Peggy Darty When the Sandpiper Calls

When the Sandpiper Calls

Peggy Darty

WaterBrook, Oct 2005, $16.99, 304 pp.

ISBN: 1578569044

In Summer Breeze on the Florida Panhandle, mystery writer Christy Castleman gives a talk to the Sassy Snowbirds, book readers from the north. After talking a little about herself and her one published novel so far, Christy shows the group an expensive antique bottle she found partially buried in the sands of nearby almost empty Shipwreck Island. Inside is a nasty note that says the writer is in danger. The penmanship matches missing realtor Marty McAllister who failed to come home to host an event last night with the Sassy Snowbirds.

Christy informs Deputy Big Bob Arnold what she found. He tells her he will look around, but she is to stop her sleuthing. Because she promised her aunt, a snowbird, she checks at Marty's home to find the woman not home. Christy learns more things from her dad who sold the bottle in the first place. Unable to resist she heads to Shipwreck Island where she meets handsome stranger Dan Brockman. Reluctantly Christy begins to believe that someone abducted and killed Marty, but why and how does Dan, who she is attracted to, fits into the equation.

WHEN THE SANDPIPER CALLS is an entertaining amateur sleuth cozy starring a likable mystery author and eccentric snowbirds, who coax her into doing things she knows better not to do. The character driven tale breezes at a leisurely pace even as the evidence mounts that Marty is a victim of foul play. Christy is terrific as the core of the story line and the support cast to include her parents, the snowbirds, and Dan make for a fun who-done-it.

Harriet Klausner