Book Review: Smile Beach Murder | Alicia Bessette

A quaint mystery set in a cozy island community with a treasure hunt, an intriguing case, and depth to the characters and relationships that makes you want to see them succeed. Smile Beach Murder is a perfect mystery for a breezy beach day read!

The Characters

If you know anything about cozy mystery series, you know they can have a large cast of characters, and this is no exception! I want to touch on the most relevant ones to the main events of the story but certainly don’t think of this as an exhaustive list (or necessarily one that includes all of the suspects you may have while reading!). I always think this is helpful when reading to refer back to so you can remember who everyone is.

Callie Padget is the leading character and narrator. She has returned to Cattail Island where she grew up after being laid off from her reporter job at the Charlotte newspaper. Hudson is her uncle who still lives on the island and welcomes her with open arms to return to her childhood bedroom.

Teri Padgett is Callie’s mother who died when she was a teenager. Her quirky former friend Antoinette Redfield runs the MotherVine bookstore and offers Callie a job upon her return. Tin man is Antoinette’s cat and beloved resident of the bookstore with a dynamic social media presence. Ronnie is best friends with Antoinette and Uncle Hudson.

Eva Meeks is the older sister to Georgia Meeks, a friend of Callie’s from high school. Eva owns the local hardware store on the Island. Eva’s is the central death that spur the mystery of the novel. Summer is Eva Meeks’ twelve-year-old daughter. Bo Beauchamp works at the hardware store in the paint section and coordinates volunteers at the local animal shelter.

Gwen Montgomery is the new lighthouse keeper. Gwen is a recovering alcoholic and Is the person who discovered Eva Meeks’ body. Ralph Burrus is the head of the local nonprofit groups that oversees the lighthouse. Drew Jurecki is the Chief of Police in Cattail. Rasheeda Scarboro is the medical examiner. Officer Fusco is a young female police officer new to the force.

Trish Berryman is the former nemesis of Callie’s mother Teri and the Editor in Chief of the local paper, the Cattail Crier. Jeff Berryman is Trish’s husband and the main photographer for the Cattail Crier. They lived next door to Callie and her mother growing up. Ralph Burrus is the head of the local nonprofit groups that oversees the lighthouse. Toby Dodge is the owner of the local martial arts gym.

Pearleen Standish is the wealthiest resident of cattail and the heiress to a furniture empire founded on the island. She is celebrating her eightieth birthday as the book opens, and has a reputation for being unpleasant to most locals. Whitman Standish is her grandson and heir to the furniture empire.

Structure, Setting, and Plot

Smile Beach Murder takes place on Cattail Island which is located in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The book is narrated by lead character and amateur detective Callie Padget. The story is told in one continuous timeline moving forward from the first events of the book.

Callie is emotionally fragile after being part of a 62-person layoff at the Charlotte-newspaper where she was a reporter. With few options, Callie moves back home temporarily while she continues to build her portfolio and apply for jobs in journalism. Her uncle Hudson welcomes her home to her former bedroom. While Callie loves her uncle and her hometown, it is full of difficult memories of her mother, who died when Callie was a pre-teen.

Callie is working at the local bookstore, MotherVine, as a clerk, book runner, and occasional photographer when the sister of one of her childhood friends Eva Meeks comes in looking for a book to help her with a treasure hunt she’s on. Eva owns the local hardware store and loves to tackle mysteries and treasure hunts. Her current one has her pointed towards the lighthouse on Smile Beach, which happens to be the very place Callie’s mother died two decades earlier.

When Callie discovers the next day that Eva died at the very same lighthouse the night before, she rushes to the scene. It feels like history is repeating itself. The police claim it is suicide, but Callie doesn’t think that Eva jumped any more than she thinks her mother did.

Callie knows she can help clear up what happened to Eva if the police won’t. She enlists the help of some friends and begins the very treasure hunt that took Eva’s life. But when another body ends up at the lighthouse, Callie wonders if she should have never come back to Cattail Island. Now she either needs to find out what happened or risk becoming the next victim…

My Thoughts

The setting on Cattail Island is perfect for a new cozy mystery series. In the opening chapter Callie is headed across town and I felt I could smell the beach-y town as she was crossing it—the salty sea air, the smell of fried food from the beachside cafés, and the floral fragrance from the gardens.

Callie has some sadness in her past. While most cozy series would focus on the devastation of losing her job and being forced to move home, Smile Beach Murder focuses much more on why she has been avoiding coming home. Throughout the book we get small flashbacks as she remembers her mother and continues to process her grief. I loved how she became interested in Mary Higgins Clark after her mother passed because it was her favorite author.

At one point Antoinette (who largely seems kooky and not plugged into what is going on) sees her eyeing one of her mother’s favorite books and gifts it to her. Another time she recommends MHC to Summer, who is going through the process of losing her own mother at around the same age Callie was when she lost hers. These poignant moments add more depth to the series than we usually see in cozy mysteries and made me feel more connected to the characters.

Callie is a strong lead for a series. She is smart and compassionate for others. She wants to understand what happened but not in an annoying way. She doesn’t bumble around the way many cozy leads do, probably due to her experience as a reporter. A lot of her mystery-solving comes through interviewing people and observation, which also pull from her journalism repertoire.

Overall a great start to a new cozy mystery series. With a charming setting, an adorable cat, a job at a kitschy shop that allows her to travel around town interacting with people, and a strong lead, this has everything cozy mystery lovers are looking for!