SERIES REVIEW: Christy Barritt's Lantern Beach Mysteries

 

I stumbled upon Christy Barritt's Lantern Beach Romantic Suspense series a couple of months ago and decided that I needed to go back to the beginning and read the first part of the story. I have to tell you, I bought these all as e-books and listened to them with the Whispersync function. They were surprisingly pleasant for AI voices! Of course, they mispronounced things from time to time - particularly homonyms like "lives" with the short i sound instead of the long i sound, but that wasn't really a big deal. And it allowed me to enjoy the books the way I most prefer - listening to them while I'm cleaning or cooking, driving, or doing tedious work that doesn't require a lot of thought. 

The Lantern Beach Mysteries are that beginning of the Lantern Beach saga. And what a beginning! Cady Matthews had been a detective in Seattle, undercover with a ruthless, dangerous gang. In the opening scene of this first book, HIDDEN CURRENTS, she kills the leader of the group (wait until you see how she does that!) and most go on the run when a million-dollar bounty is put on her head. She's the key witness in the trial against members of the gang. Living long enough to do that becomes her number-one goal.

Enter Cassidy Livingston, arriving at Lantern Beach, North Carolina, about as far away from Seattle as she could get. With this small island only accessible by ferry, and with her appearance completely changed, Cady/Cassidy feels only slightly protected from those who would love to see her dead. But she has to keep a low profile as an innocuous ice cream truck driver who has nothing to do with police work. That becomes immediately difficult when a dead man washes ashore near her home, and the local police don't seem to have a clue with how to preserve the evidence with the body, let alone investigate what ends up being deemed a murder. But she's only in Lantern Beach of a few weeks. She'll be fine, right? 

In book two of the series, FLOOD WATCH, Cassidy is pulled into yet another mystery. Her new friend, Skye, has a vegetable stand on the island, but a competitor has moved in across the street. Strangely, that competitor has disappeared, and Skye found blood all over his beach house. The police's suspicion of Skye stimulates Cassidy to put her nose into another mystery. At the same time, her next door neighbor, Ty, has asked her for an odd favor. His ailing mother is visiting, and Ty wants nothing more than to make her happy. But she'll only be happy if he's in a relationship. So as Cassidy investigates covertly, she must also pretend to be her neighbor's girlfriend. And her stay has been extended for more than a month. Talk about complicated! 

Cassidy has such trouble keeping that required low profile. In book three, STORM SURGE, she finds a makeshift raft that has landed on the beach behind her home. This is the type of pieced-together junket that refugees use when the risk of death is better than their current circumstances. Cassidy can't resist nosing around just a little, but she doesn't expect what she finds. Nor does she expect a little real romance to blossom between her and her neighbor Ty. Her stay in Lantern Beach has been extended again. She's been there for two months, and she now has four more to go. But folks are already becoming pretty suspicious of her. 

By book four, DANGEROUS WATERS, Cassidy is no longer looking forward to testifying at the trial and moving back to her life in Seattle. Her life in Lantern Beach and her new romance with her next door neighbor are both comfortable and compelling. But when an element from her past arrives at Lantern Beach, her world teeters. How has she been found, and will there be others? Must she move elsewhere with still almost two months left of her hiding?

In book five, PERILOUS RIPTIDE, Cassidy can't resist putting her nose into a mysterious find from her ice cream truck. When it lands her boyfriend Ty in jail, she will stop at nothing to have him released, even if it means investigating the police department itself. Lantern Beach will never be the same. 

In the final book of the series, DEADLY UNDERTOW, Cassidy has to face what she has dreaded all along, bringing herself and her new friends into deadly danger because of her past. 

Christy Barritt has become a master writer to me. The USA Today Bestselling author has created a beach community that only exists in her mind, but from her descriptions, I could draw a map of Lantern Beach, from the point with the lighthouse to the bungalows, and from the pier to the "Crazy Chefette" diner. At the same time, she's built a community with quirky and loveable characters that I'm delighted to "meet" and get to know. 

The Lantern Beach PD is the next series in the saga. I'm so looking forward to Cassidy's takeover of the department. This quiet, unassuming island has become a hotbed of all sorts of trouble! 

When was the last time you finished a book series? What was it?