{"id":28169,"date":"2022-05-13T06:44:47","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T10:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=28169"},"modified":"2022-10-16T11:51:26","modified_gmt":"2022-10-16T11:51:26","slug":"review-smile-beach-murder-by-alicia-bessette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/13\/review-smile-beach-murder-by-alicia-bessette\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \ud83d\udd0d Smile Beach Murder by Alicia Bessette"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-28169\" data-postid=\"28169\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-28169 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_bbbcac8 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner gutter-narrow col_align_top tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_49667e8 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_7036296 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/smile-beach-murder-alicia-bessette.jpg?resize=318%2C500\" width=\"318\" height=\"500\" title=\"Review \ud83d\udd0d Smile Beach Murder by Alicia Bessette\" alt=\"Review \ud83d\udd0d Smile Beach Murder by Alicia Bessette\">\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_a1982ef customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">When Callie is laid off from her reporting job, she returns to her hometown of Cattail Island and lands a gig at the local bookstore\u2014the same one where she found comfort after her mother died.\u00a0<\/span><br \/><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">In fact, the anniversary of her mother\u2019s infamous death is approaching. Years ago, Teri Padget tumbled from the top of the lighthouse. As islanders are once again gossiping about the tragedy, devastating news strikes: the lighthouse has claimed another victim. Eva Meeks, of Meeks Hardware.\u00a0<\/span><br \/><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">The police are calling it suicide, but Callie does not believe Eva jumped any more than she believes her mother did\u2014especially because Callie knows that before her death, Eva had dug up a long-forgotten treasure hunt that could have put a target on Eva\u2019s back.\u00a0<\/span><br \/><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">In Callie\u2019s search for answers, she enlists the help of some beloved books and several new friends, including the handsome local martial arts instructor, Toby Dodge. But when another death rocks Cattail Island, Callie must face her fears alone. As she earns enemies in pursuit of the truth, Callie knows she will either uncover the killer or become a victim herself.<\/span><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_23787e9 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_2d1ea91  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16467 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3_5-hearts.jpg?resize=146%2C44\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong><br \/>Release Date:<\/strong>\u00a0May 10, 2022<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>Outer Banks Bookshop Mystery<br \/><\/em><strong>Book: <\/strong>1<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguin Group<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0Berkley\u00a0<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $14.99<\/p><hr \/><p><br \/><br \/><\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Callie Padgett<\/strong> returns home to Cattail Island after being laid off from her job as a newspaper reporter and gets a job working at the local bookstore. Callie ends up investigating the death of an old acquaintance, Eva Meeks, who fell from the top of Cattail Lighthouse. The local police department thinks her death was a suicide, and although she hasn\u2019t seen the woman in years, Callie is sure Eva wouldn\u2019t have taken her own life. Eva had everything to live for, including her twelve-year-old daughter, her community causes, and her obsession to locate a pirate\u2019s treasure. Callie relates to Eva\u2019s situation because of a tragedy in her own past and is determined to find out the truth about the woman\u2019s death.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Smile Beach Murder<\/strong> is the first in the new <em>Outer Banks Bookstore Mystery<\/em> series. I like the premise of a bookstore on a North Carolina island . However, Callie, the main character,\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0 want to be on the island, much less working in the bookstore. The fun of having a cozy mystery set in a bookstore is to share the love of reading with characters in the book. Callie\u2019s attitude of not really wanting to be there didn\u2019t make her a pleasant character to spend time with and no joy of reading came through.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">The positive part about the bookstore setting is there are several shoutouts to some great books and authors, like <strong>Agatha Christie<\/strong> and <strong>Mary Higgins Clark<\/strong>. Although Callie\u2019s heart is in the right place looking into what really happened to Eva, I didn\u2019t connect with her character. Callie has good instincts, but when asking questions about Eva\u2019s death, Callie often does it in a pushy way that sets people on edge and it didn\u2019t endear her to me, either. There is a dramatic confrontation with the killer at the end and I was surprised by who it was, but the motive was a bit of a letdown to me as was the final conclusion of the book.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">On the positive side, I like that the book was broken into many short chapters which helps move the story along at a steady pace. Hopefully, Callie will feel more comfortable being back in her hometown and open up more to potential friends in future books. I also liked the victim\u2019s daughter, Summer, and the talks Callie had with her. I think with the beach setting and the bookstore whose cat has lots of personality, there is a lot of potential to this series.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_eb0616c customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3MeUKEz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3Mb3Hij\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">iBooks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/smile-beach-murder-alicia-bessette\/1139996465?ean=9780593336892\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">B&amp;N<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/smile-beach-murder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Kobo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Alicia_Bessette_Smile_Beach_Murder?id=b788EAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Google Play<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Callie is laid off from her reporting job, she returns to her hometown of Cattail Island and lands a gig at the local bookstore\u2014the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,89,128,48],"tags":[148,223,367],"class_list":["post-28169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-berkley","category-christine","category-penguin-group","category-reviews","tag-3-5-stars","tag-cozy-mystery","tag-mystery"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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Years ago, Teri Padget tumbled from the top of the lighthouse. As islanders are once again gossiping about the tragedy, devastating news strikes: the lighthouse has claimed another victim. Eva Meeks, of Meeks Hardware.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>The police are calling it suicide, but Callie does not believe Eva jumped any more than she believes her mother did\u2014especially because Callie knows that before her death, Eva had dug up a long-forgotten treasure hunt that could have put a target on Eva\u2019s back.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>In Callie\u2019s search for answers, she enlists the help of some beloved books and several new friends, including the handsome local martial arts instructor, Toby Dodge. But when another death rocks Cattail Island, Callie must face her fears alone. As she earns enemies in pursuit of the truth, Callie knows she will either uncover the killer or become a victim herself.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3_5-hearts.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong><br \/>Release Date:<\/strong>\u00a0May 10, 2022<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>Outer Banks Bookshop Mystery<br \/><\/em><strong>Book: <\/strong>1<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguin Group<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0Berkley\u00a0<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $14.99<\/p><hr \/><p><br \/><br \/><\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Callie Padgett<\/strong> returns home to Cattail Island after being laid off from her job as a newspaper reporter and gets a job working at the local bookstore. Callie ends up investigating the death of an old acquaintance, Eva Meeks, who fell from the top of Cattail Lighthouse. The local police department thinks her death was a suicide, and although she hasn\u2019t seen the woman in years, Callie is sure Eva wouldn\u2019t have taken her own life. Eva had everything to live for, including her twelve-year-old daughter, her community causes, and her obsession to locate a pirate\u2019s treasure. Callie relates to Eva\u2019s situation because of a tragedy in her own past and is determined to find out the truth about the woman\u2019s death.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Smile Beach Murder<\/strong> is the first in the new <em>Outer Banks Bookstore Mystery<\/em> series. I like the premise of a bookstore on a North Carolina island . However, Callie, the main character,\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0 want to be on the island, much less working in the bookstore. The fun of having a cozy mystery set in a bookstore is to share the love of reading with characters in the book. Callie\u2019s attitude of not really wanting to be there didn\u2019t make her a pleasant character to spend time with and no joy of reading came through.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">The positive part about the bookstore setting is there are several shoutouts to some great books and authors, like <strong>Agatha Christie<\/strong> and <strong>Mary Higgins Clark<\/strong>. Although Callie\u2019s heart is in the right place looking into what really happened to Eva, I didn\u2019t connect with her character. Callie has good instincts, but when asking questions about Eva\u2019s death, Callie often does it in a pushy way that sets people on edge and it didn\u2019t endear her to me, either. There is a dramatic confrontation with the killer at the end and I was surprised by who it was, but the motive was a bit of a letdown to me as was the final conclusion of the book.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">On the positive side, I like that the book was broken into many short chapters which helps move the story along at a steady pace. Hopefully, Callie will feel more comfortable being back in her hometown and open up more to potential friends in future books. I also liked the victim\u2019s daughter, Summer, and the talks Callie had with her. I think with the beach setting and the bookstore whose cat has lots of personality, there is a lot of potential to this series.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3MeUKEz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3Mb3Hij\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/smile-beach-murder-alicia-bessette\/1139996465?ean=9780593336892\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B&amp;N<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/smile-beach-murder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kobo<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Alicia_Bessette_Smile_Beach_Murder?id=b788EAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28169"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28932,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28169\/revisions\/28932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}