friend, Bean.\u00a0 A series of small but ominous mishaps keep the vacation from being picture perfect, but the story is a good one, and you\u2019ll probably end up as fond of Bean as I was \u2013 and you\u2019ll probably wish she was your friend, too.<\/p>\n

All of these stories, no matter where they are set, dead body or no, provide two wonderful things: a great location, and an array of characters who would be great friends or who may remind you (and cause you to appreciate more) friends and family you already have.\u00a0 That\u2019s certainly the gift to readers on the part of the cozy mystery.\u00a0 Do yourself a favor and spend your lunch break at the beach.<\/p>\n

This is a kindle only read, last I checked, available\u00a0for $.99.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a perfect summer read \u2013 short stories are the perfect thing for waits in the car, on a line, at an airport or yes \u2013 on the beach before you drift into a sun infused nap.\u00a0 They are even perfect for lunch breaks at the office.\u00a0 Have lunch, read a whole story.\u00a0 Stories … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[592,596,593,591,590,588,589,594,595,85],"class_list":["post-4065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-barb-goffman","tag-cathy-wiley","tag-eleanor-cawood-jones","tag-karen-cantwell","tag-lucy-carol","tag-murder-on-the-beach","tag-ritter-ames","tag-shari-randall","tag-shawn-reilly-simmons","tag-short-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4065"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4067,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4065\/revisions\/4067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}