Sunset Beach: A Novel

Mary Kay Andrews

May 2019 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

Pull up a lounge chair and have a cocktail at Sunset Beach – it comes with a twist.

Drue Campbell’s life is adrift. Out of a job and down on her luck, life doesn’t seem to be getting any better when her estranged father, Brice Campbell, a flamboyant personal injury attorney, shows up at her mother’s funeral after a twenty-year absence. Worse, he’s remarried – to Drue’s eighth grade frenemy, Wendy, now his office manager. And they’re offering her a job.

It seems like the job from hell, but the offer is sweetened by the news of her inheritance – her grandparents’ beach bungalow in the sleepy town of Sunset Beach, a charming but storm-damaged eyesore now surrounded by waterfront McMansions.

With no other prospects, Drue begrudgingly joins the firm, spending her days screening out the grifters whose phone calls flood the law office. Working with Wendy is no picnic either. But when a suspicious death at an exclusive beach resort nearby exposes possible corruption at her father’s firm, she goes from unwilling cubicle rat to unwitting investigator, and is drawn into a case that may – or may not – involve her father. With an office romance building, a decades-old missing persons case re-opened, and a cottage in rehab, one thing is for sure at Sunset Beach: there’s a storm on the horizon.

Sunset Beach is a compelling ride, full of Mary Kay Andrews' signature wit, heart, and charm.

Ratings and reviews

This was the perfect read for me this weekend, with the fabulous mini heatwave the UK has had over the Easter weekend, as it is set on the lovely sounding Sunset Beach. I must admit I wasn't too sure about the main character, Drue, in the first couple of chapters as she seemed a bit annoying, but thankfully I persevered and that soon changed and I really got into the story, which was filled with mystery and intrigue. Drue had recently had a very bad run of luck, she had badly injured her knee whilst kiteboarding, she lost her bar job, her Mum had recently died, and her estranged Father turned up at the funeral. Her Father is a well known personal injury lawyer who ends up offering her a job at his firm, but also letting her know that her grandparents house on Sunset Beach is now hers. It was left to her Mother, who kept it on without Drue knowing, as her inheritance. So Drue decides to take her Father up on his offer as she doesn't really have anywhere else to turn, even if he is now married to her old high school frenemy, who is the office manager, and moves into the run-down beach house and starts to renovate it. She also starts working at her Father's practice, on the phones, and gets involved in a case that has already been settled, involving a murder at a nearby resort. The victim's Mother got a lot lower settlement than initially promised and as she also has her granddaughter to now bring up she isn't happy and kept turning up at the law offices blaming Drue's Father. Drue ends up getting involved as she feels sorry for her, and gets into all sorts of trouble along the way. She also gets involved in an unsolved missing person case that her Father was involved in when he was a cop, from 40 years ago, after finding old paperwork in the attic of her grandparents house. This ended up a really enjoyable story, with a lovely beach vibe. There was also a lovely section at the end of book about how Mary Kay Andrews had also bought a couple of renovation projects on the beach and what she looked for in a fixer-upper - lovely to dream about anyway, owning a property on the beach!

This wasn't the worst nor the best read of the week but it was something different. This was the first read by this author but definitely not the last and I will be diving back in for more in the future. Drue is not having a good time with life. At the age of 36 she has just been fired from her waitressing job, has an injured knee and her mother has just passed away from cancer. To top all that off, her estranged father has just showed up and offered her a job. He is a personal injury lawyer and once she moves she finds out he is now married to her once friend, now enemy from grade school, Wendy. Well, that doesn't go over good, especially since they will be working together. However, the one redeeming thing is she has found out she has an inheritance from her grandfather of his old beach bungalow...his delapidated bungalow. That is okay, she is on the beach. This story is rich with mystery but light on romance. It could have used more romance and really trimmed of length as I found myself bored before I was through but I was thoroughly entertained. **Received this ARC for review from the publisher via NetGalley**

If you're looking for a relaxing great beach read you have found it! This is a fantastic book with well developed characters, a nice easy pace and a story that has a little of everything. Family drama for sure. A woman looking for her happy place in life. Mixed in is a little mystery as Drue not only investigates a current day homicide but also researches a possible homicide from years ago. I would have enjoyed the book a bit more of a romantic element played a bigger role but overall it was a very entertaining read and a book I highly recommend.

About the author

MARY KAY ANDREWS is The New York Times bestselling author of The High Tide Club, The Beach House Cookbook, The Weekenders, Beach Town, Save the Date, Ladies’ Night, Christmas Bliss, and more. A former journalist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she lives in Atlanta, Georgia.