Title: The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery, Women’s Fiction
Length: 480 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Weekenders comes a delightful new novel about new love, old secrets, and the kind of friendship that transcends generations.
When ninety-nine-year-old heiress Josephine Bettendorf Warrick summons Brooke Trappnell to Talisa Island, her 20,000 acre remote barrier island home, Brooke is puzzled. Everybody in the South has heard about the eccentric millionaire mistress of Talisa, but Brooke has never met her. Josephine’s cryptic note says she wants to discuss an important legal matter with Brooke, who is an attorney, but Brooke knows that Mrs. Warrick has long been a client of a prestigious Atlanta law firm.
Over a few meetings, the ailing Josephine spins a tale of old friendships, secrets, betrayal and a long-unsolved murder. She tells Brooke she is hiring her for two reasons: to protect her island and legacy from those who would despoil her land, and secondly, to help her make amends with the heirs of the long dead women who were her closest friends, the girls of The High Tide Club—so named because of their youthful skinny dipping escapades—Millie, Ruth and Varina. When Josephine dies with her secrets intact, Brooke is charged with contacting Josephine’s friends’ descendants and bringing them together on Talisa for a reunion of women who’ve actually never met.
The High Tide Club is Mary Kay Andrews at her Queen of the Beach Reads best, a compelling and witty tale of romance thwarted, friendships renewed, justice delivered, and true love found.
Review:
Weaving seamlessly back and forth in time, The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews is an engrossing novel that features touching friendships and an intriguing mystery.
In 1941, Josephine Bettendorf, Millie Updegraff, Ruth Mattingly and Varina Shaddix are close friends who are as thick as thieves. However, Millie’s engagement party celebrating her upcoming wedding to Russell Strickland is a turning point in their friendship. The mystery surrounding Russell’s inexplicable disappearance from Josephine’s family’s island has endured for decades. All of the women but Varina went on to marry and over the years, the women stopped speaking to one another.
In the present, ninety-nine year old Josephine Bettendorf Warrick lives in the house her father built on picturesque island off the Georgia coast. Full of regret for events in the past, she asks lawyer Brooke Trappnell to ensure her property will not be purchased by the state and added an existing state park. Josephine also requests Brooke track down Millie, Ruth and Varina, all of whom she has been estranged from for decades. Fully realizing the women are most likely no longer alive, Brooke nonetheless sets out to locate them. Ruth has indeed passed away, but Brooke convinces her granddaughter, Lizzie Quinlan, to meet with Josephine. Varina is still living and along with her great niece, Felicia, they also join Lizzie at Josephine’s estate. Millie has also passed on, but Brooke locates her daughter and invites her to the meeting where Josephine begins recounting the events of the past. However, right before she can clear up the mystery of what happened to Russell, Josephine passes away, leaving the fate of her estate up in the air.
Brooke is a single mother to three year old son, Henry. She is barely eking out a living in the small town in which she lives and she is definitely curious when Josephine summons her to the island. When she discovers there is a conflict of interest with one of her new client’s requests, Brooke enlists the aid of her former mentor and boss, Gabe Wynant, to take care of those duties. Despite Josephine’s death, Brooke and Gabe continue working together to try to fulfill her last wishes. Along with Lizzie and Felicia, Brooke tries to prove a stunning claim that could have unexpected ramifications for Josephine’s estate if it turns out to be true. In the midst of all of the uncertainty surrounding her client’s affairs, Brooke’s life is complicated by an unexpected romance and the sudden appearance of someone from her unresolved past.
With a delightful cast of endearing characters, an idyllic setting and a perplexing mystery, The High Tide Club is a captivating novel. This well-plotted story moves at a brisk pace and the events from the past are just as fascinating as the ones in the present. As the storyline unfolds, long held secrets are revealed through riveting flashbacks that whisk readers back to the 1940s. Mary Kay Andrews brings the novel to an exciting, jaw-dropping conclusion that wraps up all of the various story arcs. A wonderful novel that I absolutely loved and highly recommend.
