The Old Cape Map

by Barbara Eppich Struna

There's treasure in Brewster on Cape Cod! Will Nancy Caldwell and her niece Jane find it? Or is Max Appletondesperate enough to risk everything and uncover the riches first? In the historical fiction, The Old Cape Map, best-selling author Barbara Eppich Struna takes you from Cape Cod to Millbury, Massachusetts and back. With timelines in 1900 and present day, this adventure is filled with suspense, secrets, and Spanish gold.
Honored with a Silver Award - Genre Fiction from IPNE

Genres: Mystery

323 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 2024

About the author

A storyteller at heart, Barbara bases her tales on her own personal experiences. She has created a contemporary character, an amateur sleuth, who becomes the vehicle that moves her stories between time periods in alternating chapters. Aided by Barbara's imagination and her love of history, myth, and legend, she continues to create winning novels.

Her first suspenseful historical, The Old Cape House, won "First Place - Historical Fiction, Royal Dragonfly Awards 2014", which led to the second, The Old Cape Teapot and the third, The Old Cape Hollywood Secret, also awarded, "First Place Historical Fiction - Royal Dragonfly Awards 2017", "Hollywood Book Festival - Genre Based 2017", "Finalist Fiction: Mystery/Suspense IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards 2018", "Finalist Eric Hoffer Book Award 2018", "Finalist/Suspense - 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards".

She is an International Best Selling Author, a Member in Letters of the National League of American Pen Women, International Thriller Writers, Panelist Thrillerfest 2016, IBPA, Sisters In Crime: National, New England, LA, and President of Cape Cod Writers Center. Always a journal writer, she is fascinated by history and writes a blog about the unique facts and myths of Cape Cod.

Reviews

[AnneOlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

this series was just the best.

This was the 5th book in the Old Cape Series. It did not disappoint. It held my interest all the way through as much as the preceding books in the series. Ms. Struna is a very good writer!!! Looking forward to more.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this mystery novel.

I was intrigued by the map on the cover, and it featured very heavily in the plot. The drawer of the map was a man with many valuable gold coins, related to his adventures with pirates in the 1800s. He hid them on the property around his house and made maps for each of the young girls who cleaned for him so they share some of his treasure. The rest he hid around his property, marking each cache with an X on his maps, and planned to give them to his little friends. But before he could explain about the maps to them, his house burned down and he died. Each girl found the two coins meant for each of them, but then hid the maps to the bulk of the coins and forgot about them.

In the present day, Nancy Caldwell is an experienced hunter of treasure. The property where the gold is hidden is next door to her house, a piece of abandoned land. When her two nieces come to visit for the summer, one finds a map hidden in the baseboard of her bedroom. This gets Nancy looking, unaware that there is another man looking too.

I felt this book was slow going at first, with lots of history of people vaguely involved with the gold coins hunt. It felt like a YA book, but it hasn't been advertised as such. I did start to enjoy the read after about 25% was completed.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 and 1 / 2 stars

Treasure! Pirate maps! What’s not to love?

More than a century ago, a pirate buried his treasure of relics and gold on his property in what is now Brewster, Cape Cod. Then it was a little community called Millbury, Massachusetts.

Time passes and it is now present day.

Nancy Caldwell and her husband Paul live on the property next to the now vacant lot where the treasure is supposedly buried. Nancy and her niece Jane, take it into their minds to locate the treasure. However, the property does not belong to Jane. It belongs to Max, a man who is the descendent of the original owner, the pirate.

This book tells of Nancy and Jane’s adventures in trying to locate the treasure, But they and Max are not the only ones looking.

There are some tense moments in this little cozy mystery. A standoff with the bad guys finds Nancy in some real trouble. Jane seems to go missing.

The part about this book I liked the most was the flashbacks to the older days where Anna and her mother’s life are discussed. It was very interesting and nicely written. I found the present day part of the story somewhat predictable. This is a nice little book.

I want to thank NetGalley and Bestruna Books/IBPA Members’ Titles for forwarding to me a copy of this book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

[Elina Vaysbeyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Old Cape Map is an engaging blend of historical fiction and mystery that weaves together past and present through secrets buried deep in Cape Cod’s history. Barbara Eppich Struna skillfully uses dual timelines to build suspense, inviting readers to piece together clues that span generations.

The 1900 storyline grounds the novel in rich historical detail, while the contemporary narrative adds momentum and urgency as Nancy Caldwell and her niece Jane pursue a long-rumored treasure. The shifting timelines are handled with clarity, each one revealing just enough to keep the mystery moving forward without sacrificing depth.

At its core, the novel is about curiosity what drives people to search for hidden truths, and how ambition, desperation, and hope shape those pursuits. With Spanish gold, family connections, and long-held secrets at stake, The Old Cape Map offers readers a satisfying mix of adventure, history, and intrigue.

Fans of historical mysteries and treasure-hunt narratives will find this a rewarding and immersive read.

[Elina Vaysbeyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Old Cape Map is an engaging blend of historical intrigue, modern mystery, and adventure that makes excellent use of its Cape Cod setting.

Barbara Eppich Struna skillfully weaves together past and present timelines, creating a story driven by secrets, greed, and the enduring lure of buried treasure. The 1900 storyline adds historical depth and authenticity, while the present-day narrative brings momentum and tension as characters race to uncover the truth behind the map and the Spanish gold it promises.

What stands out most is the novel’s sense of place and pacing. The Cape Cod backdrop is vivid and atmospheric, grounding the mystery while allowing suspense to build naturally. With memorable characters and a clever plot that balances history and adventure, The Old Cape Map is an entertaining and satisfying read for fans of historical mysteries and treasurehunt stories.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy is caught up in another historical mystery with possible treasure as the prize on Cape Cod. With dual storylines of Cape Cod past and present that intertwine to make an interesting, but slow-paced, narrative with some suspenseful moments at the end. There were a lot of names to keep track of that was a bit difficult at times. I think that the pace would have been better if there had been a few lesser chapters devoted to the past.

Overall, an entertaining read. The writer obvious knows Cape Cod history very well and enjoys bringing different aspects alive through physical objects being the focus of the storyline in this series.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Cape Cod treasure map and the hunt is on!

Twisty-turny: two stories, different timelines, in the same global space. It took a certain amount of notetaking and this reader was tempted to build a spreadsheet, but resisted.

All's well that end's well is a good approach to this read. Nancy Caldwell felt a awful lot like this was Miss Drew married; that somehow Ned Nickerson went into Witness Protection and came out Paul Caldwell. That's my theory, anyway!

*A sincere thank you to Barbara Eppich Struna, Bestruna Books, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #TheOldCapeMap #NetGalley 25|52:19c

[Fay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book satisfied the need for a light-hearted book, while on vacation on Cape Cod. It occupied my mind after reading a stressful book. Barbara Struna is a popular author who is a Cape resident and was a featured author at a local bookshop. The story is engaging enough to hold one's interest to find out "who done it!"

[Brenda L Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little slow moving but still enjoyed the read.

[Genia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book!