Susan Wiggs, The Summer Hideaway

The Summer Hideaway

Susan Wiggs

Mira, Feb 23 2010, $7.99

ISBN: 9780778327998

Medvac helicopter pilot Ross Bellamy comes home after two years deployed in Afghanistan. His beloved grandfather, George, has terminal cancer, and refuses to receive any more medical treatment. Instead George has gone to Willow Lake in the Catskills to reconcile with his brother Charles before he dies; George's three sons had no idea he even had a brother.

George hires private-duty nurse Claire Turner, whose specialty is palliative care for the terminally ill, to accompany him. His family thinks Claire is using George and has the local cops thinking she kidnapped him. However, Ross observing very carefully knows otherwise as she is a caring professional. What he does not understand is why the beautiful Claire has buried herself with the Bellamy brothers and their kin in Avalon, New York; not that he is complaining as he is attracted to her. She reciprocates, but romance is not in the cards of someone in hiding having seen a murder but is ineligible for the witness protection program as the homicide was not a federal offense.

Although Claire's teenage past as a homicide witness is over the Catskills, fans will relish the return to Willow Lake starring a feisty dying Bellamy, his family especially his grandson, and a brave heroine fearing who may find her in rural New York. The character driven story line grips the audience when the Auburn cop pulls over Claire and George because his daughter-law from California hysterically convinces the police he is a kidnap victim. Fans will enjoy The Summer Hideaway as love grows with the Bellamy brood.

Harriet Klausner