Swan Song

Hilderbrand closes out her long run of Nantucket novels (after The Five-Star Weekend) with an engrossing story of three mysterious newcomers. Leslee and Bull Richardson arrive at the multimillion-dollar house they’ve just purchased on Nantucket with Coco, their live-in concierge. Coco, an aspiring writer, hopes to show her screenplay to Bull, a businessman who’s produced a couple of movies, and she landed the gig by lying about how well she knows the island. Larger-than-life Leslee throws lavish parties at the couple’s oceanfront house, but she increasingly rubs people the wrong way—women, especially—by flirting with men who are taken. By the end, as readers will know from a flash-forward opening, the Richardsons will be largely shunned, Coco will go missing, and their house will go up in flames. In chapters exploring Bull’s shady business dealings and Coco’s duplicity, Hilderbrand gradually teases out exactly what happens and why. Strong characterizations and delicious moments of tension make this a worthy note to end on. Readers will be riveted. Agents: David Forrer and Michael Carlisle, InkWell Management. (June)