THE LOST LETTERS FROM MARTHA'S VINEYARD

A breezy, atmospheric novel dripping with secrets.

When their beloved grandma Nan dies, sisters Kit and Claire O’Neill must empty out her house in suburban New York. In the attic (where else?), Kit discovers artifacts revealing their grandmother’s hidden life as a young movie star in Hollywood. Kit, now a cable news producer, and Claire were raised by Nan after their parents died. Stunned by what she’s uncovered, Kit vows to learn how Nebraska-bred Edith Stoppelmoor became Tinseltown’s Mercy Welles...and then left it all behind. The novel shifts back and forth in time, from Mercy’s exploits circa 1959 to Kit’s sleuthing in 2018 and beyond. An up-and-comer in Hollywood, Mercy already has an Oscar nomination when we meet her. But after she finds out her fiance is two-timing her, she decides to take some time off in Martha’s Vineyard, the fabled island off the coast of Massachusetts. There she meets Ren Sewards, an oyster fisherman estranged from his wealthy family. The two fall in love, and Mercy becomes involved in some serious island intrigue that may involve a killing or two. (A key scene takes place on Chappaquiddick, the tiny nearby island where Sen. Ted Kennedy famously drove his car off a bridge, triggering a major scandal.) Meanwhile, Kit is piecing together Mercy’s story and ultimately winds up on the Vineyard herself, where she meets an attractive young man who could be connected to the decades-old mysteries. Callahan does a nice job describing the Vineyard and its storied past. While his dialogue is stilted in places, and there are a couple of lapses in logic (would Ren really know that Humphrey Bogart line from Casablanca?), the tight plotting carries you along.

While it isn’t deep, it’s smooth and suspenseful—and hard to stop reading once you’ve begun.