cover image Whiskey Beach

Whiskey Beach

Nora Roberts. Putnam, $27.95 (496p) ISBN 978-0-399-15989-3

This spellbinding contemporary from romantic fiction doyenne Roberts (The Perfect Hope) explores the centuries-old secrets of a New England seaside home. Eli Landon is suspected of murdering his adulterous wife, but there’s no evidence to convict him. Needing to escape his old life, he returns to his family’s ancestral home of Bluff House, along New England’s Whiskey Beach. Eli is caught off guard by his attraction to Abra Walsh, the house’s beautiful caretaker. When Abra is attacked by a mysterious intruder, a private detective starts asking questions about Eli, and he decides that he will never find closure until his wife’s killer is caught. The mysteries behind the murder of Eli’s wife and the suspicious incidents at Bluff House are very creatively combined with the budding romance between Eli and Abra, who must face their past demons before they can embrace the possibility of a future together. Roberts enthralls the reader with enigmatic characters and effortless plotting from the first page of this masterfully crafted novel. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (Apr.)