BEACH READS AND DEADLY DEEDS

An idyllic island is the perfect setting for amour and murder.

A brief prologue follows lovestruck Diana Harden as she secretly climbs to the clifftop home of Ethan Valentine, the object of her affection, and an anonymous figure sneaks up behind her and strangles her with her own scarf. Cut to workaholic accountant Mia Crawford, on her way to the Caribbean for her “nonnegotiable anniversary bonus” and angling for romance. Her first-person narration bubbles as she meets a large group of tourists, including NFL team owner Nelson Stockton and his wife, Anja, along with friendly couple David and Doug. A newspaper article about the missing Diana piques her interest, further stimulated when she overhears an isolated remark: “You have until Friday or you’re dead.” Mia begins her vacation project of meeting men at the Blue Dahlia beachside bar by flirting with dreamy head bartender Jason Mallory, whose daredevil escapades might be a red flag. But details of Diana’s disappearance keep distracting Mia. The discovery of a book with writing in the margins and underlined passages proves to be a key clue. When Diana’s corpse washes up on shore, Mia, who never leaves home without a book, can’t help digging deeper. The addition of a literary quotation at the beginning of each chapter, a nod to Mia’s bibliophilia, adds a dash of panache to this volume. Brennan’s “romantic mystery” (as she describes it in the acknowledgments) is slight and shaggy and ebullient and largely set—where else?—on a beach.

A tropical romp that folds a frothy romance into a whodunit.