Marilyn's Mystery Reads

There’s a huge divide in Purity, Maine between the year-round residents and the summer people.  Many citizens of the small town have family who have lived in Purity for generations, doing jobs for the summer people in order to earn enough money to keep them going through the long winter months–painting, carpentry, working at the grocery store and bar–providing services and goods that the visitors need but don’t want to do or can’t do.  In general, relations are peaceful between the two groups, if not friendly, but there is always an undercurrent of past incidents and resentments.

In her second thriller of The Spy Coast series, Tess Gerritsen brings back Maggie Bird and her friends, all retired CIA agents.  The wealthy Conover family is returning to Purity, their summer home for decades, to follow the wishes of the family’s patriarch and scatter his ashes there.  The family now consists of Elizabeth, mother to Ethan and Colin, and their wives and children.

Ethan and Susan have been married for two years, and it’s the first time Susan and her daughter Zoe have been to Purity.  Although the Conovers’ residence has been described to her as a cottage, Susan is stunned by its size, its four chimneys, and the multiple gables set back from Maiden Pond on a huge lawn.

When Susan asks her husband why he doesn’t seem overjoyed to return here, Ethan tells her that his memories of Purity are not as happy as his brother’s, that he was always the child on the outside while Colin was king of the hill.  Susan reassures him that he belongs here, that he’s family, and that they will all have a wonderful time together.  But it doesn’t work out that way.

One of the townspeople is Reuben Tarkin, a recluse who lives across the lake from the Conovers.  His late father was one of the people who did odd jobs for the summer residents until the horrific day when Sam Tarkin plowed his truck into a small crowd, killing three people plus the policeman who came to help.  Reuben Tarkin has been a pariah in Purity ever since.

On the second day of their vacation, Zoe Conover goes for a swim in Maiden Pond.  She returns to the cottage for a brief moment to tell her stepfather that she met a girl at the pond and is going with her to the girl’s house to see her cows.  That’s the only information that her family is able to give Jo Thibodeau, the town’s acting chief of police, after Zoe’s disappearance, but it’s enough for Jo to know where the girl had been.

Zoe’s new friend is Callie Yount, the granddaughter of Luther.  Luther is an ex-college professor who now is a farmer and somewhat of a hermit.  Luther comes to Maggie to tell her that he gave Zoe a ride back to the pond after she and Callie spent some time together; then he drove away to do some errands.  Thus he was the last person to admit being with Zoe before her disappearance.  Now he’s the prime suspect.

The Summer Guests is another outstanding mystery by a master of the genre.  The plot is riveting, the characters realistic, and the setting evokes both the idyllic “The Way Life Should Be” unofficial motto of the Pine Tree state and the not-unfamiliar confrontations between the year-rounders and the summer visitors.

You can read more about Tess Gerritsen at this website.

Check out the complete Marilyn’s Mystery Reads at her website.  In addition to book review posts, there are sections featuring Golden Oldies, Past Masters and Mistresses, and an About Marilyn column that features her opinions about everything to do with mystery novel.