Death's a Beach

A Jersey Shore Mystery #3

by Beth Sherman

A Brutal Storm Unearths A 20-Year-Old Secret...An out-of-season nor'easter tears across the New Jersey coast, and the beach community of Oceanside Heights is a mess. Ghostwriter Anne Hardaway's cottage-by-the-sea has seen better days to begin with, but she reluctantly decides to repair her rotting basement floor. Never mind that her newest assignment is writing a "how-to" home repair book for women--she still can barely tell a flat head from a Phillips, a lack of skill she's grateful for when her handy-man finds a twenty-year-old skeleton buried in the dirt beneath her basement's wooden floor.And The Forecast Calls For A Chance Of Scattered Murders

When her gruesome guest turns out to be the psychologist who treated her mother in the mid-70's, Anne must consider whether her own mother could have been the killer. Some discreet investigating soon leads Anne to Sunnydale Nursing Home where elderly clients are dying at an alarming rate and the staff makes Nurse Ratched look endearing. Before she can say riptide, Anne is hip deep in the residue of a killer storm and uncovering a tale of dark desire that makes the climate ripe for more murder.

Genres: Mystery

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 2000

About the author

Beth Sherman is a writer and editor based in New York City. She writes a bi-weekly column, "Design and Decor," for Newsday that gives decorating tips and home-related advice. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The New York Post, Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home Journal, Harper's Bazaar, Martha Stewart Living, Bride's, Fitness, Working Woman, House Beautiful, American Health, Parents, and many other publication. Dead Man's Float is her first mystery. She summers on the New Jersey shore.

Reviews

[Yesenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! It was an exciting and easy read.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as the others in this series. I'm also a little confused as to why the author changed the names of some of the local towns (Ocean Grove to Oceanside Heights, Asbury Park to Lansdown Park) while leaving others (Red Bank, Little Silver, Neptune) intact. The mystery part was okay, but the main character's relationship drama was a little unbelievable for a woman that age.

[Linda Rawlins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Death's a Beach is a quick, fun, beach read about a mystery which surfaces after a storm hits the Jersey Coast. Despite the storm ending in the ocean, the storm in the town of Oceanside has just begun.