On the scenic island of Anglesey off the coast of North Wales, we find a group of artists taking a summer painting course and holiday. Among them is a Canadian transplant to Wales, Penny Brannigan. This is the eleventh in the enjoyable self-titled series, and the sleuth is about to uncover another crime ON DEADLY TIDES.
The title seems something of a misnomer, as the tide isn’t responsible for the death, in fact, the body is on the shore – but I’m getting ahead of myself. Penny meets a fresh-out-of-college, New Zealand journalist called Jessica Graham on her first evening at the seaside hotel, the Beaumaris Arms. She also meets a friendly wildlife photographer, Colin Campbell, and retired TV star Bill Ward, who played a ne’er do well on Jubilee Terrace. Within a day, one of these people will be dead. Accident, or murder? Penny discovers that the death has to be connected to the hotel in some way. The more she learns, the more matters don’t add up.
People go missing at sea locations, among them, a man from New Zealand who vanished in North Wales seven years ago. Jessica Graham hoped to locate him, among her assignments. Maybe he was swimming and the tide took him too far out to sea. Or maybe he disappeared for some more sinister reason. Colin also has dangerous work, photographing rare animals around the world and vanishing ways of life.
Penny runs a beauty spa in another village, having inherited a local cottage. Like all the best amateur sleuths, she has a business partner who can run the spa in her absence. By this stage, she is thinking of moving on, to open a second establishment or to dedicate herself to art – she’s not sure yet, but she needs a new challenge.
One charming point about Wales is that Welsh is spoken, especially as a greeting. If people want to discuss neighbours they do it in Welsh so the tourists can’t follow the chat. This seaside town seems very English-spoken by contrast. Characters have lovely Welsh names, such as Alwyn, Bethan, and Bronwyn. Unfortunately for someone starting the series at this point, a character gets introduced and later reappears just as Bronwyn, and it can take the rest of the chapter before we are told that Bronwyn leaves to get on with her police work or whatever. I would like to have more of a reminder of who the character is before she launches into conversation. Elizabeth J. Duncan tries to settle her sleuth into a happier life with ON DEADLY TIDES, which may please her longtime fans.
With a picturesque black and white lighthouse, pebble beaches and stunning views of sea and mountains, the island of Anglesey off the coast of North Wales is the perfect place for an idyllic mid-summer painting holiday.
And watercolour artist, businesswoman, and amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan is enjoying the retreat enormously - until she discovers the body of a New Zealand journalist on a secluded beach just as the tide is going out, threatening to take the body with it.
The post mortem reveals the victim died from injuries "consistent with a fall from a great height," and the death is ruled accidental. But Penny thinks there's more to the story. Curious how the victim came to such an untimely end at this most inhospitable spot, she uncovers a link to a mysterious disappearance several years earlier.
And as her holiday romance with a wildlife photographer turns to love, she learns some truths about herself, too, that surprise her.
As the winds of change blow through Penny's own life, she sets sail on a friendly tide for a future she never dreamed possible, in a beautiful place she never imagined
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