Adrift on St. John
Mystery in the Islands, No 1
Rebecca M. Hale

Berkley Prime Crime
March 2012/ ISBN: 978-0-425-24665-8
Genre Mystery/ Amateur Sleuth
Amazon

Reviewed by Laura Hinds

Pen Hoffstra has begun a new life, in the tropical paradise of St. John. She'd been involved in a law practice likely to be in legal trouble of its own, so when the job of executive manager at a plush resort came up, she jumped at the chance. The resort and indeed the region were riddled with mystery, like Penelope herself. When a woman bearing Pen's given name -Hannah Sheridan- comes to the island and then disappears, Pen is more afraid than ever about what is really going on.

This book does cover a wide swath of time, with a variety of characters. There is a great deal of skipping back and forth between the 1700's and present day that I found to be unsettling, perhaps even confusing.

I did, however, enjoy reading the book, it was intriguing and unusual. The characters are clearly defined, and I came to realize the author was actually brilliant in confusing the reader as much as Pen, the protagonist, felt confused.

Rebecca Hale is also the author of Cats and Curios mysteries. If you like that series, you should like this because you enjoy Hale's writing style. I'd say this book takes more of the reader's attention to really follow it, and indeed, that can be a good thing.