The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen is a very highly recommended investigative mystery, and the excellent second novel following the equally stellar first novel, The Spy Coast, featuring the Martini Club of retired CIA agents.

Susan, Ethan and their daughter Zoe Conover are returning to the family summer home on Maiden Pond in Purity, Maine where they will meet matriarch Elizabeth, brother Colin along with his wife Brooke and their son Kit. The family is planning to scatter the ashes of recently deceased patriarch George. Soon after they arrive 15-year-old Zoe disappears and local police chief Jo Thibodeau is called in to investigate. When the Martini club, comprised of retired CIA agents, Maggie, Declan, Ben, Ingrid and Lloyd, hear about the missing teen teen they jump in to assist with the investigation, but it is much more complicated than it originally appeared.

The well-written narrative is fast-paced, complex, and intricately plotted. The narrative alternates between the point-of-view of Susan, Jo, and Maggie and it becomes very clear that there is much more going on than it originally appears. The clues lead all over the place and back in time. Nothing is as simple as it seems when the investigation opens up additional discoveries, leads, and long buried secrets. The contrast between the summer people of privilege and the common year round local residents enters into the case.

Again, everything about the novel is excellent the writing, plot, and characters. There are several twists and surprises. Once started it was impossible to put aside. I enjoyed the first novel so much, which introduces these characters that I would recommended reading it first, but readers could still enjoy this outing as a standalone. The first novel does provide much more background information about the Martini Club.

I loved The Summer Guests as much as I did the first Martini Club investigation in The Spy Coast and I hope to see them again. Thanks to Thomas & Mercer for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

This is the second book in the Martini Club mysteries featuring Maggie Bird. Maggie
used to be a spy for the CIA, but now she has retired to Purity, Maine. A few of her friends and former colleagues have also retired there and have formed The Martini Club to eat, drink, reminisce and recently discuss new investigations as well. When Maggie's neighbor is accused of kidnapping a teenager, one of the summer guests to the area, the Martini Club takes action to try to find the girl before it's too late. The police chief, Jo Thibodeau, is a capable detective, but lacks the resources of Maggie and her friends and grudgingly accepts their help with the investigation.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, The Spy Coast, and I liked this one even more. I especially like Maggie and Declan and grow to like Jo more and more. I like it better when Jo works Maggie and the others instead of trying to fight their involvement. This book introduces new characters, a wealthy family who spends their summers in Maine, but seem to be at the center of a mystery. A few of these family members are hard to like, but the in-law Susan and her daughter Zoe are both delightful. The plot turns out to be more complex than it first appeared, and I kept changing my mind about who could be trusted. I loved the ending and hope there are more Martini Club adventures to come.

I received an advance copy of this book for review consideration from MBC Books and Amazon Publishing, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

In this sequel to THE MARTINI CLUB, a group of retired spies is back on the case when a teenage girl disappears, and Maggie's neighbor is the prime suspect.

Sheriff Jo Thibodeau is called to the Conover home when Zoe Conover, newly adopted daughter of younger son Eathan, goes missing. While Zoe's mother Susan seems very upset, the rest of the family are seemingly writing the disappearance off as typical teenage behavior.

As Jo investigates, she learns that Maggie's neighbor Luther Yount was the last one to see her before she disappeared. He dropped her off at the boat dock near her home on Maiden Lake. Despite the fact the Zoe is an excellent swimmer, Susan demands that the lake be dragged in case something awful happened.

But there are other clues. Her backpack was found along a highway some miles from town and the lake and her cell phone is discovered in the bed of a local lowlife's truck. But Zoe isn't found, and the lake is dragged. Divers find a skeleton that is definitely not Zoe but is a mystery of its own.

The Martini Club are putting their skills to use to clear Luther's name, find Zoe, and identify the bones found in the lake. Their investigations lead them to a secret government operation that took place at Maiden Lake during the 1970s and a possible identification of the body in the lake.

Then Zoe is found by some hikers in still another direction from her phone and backpack. She is severely injured from being thrown from a scenic overlook. Brain surgery and other broken bones keep her hospitalized and in need of guarding until the Martini Club manages to put all the pieces together and find the person who wants her dead.

This was an engaging story told from multiple viewpoints. I liked the way the past and the present were woven together to make a thrilling plot.

I love love loved this book! I only wish I would have read book 1 first fur additive character background. This book was like peeling back layers of an onion! So many characters, so many suspects. Everyone i thought resolution was near i was given a different problem or new piece of evidence. Cia, spies, police this book has all the things and I still didn't guess the ending. I will be going back ty read book 1 and continue with the series.

Thank you to netgalley and publishers fit this advanced copy of the book. My review in no way was swayed and was my own.

Felt good to be back in Maine with these characters solving a new case. Kept me thinking throughout the book. The CIA retirees martini club have the skills I hope will continue into more books in the series.

I'm officially addicted to this series! I've loved Tess Gerritsen novels for many years. She initially hooked me with her medical based thrillers. This series is the first I've read that shifts gears and I'm loving it! Book number 2 in the Martini Club series. I read the first book directly prior to this and loved it so much that I read both the books in one sitting. I'm hoping we get more in this series!

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I very much enjoy The Martini Club characters. I love reading stories that have characters over 40 because it makes it much more relatable to me. I also enjoy Jo, the other main character, who is not over 40 but she is very likeable.
Tess Gerritsen's writing is always fabulous. She does a great job of setting the scene, describing the characters and drawing you in. There were plenty of twists that had me guessing along the way. I was not seeing that outcome so well-done! I thought it was someone else completely!
I would not recommend this as a standalone. It would help to read the Spy Coast first so that you understand the characters more.

I am so looking forward to number 3 in the series!

Thanks very much to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advance copy of this book.

I don't usually read a lot of spy thrillers, but I couldn't resist picking up The Spy Coast last year as the premise sounded like a lot of fun. A group of retired spies investigating crimes? Yes please! I ended up having such a great time with the first book, and I've been eagerly anticipating the sequel ever since. There is just something about the Martini Club characters that makes it extremely easy to warm up to them, and reading The Summer Guests felt like meeting up with old friends. As a result I think I enjoyed this second book even more despite it having a distinctly different feel.

This is definitely a series to read in order, because you won't fully appreciate the dynamics between the many different characters in play in the small Maine town otherwise. That said, while the first book was a proper spy thriller with international destinations and a lot of action, The Summer Guests ended up going in a completely different direction and focuses on a missing teenager case instead. This means lots of family drama and a slower pace, but somehow I wasn't bothered by this change of pace at all and the plot still offered lots of intrigue to keep you busy.

The main reason this story works so well has everything to do with the Martini Club members though. I do love older characters when done well, and this is both a very capable and hilarious group of retired spies we are dealing with. They kind of give me Thursday Murder Club vibes, although they have a lot more investigation experience under their belts of course... I loved how they each have a role in their little group, and the humor makes for great balance. Police chief Jo makes for a great character as well, and I really liked what she added to the plot.

The Summer Guests uses a multiple POV structure, but it is quite easy to keep everyone apart as long as you remember the first book. My favorite POVs were Maggie and Jo, because they showed the investigation and it was fun to see the development from both sides. That and I'm never a big fan of family drama of course, but somehow it was quite easy to tolerate it in this particular story and of course Susan's POV was important as the mother of the missing teenager. The rest of the family isn't exactly likeable, but they are ment to be this way of course... What I also likedwas how it wasn't just the disappearance in the present, but also possible links to the past that kept the investigators busy.

There is just something about Tess Gerritsen's writing that is highly engaging, and I literally couldn't stop reading once the ball started rolling. Great cast of characters, great mystery, great twists, the right balance between humor and serious content... There is a lot to love in The Summer Guests, and the fact that I didn't guess the full truth was a bonus. Don't expect this to be another spy thriller though, because unlike the first book it's rather light in the espionage department!

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC.

I do love this new series, The Martini Club. I find the characters still very much engaging, realistic and relatable, with persons of a certain age still contributing to the world around them. Gerritsens style is one that I truly enjoy.
I am guessing it’s the story itself that I could not get excited about.
It was a very good and quick read, I just expected more of what I felt with the first book of the series.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Susan and her relatively new husband Ethan travel with her "mermaid" daughter, Zoe to his family's summer home in Maine to scatter his father's ashes. It is located on a "pond" and Zoe is thrilled to be able to spend time swimming. Not long into the trip Zoe disappears and her disappearance brings up past tragic events. The Martini Club, retired CIA agents living in the area, decide to investigate in efforts to find her.

I remember not loving the first Martini Club book even though I really like Tess Gerritsen, so I sat on this ARC for awhile. Fortunately, I liked this entry in the series way more. It was a quick and entertaining read. I never got bored and I genuinely wanted to know what had gone on both in the past and with Zoe. I am glad Tess Gerritsen is back in good form and I look forward to her next book. Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Even the wealthy have secrets, and in this book, when a young girl goes missing, those secrets are threatened.

The reader returns to Purity, a small quiet town in Maine, a summer town with limited year-round residents. When The Martini Club, a group of retired folks from the kind of job kept under wraps finds out about the disappearance, they jump into action, helping and sometimes hindering, Jo, the local acting police chief.

On the surface, it seems that the girl, a new stepdaughter to one of Maiden Pond’s wealthy summer residents, simply disappeared. She’s a skilled swimmer, so no one suspects that she drowned. Clues start accumulating, leading Jo and the club in different directions. When Maggie and her friends start unraveling the mystery, no one is aware of the depth of the reasons.

I enjoyed this fast moving mystery. I love the way everyone in the club has their strengths, and maybe there’s a new romance in the wind as well. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

Maggie Bird is a retired CIA agent living incognito in Purity, Maine, along with three other former spies. They call themselves The Martini Club, enjoying retirement with lively, boozy get-togethers. The Conover family is part of a group of wealthy seasonal residents. After George Conover's death, his widow, two sons, and the rest of the family return to spread his ashes at their sprawling lakefront summer home on Maiden Pond. Ethan Conover, one of the sons and a writer, has brought his wife, Susan, and teenage daughter, Zoe, who he recently adopted. When Zoe goes missing, Maggie and The Martini Club can't resist the opportunity to get involved in the search. With their unique skills, Jo Thibodeau, the acting police chief, must find a way to accept their help. Uncovered secrets trace back to a 1972 mass killing and the case of a long-missing woman. And time is running out to find Zoe.

Author Tess Gerritsen, best known for her Rizzoli & Isles books, introduced The Martini Club series in 2023 with the highly enjoyable The Spy Coast. The Summer Guests provides a welcome return to a great ensemble of characters. Although it deals with some deadly crimes, there is a light-hearted spirit when Maggie and her friends engage with each other and Jo. The suspenseful plot is a solid one with well-done twists. Cheers to the author for creating a series featuring people whose ages haven't slowed them down.

4.25 stars.

My first introduction to Tess Gerritsen, and I see why people love her writing! This was suspenseful and eerie, but with enough levity to make it very easy to binge. It moved along quickly and had plenty of my favorite elements: family secrets, conspiracies, and nuanced characters, with a touch of humor. I read this one as a standalone and while I missed out on some backstory, I didn't have trouble keeping up.

This was a lot of fun! I’ve never read anything by Tess Gerritsen before, but I plan to now. Such confident, clear writing is a pleasure to read, and the plot was twisty enough to hold my interest. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the first book featuring The Martini Club. This story was very interesting, but didn’t have quite the pizazz of the first one. That being said, I liked how the members of the Club work to try to solve mysteries in their small, Maine town.

The Summer Guests is the 2nd book in The Martini Club series, and I enjoyed it even more than the 1st book. What's not to love about a group of boozy, retired CIA agents, that still dapple with their special skills and unwittingly outsmart the police chief and others at every turn?! This entire dynamic is brilliant and exciting. Think of the movie RED, but in book form. I love all the characters. They are each unique for what they bring to the table and extremely likeable. I grew a strong attachment to Reuben in this book and I hope that the author makes him a notable character in future books to come. Where the 1st book was more of a spy thriller, this one is more of a mystery/crime thriller. The author does a good job presenting us with multiple suspects as well as a few red herrings. There was a lot going on in this one, but the story was easy to follow and kept me on my toes. It was fast-paced, interesting, and woven together seamlessly. I look forward to reading more of this series and can't wait to get my hands on book three. I highly recommend if you're looking for a fun, new mystery series. You won't be disappointed!

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer for granting me a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!

The Summer Guests story is action-packed and full of interwoven threads of decades-long mysteries. Tess Gerritsen expertly twines these threads together into an entertaining, captivating tale featuring the second adventure of The Martini Club. Easily serving as a standalone novel, this is a solid addition to the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this ARC.

The Spy Coast was one of my favorite reads last year! So of course, I couldn't wait to get my hands on book 2! Maggie and her friends, The Martini Club, are the kind of old people we should all aspire to be. Smart, confident with a unique set of skills. Once again, Tess Gerritsen has elegantly written a fast-paced intriguing mystery well thought out characters that wmis hard to put down.

Summer is upon us and a new mystery arises. The group internally known as the Martini Club, a gaggle of retired CIA agents, decides to involve themselves. No surprise, chaos becomes the name of the game. We have a missing girl, a surprise body, and a mystery to solve. The many twists and turns kept me riveted and fully engaged. This is the first book of the series that I’ve read, and I’ll definitely reach back to the first.

Never overlook the human heart as a source of mischief.

Books like this remind me why I fell in love with Gerritsen's writing all those years ago. Tighlty plotted, non-stop action, twist and turns, this book is (as much as I dislike the word) unputdownable. I read it almost entirely in one sitting. Our intrepid group of retired spies (hiding in plain view as the titular "Martini Club") is back in action and just as loveable as in the first book.

Speaking of, where I found the first book in the series just a tiny smidgen too overloaded and all over the place, this one takes place entirely in the town of Purity, Maine, where long-buried secrets are uncovered and a family of summer guests is torn apart by the sudden disappearance of a child. The setting might just be my favorite part, because you can feel the author's love for Maine and the community that became her own home.

Excellent entry in a fun and exciting series, perfect for fans of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series!