Recovering from knee surgery and newly jobless, Drue Campbell moves back to her hometown of Sunset Beach when her estranged father offers her a job at his law office. He didn't mention that her high school enemy will also be there, both at work as her manager, and at home, as her new stepmother. As Drue tries to settle in she begins investigating two mysteries - a workers' comp case her father settled that may be more than it looks like, and a decades old missing persons case that seems to involve both of her parents.

Andrews' books are usually excellent beach reads, light romances with a touch of mystery (or light mysteries with a touch of romance), almost always set at a beach town somewhere down south. I think she struggles finding a balance when they are more serious. This one seemed to have a little too much plot (one murder mystery to solve would have been fine) and the romance part seemed tacked on.

Thank you to Netgally & St. Martins Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.

This is was the first Mary Kay Andrews book I’ve read and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I had seen some of her books advertised on Facebook and they honestly didn’t really appeal to me but when I was offered the book I decided to give it a try.

The book is a combination of chick lit/mystery/light romance which makes it one of those books that’s easy to pick up and read or take to the beach. The main character, Drue, is the right amount of “rough around the edges” to be endearing but she also doesn’t let that toughness get in her way of emotional growth. There is a pretty good twist to the book which was nice considering this isn’t a psychological thriller/literature novel.

Sunset Beach is a bit of a genre straddler. I was expecting a rather fluffy summer romance book, but it is so much more. There are a couple of mysteries, some family conflict, a little romance, and a frenemy for a step-mother. Drue is feeling totally down and out with her mother’s death on top of her personal life being a mess. When her estranged dad shows up at the funeral and leaves her with the key to a cottage that she now owns, it is the jumping off point for a variety of stories. It is the cottage where she spent summer vacations with her grandparents in a quiet beach town. I didn’t start off really fond of Drue, but she grew on me quickly and I enjoyed the character development. Some of her investigations were a little far-fetched, but that didn’t detract from the story. Rather than recounting the events, I will just say that I totally enjoyed the book.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This is more of a 3+, really. A very charismatic crime mystery that got me actually curious to the very end.

Drue needs to move back to Sunset Beach after her mother's death and unemployment. Now she has to work for her stranded father and ex-best-friend-gone-frenemy-now-stepmother. It's far from her dream job until she sees herself in the middle of an investigation on the side to find out the truth behind the cold-case murder of a black single mother.

I'm always surprised at how much Mary Kay Andrews can change from a book to the other. My image of her is still of a romance book I picked up many years ago but her last three go further and further away from the genre. Yes, there's still romance, but it's surely not the point, I'd call it a mere bonus actually.

Of course, the detective part isn't superb though. Since Drue is an amateur investigator I frowned a bit as she'd find out things the professionals didn't, but it wasn't that much. As I mentioned before, the solution wasn't even that predictable. I'm not saying it's got a lot of plot twists or that i never would have thought about it, but I didn't guess it from the first page so the book kept me interested to the end. Of course it's not super unpredictable either. The author still has to refine the art of deceit. But this was enjoyable enough.

I also liked Drue a lot. I wish we could have seen more of her romantic interest in action too. Actually, this book seemed full of interesting characters I notice now that we never get to meet. That's a pity. But Drue was a great main character, she's faced a lot of challenges and need to pick herself back up from the ground now her mother is gone. I also liked a lot her exchanges with her father, he was such a good character I really feared he'd die in the second chapter or so—I confess I tend to forget summaries once I decide to read a book. So I'm glad we got to enjoy him along the book.

This is still a book that just goes a little bit above average. I definitely recommend it to those who like both romances and thrillers, since it's not either here or there.

This was the perfect read for me this weekend, with the fabulous mini heatwave the UK has had over the Easter weekend, as it is set on the lovely sounding Sunset Beach.

I must admit I wasn't too sure about the main character, Drue, in the first couple of chapters as she seemed a bit annoying, but thankfully I persevered and that soon changed and I really got into the story, which was filled with mystery and intrigue.

Drue had recently had a very bad run of luck, she had badly injured her knee whilst kiteboarding, she lost her bar job, her Mum had recently died, and her estranged Father turned up at the funeral. Her Father is a well known personal injury lawyer who ends up offering her a job at his firm, but also letting her know that her grandparents house on Sunset Beach is now hers. It was left to her Mother, who kept it on without Drue knowing, as her inheritance.

So Drue decides to take her Father up on his offer as she doesn't really have anywhere else to turn, even if he is now married to her old high school frenemy, who is the office manager, and moves into the run-down beach house and starts to renovate it.

She also starts working at her Father's practice, on the phones, and gets involved in a case that has already been settled, involving a murder at a nearby resort. The victim's Mother got a lot lower settlement than initially promised and as she also has her granddaughter to now bring up she isn't happy and kept turning up at the law offices blaming Drue's Father. Drue ends up getting involved as she feels sorry for her, and gets into all sorts of trouble along the way. She also gets involved in an unsolved missing person case that her Father was involved in when he was a cop, from 40 years ago, after finding old paperwork in the attic of her grandparents house.

This ended up a really enjoyable story, with a lovely beach vibe. There was also a lovely section at the end of book about how Mary Kay Andrews had also bought a couple of renovation projects on the beach and what she looked for in a fixer-upper - lovely to dream about anyway, owning a property on the beach!

My thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
So, get ready to go along for long, bumpy ride as Drue tries to solve an old mystery which may or may not incriminate her estranged father (who recently hired her to come work at his law firm.)

I felt the story could have used a fair amount of trimming. By chapter 40, I was ready for this story to come to a graceful conclusion. Well, 65 chapters and one Epilogue later, this very long, strung out mystery finally came to an end. I'm still wondering whether we really needed to read about Drue's swimming sessions with Corey and all that free knee therapy he gave her? Frankly, Corey was probably added to create a love triangle with Jonah, but even the relationship with Jonah was very, very tepid. This book is heavy on the mystery solving, and very light on the romance aspect.
Still, the story is well-written and fans of Mary Kay Andrews will enjoy Drue's relentless pursuit of the truth behind young Colleen's disappearance and a potential scam which may or may not involve her father.

Be prepared this book will suck you in! I was until 4 am reading and had to force myself to go to bed! Drue's life has been complicated and hard, at thirty-six she lost her mother, her latest boyfriend, favorite hobby due to injury and her job now her best option is to go to work for her estranged father, oh and her newest step mother is her biggest frenemy from her teens, yep, a wonderful new start! She's just supposed to answer the call line, no big deal but when a unfairly ruled case falls into her lap she just can't let the mystery go. From bad judgement calls to murder to relationships this book with keep you engaged to the very end! This is one read you don't want to miss!

Drue is trying to get her bronco to start. That leaves her with fiveteen minutes to get to work.Drue trys to catch a bus to work but misses it.Drue has a job in a law firm with her dad. Her new step mom went to school with her and use to be a friend. Drue use to have the major hobby of kiteboarding until she hurt her knee.i was a little unsure about her interest in two old cases and putting herself in position to get hurt.

4.5 ⭐ - thank you to netgalley and St Martin's Press for an advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review. This was my first by Mary Kay Andrews and I really liked it! I loved that it took place in St. Pete on the beach! Drue was a relatable character. It was a fun mystery that was serious and fun at the same time. A great beach read for sure!

This was my first book by Mary Kay Andrews and I can't wait to read more! The cover is very deceptive and I love it! The main character, Drue, learns she has inherited a beach house and accepts an offer to work for her father's company. Balancing family drama and personal issues, she gets wrapped up in two separate unsolved murder cases...one from several years ago and one recent. I didn't connect with Drue as much as I wanted. I felt she was much younger than what her age was portrayed in the book. At times she seemed a little immature for some of the things she was dealing with, but otherwise, it kept me intrigued. There were also a couple of characters that didn't evolve as much as I hoped but nonetheless, I still enjoyed their involvement. I enjoyed the twists that came toward the end of the story.

This is going to be a great beach read so make sure you grab this one and throw in your beach bag!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A great beach mystery book, with like able characters and plenty of intrigue to keep you quickly turning the pages and not wanting to stop. Definitely a 5 star summer read and the recipes at the back of the book are the finishing touch.

I would wait to read this from your local library rather than spend your own money on this book. I would rate it B-/C+.

I felt this was pretty different from most of the MKA books that I’ve read. This is much more of a mystery novel than a beach read. Yes, it’s set at the beach and the cover is very beachy but the book is largely about two unsolved murders.

Dru inherits her grandparents’ beach house when her mother died. Her parents are divorced and the house is in her father’s town. She hasn’t seen much of her dad since she was 15. But when the house turns up and her dad offers her a job, she decides to move.

She starts working at her dad’s law firm. She hates that her father’s new wife is in a supervising position over her. She also hates that her dad married one of her frenemies from high school.

Dru can come off as prickly. Even she can’t figure out why she’s so oppositional to everything her dad says, even when she knows he’s trying to help.

Soon after starting at the firm, she meets a woman whose daughter was killed at work. The woman was represented by Dru’s father’s law firm and she barely got anything in her settlement. It grates at Dru. She can’t get the woman off her mind. The killer is still at large and Dru thinks she can prove that the woman wasn’t on the clock when she was killed. This would make a huge difference in the amount of money awarded.

Dru also finds a file in the attic at home about a woman who disappeared 40 plus years ago and is presumed dead. She’s not sure why the file was in her family’s attic and she’s worried about the implications.

I liked the current day mystery better because the older mystery wound into a pretty far fetched twist. In my opinion at least.

I found the story interesting but it wasn’t quite what I had expected.

I got to read an early copy of this book from NetGalley.

I love a Mary Kay Andrews mystery story! Her mysteries are always full of great characters with good mysteries to solve! Sunset Beach is the first of, I hope, a new series! Drue Campbell has just lost her mom when her dad, lawyer Brice Campbell, who Drue has rarely seen since she was 15, arrives to offer her a job and the keys to the beach house on Sunset Beach that her mom still owned. As Drue begins to work for her dad, she becomes involved in the murder mystery of a young woman at a nearby hotel, and she also finds an old police case file in her attic for a woman who disappeared in 1976. I enjoyed Drue and Brice’s relationship. There are a lot of mother-daughter stories, but not as many father-daughter and their relationship had many bumps to smooth as it’s being re-established. As I said earlier, I hope this is the first in a long mystery series, Mary Kay Andrews does those very well.

Drue Campbell has no clue what she is going to do with her life. She had lost her mother to a battle with cancer. She was injured in a kiteboarding accident that ended her career in that sport. On top of that, Drue was fired from her waitressing job after refusing to serve an underage patron. Then she reconnects with her father with who she barely has had any contact with since she was fifteen. Her father offers Drue a job at his law firm. He also gives her the keys to her grandparents’ house, a beachfront bungalow. A home that has significant damage done to it from the last hurricane.

Drue finds that working for her father not what she thinks it would be. Her father married her middle school frenemy. That frenemy is now the office manager, and she seems to have it out for Drue. Then a case rolls across Drue’s desk. A case that piques Drue’s interest. An unsolved murder. At the same time, Drue finds the case file for a woman who has been missing for over 40 years in the attic of her house. Drue is determined to solve both cases. Will she be able to solve them? Will her relationship with her father and her frenemy change?

There were three main plotlines in Sunset Beach. All three were well written. I enjoyed that I could go from plotline to plotline without any confusion. The author also did a great job of pointing out when the story went into the past. Those chapters were marked. I liked that I didn’t have to guess when they went into the past.

I liked all the storylines. I did find the storyline about Drue and her relationship with Wendy and Brice a little much. Drue pushed back on everything that Brice and Wendy did. While I understood, there was a point where I got sick of it.

I thought the storylines about the murder at the hotel and the cold case was interesting. The author did a great job of explaining what went into investigating both cases.

There was a huge plot twist in the cold case storyline. I was not expecting it. I also didn’t expect who was involved. I was shocked. The twist with the murder case didn’t surprise me.

I wasn’t a fan of Drue when she was introduced. She has so much resentment built up against her father. There was a point where I started rolling my eyes when she began “acting out.“ It made her look like a child. It also made me think less of her as a character. I did like that she was tenacious when it came to the murder case. She saw things that the police didn’t.

The secondary characters were terrific. They added the extra depth that the book needed.

I liked how the author didn’t have the bad guys didn’t do anything. Well, other than what happened to Drue. She chose to show the investigation against them. She decided to build the case up against them. It worked for me. There is a time for bad guys being all in your face and a time for them to be in the background. This was the time for them to be in the background.

Sunset Beach fit right in with the mystery genre. The author did a great job at keeping both mysteries, well, a mystery until the end of the book.

There was romance in Sunset Beach. It wasn’t hyped on, and the sex scene wasn’t graphic. I wasn’t a fan of it, though. I thought that the book could have done without it.

I enjoyed reading Sunset Beach. The plotlines were fast-moving and engaging. The characters were 3d, and I liked them. Well, for the most part, liked them. There were parts of the book that took me by surprise.

The end of Sunset Beach was interesting. It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. I liked it.

I would give Sunset Beach an Adult rating. There is sex (not graphic). There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Sunset Beach. I would recommend this book to family and friends.

I would like to thank the publisher, the author and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Sunset Beach.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

🏝A beach, a mystery, a love story, and a strong female lead...it’s everything we love and expect from Mary Kay Andrews and her newest is no exception! 🏝 ⁣
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Drue is adrift. Her mom has just passed away, she’s recovering from knee surgery, she’s been fired from her job, and has broken up with her boyfriend. Her estranged father gives her keys to a cottage she didn’t know was still in the family and the offer of a job at his law firm. In search of something to turn her life around, she reluctantly takes it. As she starts to rehab the cottage and her life, Drue starts to find herself again. She also begins to investigate a mysterious death at a local resort that has landed in her lap at the law firm.⁣
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Sunset Beach was a great way to kick off beach read season. 🏖 The setting is beautiful, the characters well developed, the mystery fresh and complex. I loved my time in Sunset Beach! 🏖 For me, Sunset Beach was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars. MKA’s newest did not disappoint! Thank you @stmartinspress for this advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

Sunset Beach, by Mary Kay Andrews, is the story of Drue Campbell, a 36 year old woman floundering after a life altering injury, her mother’s death, and the desertion of her latest boyfriend. The last person she expects to see at her mother’s funeral was her estranged father. The last thing she anticipates is that he is there to tell her she has inherited her grandparents’ cottage on Sunset Beach and to be offered a job in his law firm.

Having nothing left to keep her in Fort Lauderdale, Drue packs up her old white bronco with her meager belongings and heads across Alligator Alley to St. Petersburg. As the cottage has been rented out for awhile and has suffered some storm damage, Drue spends the first week in a motel while trying to settle into her new job and get the cottage inhabitable. And there are surprises! The biggest is that her office manager, and new stepmother, is her girlhood friend Wendy. Another surprise happens with her one night stand with a colleague.

Working on the “justice line” where people call into see if they have a lawsuit, Drue doesn’t expect to have a personal encounter with a client, but when Yvonne Howington comes into the office as Drue is filling in on the reception desk, she finds herself drawn into the plight of this grandmother now raising her young granddaughter after the wrongful death of her daughter. This is life changing for Drue, and it may end up being her demise as the story spins in unexpected ways.

This book proves to be an unexpected meld of mystery, family, and a woman working desperately to find her way. I found all aspects enticing and lost myself in the plot. I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it!

An enjoyable summer read. I have been reading it over spring break. Great for the beach it hammock. Likable characters and storyline.

This is a great book! There is a woman trying to pull her life back together, two mysteries to baffle you and a father trying for reconciliation. Sunset Beach is a perfect summer read for everyone.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved this book! I was so excited to read it and read it in a day! It had all the elements that I like...family drama, mystery and romance. I will definitely order this book for the library because I have so many Andrews fans at the library. They will love it!