Brenda H. (booksinvt) -
A Time to Swill is the second installment in the Sea Glass Saloon Mystery series set in the coastal town of Emerald Cove on the Florida panhandle and featuring librarian turned bar co-owner, Chloe Jackson. Chloe has just returned from Chicago with all of her possessions in order to move in full time to the home that her friend Boone left her upon his death, and to begin working full time at the Sea Glass.
An early morning run leads Chloe to discover an abandoned sailboat floating almost on its side a little ways off shore and a plaintive cry coming from within. She swims out and climbs on board the boat only to be whisked out to see on the rising tide. Inside the boat she finds a cat and a skeleton. A harrowing few hours leaves Chloe wondering if someone will notice she's missing and come to her rescue. Finally, a stranger in fast boat appears and delivers her safely back to shore but Chloe realizes she never got the man's name and nobody seems to know the mystery man's identity.
The boat is identified as one that went missing many years ago with four local people on board. Everyone has assumed for years that the boat had sunk and the passengers had died. But the skeleton seems to point to another mystery. When another boat takes a shot at Chloe and her friend Rip and Boone's long lost father appears back in town, Chloe soon realizes that she's wading in not one but three mysteries.
A well-crafted plot, a delightful locale and an interesting cast of characters. I really wish we'd gotten to know Boone before he passed, but I'm hoping that Chloe starts to move on from her grief and start opening up to a new relationship.
An early morning run leads Chloe to discover an abandoned sailboat floating almost on its side a little ways off shore and a plaintive cry coming from within. She swims out and climbs on board the boat only to be whisked out to see on the rising tide. Inside the boat she finds a cat and a skeleton. A harrowing few hours leaves Chloe wondering if someone will notice she's missing and come to her rescue. Finally, a stranger in fast boat appears and delivers her safely back to shore but Chloe realizes she never got the man's name and nobody seems to know the mystery man's identity.
The boat is identified as one that went missing many years ago with four local people on board. Everyone has assumed for years that the boat had sunk and the passengers had died. But the skeleton seems to point to another mystery. When another boat takes a shot at Chloe and her friend Rip and Boone's long lost father appears back in town, Chloe soon realizes that she's wading in not one but three mysteries.
A well-crafted plot, a delightful locale and an interesting cast of characters. I really wish we'd gotten to know Boone before he passed, but I'm hoping that Chloe starts to move on from her grief and start opening up to a new relationship.
