Book Review: The House at Saltwater Point

The House at Saltwater Point
Colleen Coble
Harper Collins, 2018

When Ellie Blackmore finds blood on the deck of her sister’s ship, she is determined to find her missing sibling at all cost. The list of suspects seems short until Ellie crosses paths with Coast Guard investigator Grayson Bradshaw, who is in Lavender Tides to investigate the theft of a huge load of cocaine. His accusations about her sister rankle Ellie’s nerves, but in the face of a growing list of evidence and strange occurrences, Ellie is forced to admit that she might not know her sister as well as she thought.

Even though Grayson is intrigued by Ellie’s loyalty, tenacity, and endearing charm, he’s determined not to let a pretty face influence his investigation. It doesn’t help that he’s already distracted by an unexpected turn of events in his family life. But two heads are better than one, and as the danger escalates and a larger plot than either of them suspected begins to emerge, Ellie and Grayson must work together to save as many lives as possible.

This post contains affiliate links. Read more about that here. Thanks to TLC Book Tours for sending me a copy of The House at Saltwater Point to review.

The thing that I love about Colleen Coble is her ability to write mysteries that keep me guessing but don’t scare the socks off of me. I am not one of those people who enjoys being creeped out or scared, and my husband will attest to that fact. He’s quite accustomed to saying “You can look now” when we watch tv together. So that fact that I can enjoy this mystery without being afraid to read it at bedtime is a big plus for me.

I genuinely didn’t know what the answer to mystery was going to be. Was Mac a victim or an accomplice? Is Jason really a legit suspect? What’s the deal with mah-jongg tiles? But I will say that even though there are several different things going on in this story at one time, it’s not confusing. Things unfold in such a way that you can follow where the different plot strings are headed until it’s time for them to connect.

Even though there is murder and drugs and terrorists, this is a clean read. All those topics are dealt with in a matter-of-fact, non-intrusive way that moves the story forward without shocking the reader. This is my second Colleen Coble novel. The first was The View from Rainshadow Bay, which comes before this one in a loose series based in a place named Lavender Tides. Although there is a bit of a continued story line and a few familiar characters, I felt like I still would have enjoyed The House at Saltwater Point just as much if I hadn’t already read Rainshadow Bay. It definitely stands on it’s own and I would recommend it to clean mystery readers.

Do you like mysteries? Tell me about it in the comments!