Emerald Coast Affairs

by Kristin Daryl

Two tiny secrets could unravel life as she knew it. How hard will she work to discover the truth?

Oakley Ray has more dolphins for friends than humans. Her serene life on the Emerald Coast of Florida takes. turn when her father dies unexpectedly and she discovers, at his funeral, that he might not be her real father. As Oakley navigates unsteady waters, delving into the past, she stumbles upon the medical examiner's report from her mother's death--a tragic fall from a balcony when Oakley was two years old. What happened to her mother that night? Was it really just an accident? And who is her real father? As Oakley uncovers threats from the past, she races to find the truth before the truth finds her.

321 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2023

Reviews

[Tammy Vetter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!! Couldn’t put it down!!!

[Carolyn Breckinridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Kristin Daryl weaves a riveting intergenerational mystery in her suspense-filled novel, Emerald Coast Affairs. As the story opens, high school graduate Oakley Ray is freshly grieving her father’s unexpected death. She is sitting in the family’s kitchen, vaguely aware of women coming and going with food and condolences. Her loss is incomprehensible because Brian Ray has been her entire world. Her mother, Debbie, died when Oakley was a toddler, the apparent victim of a fall from a hotel room balcony during a party. Her late-mother’s reputation as a party-girl, a wild date, and a heavy social drinker supports the accounts of her accidental death. Oakley’s feelings of loss are compounded by gossip among a group of women who do not realize she is listening from the kitchen. Brian, she hears, was not her biological father. Although she wishes to ‘unhear’ this information, the words set her upon a path of research and supposition as she seeks to learn the truth about Brian’s true role in her life. It is a group of his papers she finds stuck away in the house, however, that becomes a highly-dangerous focus in her investigation. Her mother’s death, she learns, may not have been accidental. Skillfully crafted through alternating scenes of Oakley’s and Debbie’s lives as Oakley and her friends seek to solve these daunting family mysteries, the author has created a poignant tale of love. Love of a mother Oakley never knew, of a father who tenderly raised her, of grandparents, of friends, and of blossoming romantic possibilities. And in Debbie’s life, a thirst for love she desperately tries to quench. Ways personal histories within families intersect, dissect, and help create identities are beautifully depicted within this book. Was Brian Oakley’s birth father? If not, who was? Was her mother’s death an accident? Or was Debbie the victim of murder? Who in the family and within the community knows the answers to these questions? And who is threatening Oakley and her friends with harm as they embark upon ways to answer these questions? Emerald Coast Affairs is an exceptional and highly-crafted story. Hands-down, a five-star read.

[WB (Walt) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kristin Daryl writes mysteries – damn good ones. Her novel Emerald Coast Affairs places you in the head of Oakley Ray, a young woman stricken with grief at the recent loss of her father. As the family gathers after the funeral, Oakley remains dazed, lingering in the memories of good times until she is pulled back into reality by the sounds of laughter. She listens from the shadows as her aunt and her friends gossip about the timing of Oakley’s birth. The chin-waggers are always around at times like that. You know the type, patting themselves on the back for figuring out the real truth, and being sure that everyone around them knows it too, no matter who it hurts.

And just like that, the author masterfully lets you and Oakley in on the dirty secret that her much-loved father probably wasn’t her real father after all. That her long-dead mother probably was already pregnant before she ever began dating her father. Just like that, the author sweeps you along into a journey with Oakley to find her real father, to find out if her mother’s suspicious fall from a hotel balcony was really an accident or something much more sinister. She isn’t prepared for what she finds.

Kristin Daryl spent many summers along the Emerald Coast of Florida. The setting will be familiar to many of her readers who will find the juxtaposition of their sun-filled memories with this tale of buried secrets a bit unsettling but highly intriguing. But that’s what a good mystery should do

[Shannon Vitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars from me overall. I actually really liked being able to put myself in the setting since I’m familiar with PCB in general. Otherwise, it felt like a pretty average read for me.

A decent mystery, but not one that felt unpredictable or really stress inducing. I also crave a book where I cannot predict the ending, and I caught the scent of this ending very early on which maybe spoiled the experience for me a bit at the end.

I will say that it’s a very easy and quick beach read, so if you enjoy those sorts of novels, this would be a great one for you to read! That’s just not typically the style of writing I gravitate towards these days.

[Nina Schroeter · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Read this one for a book club pick. It was an easy read, and it had me coming back to it to find out the truth about the death of her mother and the true identity of her biological father. However, with all the built-up suspense, in the end, the conclusion wasn't a mind-blowing surprise ending as the author made it out to seem.

[Josh McGuff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read! Every time I thought I figured it out, I was wrong. It was a great book that kept me guessing.

[Nancy Carr · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok.