After her mother's death and losing her job, Dru Campbell's world is looking up when she starts a new job at a hot law firm in Florida, right? Except the law office is that of her estranged father, the office manager is his new wife and her high school frenemy, and her new job is on the phone in a cubicle. What a thrill. She has, however, inherited the beach house her grandfather built on Sunset Beach, in need of some serious rehabilitation, but dearly beloved. While getting to know her new job and co-workers, struggling with her new "step-mother", overcoming childhood injuries and hurts from her father, and settling into her new neighborhood, she is drawn into several local mysteries - the disappearance of a local woman who appears to be linked to her parents somehow; and the unsolved murder of a young mother whose daughter Dru's father was unable to win a settlement beyond a minimal worker's comp payment. So many elements smoothly woven together in Andrews' effortless style make for entertaining reading. This definitely leans more towards her mystery writing than the more romance light variety, having a bit more substance. I enjoyed it a great deal, fast read all the way through. Good mystery, nice romance elements, some humor, great friendship relationship building, absolutely nothing not to like. Even some nice recipes!

I was given the opportunity to read this book thanks to NetGalley. Wow. What can I say? I’m a huge Mary Kay Andrews fan and I have ready every book she has written. Thankfully, this one did not disappoint in the slightest. In fact, I found it delightfully different than some of her previous works. Yes the beach and wonderful setting is there but this one packs a mystery as well. The main character, Drue, parts with her boyfriend and gets fired. She accepts a job from her attorney father who had married her enemy from the last. She then moves to Sunset Beach. Her character evolves throughout the book and she investigates unsolved murder mysteries. This book is fantastic and I will gladly recommend it to all readers. Thanks so much for the opportunity to read this wonderful book!

Sunset Beach was my first book by Mary Kay Andrews and will not be my last! Drue Campbell is a 36 year old who reluctantly relocates to take a job at her estranged father’s law firm after the death of her mother. Andrews does a great job of developing the characters and plot line for the reader as we follow along through the ups and downs of Drue’s suspicions about the law firm, her father, a missing woman case report from long ago, and a woman killed at a neighborhood resort. I enjoyed the twists and turns in the story and would recommend this as a great beach read this summer! I also loved the additional content at the end with advice on buying a beach house and recipes! I received an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own.

4.5 Stars...rounded up!

Is it truly summer unless you've read a Mary Kay Andrews's book? I look forward to her book coming out every May and the covers always give me serious summer vibes! However, don't let this beach cover fool you, this book has some serious depth!

Drue was doing what she loved - kiteboarding and working on the side to bring in some cash. Her life is then turned around when her mother passes and now she's suddenly out of a job. When Drue goes to her mother's funeral her estranged Dad shows up and he tells her they need to talk because he has some news for her. Nothing could be farther from what Drue wants. Her Dad is now married to her high school nemesis and he ran off her her as a child. She reluctantly meets with her Dad and finds out that she has inherited her grandparent's house on the beach - Sunset Beach.

Drue's Dad also offers her a job at his law firm to take calls - her boss is her new step mom and it's the worst job imaginable. One day Drue is manning the front desk and an old client comes in demanding justice. This gets Drue's gears grinding and Drue wants justice for this family who is struggling. Something just seems "off" with how this case was settled and Drue won't stop until she figures out where this went wrong. We watch Drue try to find love, repair her relationship with her Dad and try to get through life. She just has to go through some twists and turns to get there.

This book was so much more than what I expected it was going to be! The cover really does make it look like it's going to be a summer chick lit read but this is way more than that. This is a full blown mystery that the main character comes in to once it's been "solved" and reopens the case to find out the truth. She wants justice for a family that definitely got played by the system. Although Drue could be over the top about how enthusiastic she was about this case (i'm talking no sleep, not eating, etc.) I appreciated her dedication.

There's something about MKA books that suck me in every single time. The way that she writes is so engrossing and the short chapters keep me wanting more. They're definitely not thrillers but the mystery is usually something that I haven't really read before. I suppose I love how fresh her writing is each year. Plus who can not like books with a beach theme? I feel like as I was reading and imaging a beach town it almost made me calmer in the intense parts. Overall this is a great book to start off my summer reading and I will continue to look forward to her books each and every year!

This book is out now so go pick it up! Thank you to St. Martin's Press for my copy of this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 / 5 (4.5/5)

Progression of reading MKA: Read The Weekenders, didn't love it; read The High Tide Club and loved it, so much heart! A mystery! Humor!; reads Sunset Beach BAM, Mary Kay Andrews has officially become an auto-buy author for me.

What it's about: Drue Campbell has recently lost both her mom and her job, so when her absentee dad shows up offering to let her work at his law firm, it doesn't take her long to decide she should do it. Luckily, her mom left her a bungalow on Sunset Beach, close to Drue's dad's firm. The only problem is the house needs a lot of work, plus a new roof... Drue sets to work on fixing up the house while also working on the Justice Line at her dad's firm where she quickly manages to get pulled into an unsolved murder. Her own investigating quickly turns up information that the cops and her dad's old friend and investigator Jimmy Zee didn't turn up. Plus she ends up with yet another mystery on her hands after she finds the case file of a missing woman in her house's attic. What is it doing in her mom's grandparent's home, and how does it relate to her family?

When I first started Sunset Beach I wasn't sure how much I was actually going to end up liking it, but after I got into the meat of the story and the mystery, I couldn't pull myself away from it. I love that MKA's books have a bit of everything, there's a bit of romance, lots of family drama, love, loss, and mystery. The way she pulls everything together always pulls at my heart and I somehow manage to end up in tears (usually happy) by the time I get to the end of her books. Sunset Beach was no exception.

The character's really came to life in this story for me, and I loved Drue's quick wit throughout the book. She is in her mid-thirties and while I don't think she always acted her age, she definitely made for a very real and relatable character. I love how relatable MKA makes her characters, and if you can't relate to one of them, you can usually relate to at least someone. Plus, the setting of Sunset Beach in Florida made ME want to be on a beach. This really is a perfect beach read, whether you are by one or not.

Sunset Beach has viewpoints from a few different people, although Drue is the main one. It also eventually starts to switch between past and present, which is ultimately where the book started to pick up for me and had me completely hooked. The mystery was a good one, and I didn't really see the ending coming.

Final Thought: Drama! Mystery! Intrigue! If you like a good women's fiction novel that gives you beach vibes plus involves mystery and some light romance, I highly recommend checking out Sunset Beach. I think MKA fans will love this book if they liked The High Tide Club, and newer fans (like me) should love this as well. If you don't love it at first just hang in there, I promise the mystery is so worth it!!

Thank you to Meghan Walker and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

Mary Kay Andrews has gifted us with another light mystery just in time for the beach read season! When down on her luck Drue Campbell moves to Florida's lazy western shore she gets more than she bargained for. Between learning a new job, fixing up an old house, making friends, and encountering old frenemies, she's swamped. When she stumbles upon an old box of newspaper clippings in the attic, and has a chance encounter at work, she must solve two cold cases to restore justice in her new community. A must read for fans of Karen White and Wendy Wax.

Mary Kay Andrews is one of those authors that I look forward to reading every summer, usually at the beach with a drink in my hand. But this year I had an advance copy, and so I read it right around the release date this time around. It’s cloudy and in the 50s, so not so beachy with me huddled under blankets, but it still gave me the at-the-beach summertime feeling.

I related to this book’s protagonist Drue perhaps more than some other characters: due to a kiteboarding injury, she was forced to get her act together if she didn’t want to be homeless, after being fired from her bartending job. She ends up working in her estranged father’s law firm and living in her grandparents’ cottage, which she recently inherited (not bad as backup plans go comparatively speaking). A case at her father’s firm attracts her eye, as things don’t add up, and so she starts with some amateur sleuthing.

While I’m not a huge fan of chick lit mysteries, I realize they’re here to stay, and I’ll honestly say I didn’t see the plot twist coming, so it was reasonably well done, I guess. The mix between mystery, family saga and romance was an acceptable one and kept the plot lively. Most of Andrews’ books are stand-alone, so I don’t know if this cast of characters will be back, but I think Andrews left the door open. (I wouldn’t mind — I actually liked them and don’t think the romance that developed is already too played out to pick up again.)

A very solid effort for this year’s beach novel from Andrews — if you’re already a fan of Andrews or the Southern beach lit genre, you won’t be disappointed.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! I'm a huge fan of Mary Kay Andrew's and I'm always excited for her next book but this one was truly her best yet! I just didn't want to put the book down, I had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen! I was definitely surprised by the ending. So good!!

This was my first Mary Kay Andrews book, but won't be the last. A great easy read with suspenseful twist. Drue recently lost her mom and was injured in a kiteboard accident, so she is at lost ends. When her dad, with whom she has a shaky relationship, contacts her and offers her a job she takes it because she lacks other options. As she settles into her job on the phone line at his law firm, she notices a case that she questions. She decides to delve back into the case and if her dad is really cheating his clients. I would recommend this one for sure.

As always, Mary Kay Andrews grabbed my attention on the first page and held it until the very last page. I don't know how she does it time after time, but she creates the most addicting and entertaining stories every summer. I loved Drue's character and really enjoyed her spunk and attitude in this novel. The other characters were a lot of fun as well and I loved everything they contributed to the story.

If you're a Mary Kay Andrews fan or love a good summer read with a mixture of romance, family drama, and murder... then this novel is PERFECT for you. I would highly recommend this novel and, as always, I look forward to more amazing books from Mary Kay Andrews in the future! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Rating 4/5

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of this book. I originally requested the book for the author and the beautiful cover. Truth be told, I thought it would be a fluff, easy read. It would be great of this time of of the year to get ready for summer. This book had two unexpected mysteries! I thought it was just great! The beach setting makes it a great summer read, but the mysteries make it an interesting page turner.

Such an awesome book! I could not put it down once I started. Once again, Mary Kay Andrews has written an excellent summer mystery that is so easy to read.

Nice feel good novel. Easy to read. Perfect for the summer months
. The author never fails to keep you interested. Nice location and you want to be part of it

This gorgeous beach cover depicts a light beachy read, but it’s really a double mystery more than anything, with flashbacks and two points of view. I have read and enjoyed many of Mary Kay Andrews previous books due to the quirky characters, quaint settings and relatable, even humorous relationship interactions, but this book missed the mark for me with its focus on a mystery that felt a bit convoluted and implausible.
It was a very lengthy story and I admit, did feel long while reading it. Since it veered more toward the unrealistic side of things than the typical mysteries I normally read, I had a hard time buying into the plot. There was a lesser focus on a romance, but it wasn’t something I found believable. There were also family dynamics at play, but at the risk of sounding repetitive, they didn’t feel reasonable in a real life situation. So while I can see why some will like this story, with its variety of characters, charming setting, and light-mystery, it wasn’t something that captured or kept my attention.

Perfect chick lit! I loved the premise and the characters were well developed! I recommend this for anyone looking for a light and fun read!

Dru Campbell's life is in 2 parts. Before and after her parents were divorced. She got stuck in the angry rebellious age and didn't want to let go. Life happens and the person giving her a life line is her father. He's given her a job and he kept the cottage that her grandparents built. As she is restoring the cottage to its former glory, she needs to do some rebuilding herself. There is a problem, she has a curiosity streak a mile wide. She wants to help this woman get justice for her daughter and grand-daughter. The author puts in some twists and turns. One I saw coming the other, I had no clue. Loved the ending.

Ok MKA is now one of my top authors. Sunset Beach has put her on the top in my opinion. This book is funny, heartfelt, relaxing and trust me, a book you will not be putting down once you start. Very loving story....perfect beach read. If you haven’t read MKA, then read this. You will wonder why you’ve never read her books. She is a great writer. In my opinion a great writer keeps you wanting more of the story line...check, they define the characters in a way that you can feel and relate with them...check. Trust me.....you most read this. :) happy reading.

MISCHIEF, MAYHEM & MURDER!

The adage “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” has never been more true than when you look at the cover of SUNSET BEACH and then read the novel. The cover is picture perfect while the novel is filled with mischief, mayhem and murder. It’s definitely not your cozy little beach read. It’s gritty and deals with a darker side of things than MKA usually writes. Her lead character Drue, like many of her other leads, is down on her luck after a series of things have have happened - a breakup with her boyfriend, the death of her mother, loss of her waitressing job and a severe injury to her knee causing her to give up her pro status as a kiteboarder. After the death of her mother, she reconnects with her father, an ambulance chaser lawyer with a mega practice, who offers her a job and tells her she inherited her grandparents’ beach house.

From this point on, the plot becomes VERY complex. Dru gets obsessed about one of the Office cases and does her own investigation. In my opinion, the plot drug in several places due to the redundancy of retelling certain aspects of the case. MKA also inserts a time slip to go along with this already busy plot. You need to pay attention so you won’t miss anything in each time period because both are very important to the ending. Themes in this novel are: dysfunctional families, jealousy, cheaters, romance, mystery, murder and friendships. I was provided an ARC of this novel by St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and without influence.

I was so sad to finish this book! I love Mary Kay Andrews and have read every one of her books! She is one of my favorite authors. This is a perfect book for a spring or summer day lazing in the sunshine.

The main character, Drue Campbell, is the down on her luck daughter of a lawyer she hardly knows. She has moved to be closer to him after her mother dies and the fun starts there. Her father employees her at his law firm to answer phones. Enough said....

The characters are perfectly created and the plot moves along swiftly. As I said before, this is a great read!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review this book.

I have always loved Mary Kay Andrews and have said that I’ll read anything she writes. This book just cements that! Sunset Beach combines family secrets with old legal mysteries along with home renovation and a glorious beach setting. This book reminds me a tiny bit of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum combined with Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone - two of my favorite detectives! If you’re looking for a relatively light beachy mystery, definitely give this one a try!