Mermaids of Bodega Bay

by Mary Birk

Suspecting that his estranged wife is having an affair with a famous artist from a renowned American art dynasty, Scottish Police Superintendent Terrence Reid, heir to a whiskey fortune and Scottish title, travels to the small California seaside town of Bodega Bay to try to win her back—only to discover that her lover’s six-year-old daughter has just been kidnapped. Anne, a talented historic garden designer, doesn’t know whether to bless or curse the luck that had her husband show up on her doorstep just as disaster strikes the Grainger Art Colony. Moving on after he left her was hard, but she’d done it with Andrew Grainger’s help. When Anne and her lover become the FBI’s chief suspects, Reid, compelled to exonerate the woman he still loves, steps in to investigate—and in the process, uncovers a shocking web of deceit and danger.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

372 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2014

Reviews

[Peggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to downgrade this book. Maybe 1 1/2 stars would be more fair. I liked it at the beginning and by the end I hated all the characters and just wanted it to be over. Terrence Reid is a police inspector from Scotland. He married Anne, an American landscape designer. Then she immediately takes a job in California and he goes back to Scotland. Of course, the marriage fails. Terrence is a religious Catholic and demands an annulment. That's the background. At the beginning of the story Terrence has come to California to see Anne after a year of estrangement. He stills loves her and has not initiated the annulment. Meanwhile Anne has started sleeping Andrew, a well known artist at the art colony she is restoring the gardens for. Terrance can't believe his wife is cheating on him. Really? Immediately after he arrives the 6 year old daughter Andrew is dating is kidnapped. Terrance becomes involved with the case. At first the mystery of what happened to the little girl is intriguing. Terrence and Anne struggle with the feelings although their ability to communicate is annoyingly inadequate. Andrew obviously loves Anne, Terrence obviously loves Anne, Anne is beautiful but, in my opinion, vacuous. The reason I downgraded my rating is because of the stupidity of the love triangle, the creepiness of the crimes as they go from kidnapping, to murder, to sexual molestation. Also, the local FBI agent seems too unsympathetic and narrow minded. And to top of the disappointment, the ending is unsatisfying.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too dysfunctional; too much sex; too much drama. Didn’t finish.

[Kerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will start by saying I am not a huge fan of FBI thrillers, they are typically too gruesome for me, and this one was not an exception. I am very interested to find out how it all turns out, as the ending was a cliffhanger, but I think I will "cliff notes" the second book for some resolution as this one was hard for me to read. The writing was great, if you like this type of book though.

[erikoreads · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do you miss going to a library and browsing through physical books to find something to read? I was browsing the ebooks app from the library and the title of this book caught my eye. I feel like ebook apps are the next best thing to libraries in the current circumstances.

Anyway, mermaids! Crime fiction! What is going on? Was excited to start reading but... was disappointed to learn what the Mermaids of Bodega Bay is a reference to at the end of Ch 1. Another thing that started to bother me, and not sure if it was an ebook error or not: there are words missing in sentences, or extra words like “had been being”... I had to go back to make sure I wasn’t just skimming and skipping words / making things up. Once might be fine, but it occurred far too often to bug me.

As for the book itself, the chapters are short, so I thought it would be fast paced, but it was quite stodgy... and very predictable. The crime fiction I enjoy are ones where I’m wrong about who the bad guy is, but this one... no mystery, no excitement...

First in a series, do I want to read the second one? No.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining and a light read but had slight undertones of misogyny. Would have guessed it was written by a old guy with traditional "values" and old fashioned stereotypes.

[Mary Helene · Rating 2 out of 5]

No. Just not worth my time, although I liked the (too sparse) details of Bodega Bay, a place of good memories for me. There were quite a number of ugly characters in this novel, and the good ones had no flaws. The plot was sufficiently complex to hold my attention but upon finishing it, I just felt depressed.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was drawn in right away and kept being drawn in to the very last sentence. I love Reid and am so glad there are more books after this one with him in them. The relationships in this story are convoluted so you need to pay attention to the descriptions of who is whom's sister/brother/niece, etc.

[Kathryn Brzezinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book for suspense, I found I wanted to keep reading to find out "who done it" but boy, this writer needs a new editor. There were so many inconsistencies, some holes and a lot of grammatical errors! Because of the vague introduction of the characters backstories, I thought perhaps this was part of a series in which I missed the earlier ones but I see it's Part I of the series! I might go on to part 2 though, it was suspenseful enough to make me want to read more.

[Julian Pecenco]

The sexist, misogynist attitudes of the male characters in this book made it unbearable and I had to stop after reading about 20% into it. Unless the author was trying to make a heavy-handed point about male attitudes and behavior towards, it was a surprise that it was written by a woman. Either way, I found it unreadable.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very suspenseful. I could not put it down. The subject matter got a little sickening for me. I left off a star for that as I felt it wasn’t necessary. It did keep me guessing until the end.

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Warning: Rape, child rape and domestic abuse.


I don’t want to even give this a star. It’s astonishing to me, that a woman wrote this book. The misogyny that took place was disgusting. The treatment of a child, for a mystery story line was also disgusting.

[James Thomack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good plot, with enough twists and turns to make for a great detective/crime story. Interesting, nuanced characters that I got invested in. The thing that held me back from flat-out losing myself in enjoyment of this book was that the love story got a little unrealistically sappy at times, a bit cloying, and the lead character a bit overbearing and misogynistic at points. I'd definitely be interested in reading another book in the series, though.

[Skye Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read romantic suspense as a rule, but this book grabbed me from the beginning with its interesting characters and excellent writing. I would have finished it even faster if I hadn't had a bunch of commitments! The mystery aspect was very well-crafted and leaves the reader hanging until the last few chapters. And the romance comes on hot and heavy. Highly recommended!

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an extremely entertaining read. While I did not completely understand the relationship between Ried and Anne, the suspense and mystery of the novel were more than enough to carry me through. The perfect book to curl up on the couch with during a rainy evening.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn't put this one down. A great murder mystery surrounded by the emotions of a very dysfunctional marriage.

[Rina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it.

[Margaret Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an OK book but the ending could be improved upon.
I had the villain figured out halfway through the book.

[Donna Stuedeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good suspenseful read. I understand it's a trilogy. I'll be looking for the next book.

[Dlynn1116 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. I liked the main characters but the subject matter was disturbing.

[Baby Snakes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got through about 15 of forty-ish chapters before the blatant misogyny got to me. Skipped to the end and I definitely made the right decision to be done with this.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

good story/ plot, crime , but didn't like the ongoing soap opera with the main character , her estranged scottish husband and her new boyfriend.

[Keiler Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good mystery. Likable characters

I enjoy murder mysteries. This one had some good twists but too predictable especially the ending. I will read book two in series

[Nancy Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Must Read for Mystery Lovers

This book keeps you guessing right up to the end. Mary Birk knows how to keep you hooked and on the edge of your seat! Well written! Bravo!

[Marcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read the whole thing.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unlikeable characters, poor police procedures. The only reason I finished this book was to figure out who dunnit.

[Marsha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my gosh what a stupid dragged out story.

[Helen Starbuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

good start to a series

Interesting plot and believable likable characters. Cliffhanger ending that means having to read book two. I’m looking forward to it.

[Susan Arra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story.