Are You Looking For the Perfect New Winter Read?


New Winter Read

The fire crackles as you curl your legs up beneath you. Steam from your hot chocolate curls up towards you, tantalizing your senses as you wait for the hot beverage to cool off. Beautiful creaminess awaits you in the cup, and beautiful dreaminess awaits you in the book that you hold on your lap. You can’t wait to dive into a whole new world while the chocolate and the sweet, soft sound of the ocean lull you into perfect contentment.


Does this sound like the perfect way to spend a deliciously relaxing and serene afternoon in the winter? We think so too! Which is why we have picked a fabulous winter beach read out for you to enjoy this winter in Sunset Beach. And which is why we also have fabulous vacation rentals for you…where you can actually take a vacation and relax and have an afternoon to unwind in by reading (instead of running around doing errands and laundry and that millionth house project at home…).


So, come visit us this winter, indulge in the serenity that proximity to the beach and the soothing sound of waves brings to you, while you let yourself be transported by this fabulous book!


The Book: The Spanish Cape Mystery by Ellery QueenThe Spanish Cape Mystery

 


Ellery Queen (both the author and the protagonist!) is just looking for a little relaxation by the beach. (Aren’t we all?) He had just had a case in New York that just wouldn’t let him solve it. (Ellery is a private investigator, and a superb one at that…think the American equivalent of Sherlock Holmes, a few decades after Sherlock Holmes was frequenting London.) All that Ellery wants to do now is relax for the rest of the summer with an old and dear mentor…and be left alone by everybody else.


From the moment he arrives on the coast, though, at his mentor’s own seaside fall retreat, Ellery is beset by one of the most baffling puzzles of his career.


First, he finds a beautiful young woman bound to a chair in his guest house. After rescuing the kidnapped, and spirited, young lady and returning her to her family, he discovers that there has been a terrible murder at her family home. But not just any murder. A puzzling and confusing murder: why would anyone want to strip a corpse unless they were deranged and psychotic? Yet that is exactly how the body was found, sitting while to all appearances in the middle of writing a letter. And, non of the suspects seem to be destined for the mad house. Instead, this seems to be an intricately planned and utterly confusing act.


Since this is a high profile case, the local inspector nearly begs Ellery (and Ellery’s mentor, who happens to be a well respected judge) to assist him. Ellery agrees to this request, mostly because the case itself has already so intrigued him.


But, where are the victims clothes? And why are all the society matrons in the house acting as if they have seen a a real and murderous ghost? Everyone has something to hide. And just maybe no one is as they seem.


If you are looking for an intriguing brain puzzle of a mystery that will sweep you into an entirely different era - one of glitter and elegance and manners…with a touch of murder - then you will love this Ellery Queen novel The Spanish Cape Mystery. Published in 1935, this book captures the feel of that era in America, with the sensation of wide open spaces to explore and smothering class systems, while also weaving an intriguing tale of passion and dark secrets.


If you mixed Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes together and added a sprinkling of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, this is the kind of book that you would come up with. It is a definite treat for all classic mystery lovers!


So, bring this book with you the next time you come on your own beach vacation! And enjoy getting to just read about murder and intrigue while you enjoy relaxing in quiet and serenity.

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