THE SALTY DOG

A grieving novelist finds a new community, and new romance, when she journeys to St. Croix for a fresh start in Boston’s novel.

Chicagoan Rose Quinlan is a writer of romance novels, but she’s not a very successful one. When her husband, Dalton, dies unexpectedly, she decides to use some of the sizable life insurance payout to take a vacation to St. Croix they’d planned together. Her agent, Marcy Todd, suggests she purposely go missing while she’s there in order to generate interest in her books. Rose is unsure about this plan, but she goes along with it anyway and soon finds herself off the grid in St. Croix, drawn to a local dive bar called The Salty Dog Tavern and its owner, Patch. It’s at this point that the novel begins to take many twists and turns: Rose wins the bar in a poker game, and her estranged brother, Ian Cartwright, pursues a plan to murder Rose and claim her estate. Ian blackmails Benny Richardson, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois, to try and do his dirty work. However, when Benny actually meets Rose in person, he’s immediately drawn to her, which changes his perspective. Boston weaves a highly complex tale that not only draws on romance and thriller tropes, but also offers a serious meditation on the wide range of human relationships that can be the basis of a family. At times, the pacing of the story feels uneven, with occasionally excessive exposition diminishing the effect of some of the novel’s darker aspects. However, Rose is a compelling central character with sensitive characterization that will keep readers rooting for her as she transitions from widow to successful business owner to newly inspired novelist.

An engaging story of new beginnings with a strong protagonist and a well-earned happy ending.