This cozy was entertaining. Liz and her Auntie, Father, and friends set out to prove her innocence in the death of her ex-boyfriend and jerk, Travis. The setting is a barrier island off of Florida. The characters are a hoot. Auntie Amelia is a way-over-the-top former actress. The family hotel is called the Indialantic and is more like a boarding house. Liz lives in a cottage on the property as does her boyfriend. Many of the others live in the hotel will a menagerie of animals.

I loved the characters, they were fun. The story moves along quickly and even though I haven't read the previous novels in the series, I still understood who everyone was and how they fit in. They are several suspects and a couple of shady characters. A surprise twist is at the end.

Murder by the sea is the third book by Kathleen Bridge.
I enjoy everything about this mystery.
When Liz’s ex Travis makes an appearance at the masquerade ball to see Liz ,she wants nothing to do with him ,he have caused enough trouble when they were together that was in the pass or so she thinks.
Travis is missing next day and is later found dead in the hotel grounds.
Liz becomes number one suspect,the mystery begins to clear her name .
Love this series.
Definitely recommend this author and series.
Many thanks to the publisher and Nettgalley for letting me read and review this book.

Kathleen Bridge is the master of the setting. You can almost breathe the air of the story setting, it's so real. The characters are vivid and interesting. I found the investigating to be a little vague but so what the rest of the story is great. #MurderByTheSea #NetGalley

Liz Holtz has made a good life for herself returning to the Indiatlantic Hotel after a traumatic and scandalous end to her relationship with Travis, an award winning novelist. New Year's eve Literary fancy dress ball is crashed by Travis and several other of his NYC coterie with the intention of getting Liz to agree to something. But he is murdered before all was revealed. Now Liz finds herself in the shortlist of suspects and has to clear her name. Another fun entry in this series. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Murder by the Sea is the third installment in Kathleen Bridge’s By the Sea Mystery series. Author Liz Holt has been home with her family at their Indialantic by the Sea Hotel, Melbourne Beach, Florida, for almost a year. Liz in enjoying the New Year’s Eve Florida Writers Literary masquerade ball being held at the Indialantic when she discovers her ex-boyfriend, Pulitzer winner Travis Osterman, and his publicist, Paula Resnick, have crashed the ball. After quite public words, Liz heads back to find her new beau, Ryan Stone, for the midnight celebration.

The next day Travis is missing and, later that day, he is found dead on the hotel grounds. Because of the bad blood between Liz and Travis and the fact that there are witnesses to their hostilities, Liz becomes the primary person of interest. And, as if that isn’t bad enough, her father’s new fiancé, Agent Charlotte Pearson of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Department, is removed from the investigation due to her relationship with Liz.

Agent Pearson’s replacement, Agent Crowley, is a no nonsense type of guy with a military presence, which is proven when Captain Netherton, USCG retired, recognizes him. Although apparently thorough, Crowley is quite tight lipped. Unfortunately, it is also apparent that Liz is the primary suspect.

Over the next few days, Liz and her group of family and friends take every investigative path to find the actual murderer and to clear Liz’s name. The story takes many twists and turns before a heart stopping conclusion.

This is another well told story in this new series. With engaging characters and well described settings, this is a series to pay attention to! I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it!

Murder by the Sea is a great addition to the By the Sea series that takes place in lovely south Florida and Melbourne Beach. Liz Holt grew up on the beach and has recently returned after spending time in Manhattan as a writer. She moved home after a bad relationship with another author, Travis Osterman. She and her dad lived on the beach with her great aunt, Amelia Holt, a former actress, and owner of a hotel, Indialantic by the Sea. In its heyday, the hotel hosted many big actors and stars. Now it is home to a some group of friends. On New Year's Eve, the hotel was host to a Literary Masquerade Ball. Things went sour when Travis and his entourage including his agent and friends show up and he confronts Liz. Their argument was witnessed by others and brought to light when he is found dead the next day. The regular crew of friends do their investigating to find the real killer. Fenton, Liz's attorney father, along with her detective boyfriend Ryan, Betty, mystery author and hotel resident along with Liz do their investigating. Charlotte, agent with the Sheriff's office and fiancee of Fenton has been taken off the case since she is too close to the accused.
This is another great read in the series with its lovely setting and fun group of characters. Things are more complicated since everyone was in disguise at the time of the murder.
I received a complimentary ARC from Lyrical Underground and Kensington Books through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine only.

Murder by the Sea is the third book in Kathleen Bridge’s By the Sea Mystery series. The quirky characters are well developed, and the well-plotted mystery moves at a steady pace, with lots of twists and turns and humor. I enjoyed reading this fun and entertaining cozy mystery. The reveal, especially the motive, surprised me.

Liz Holt, an award-winning author, is back home in Melbourne Beach, Florida and is living in a cottage on the beach at her childhood home, Indialantic by the Sea Hotel and Emporium, which more like a boarding house than a full-service hotel and owned by her great-aunt, Amelia Eden Holt, a former television character actress. Her father, Fenton, is an attorney, and recently became engaged to Charlotte Pearson, Brevard County PD’s lead homicide detective. Liz is dating Ryan Stone, who took a leave of absence from his job as an arson investigator and fireman for New York City’s fire department to help his grandfather, Pops, at the Deci-casies by the Sea and is also working as Fenton’s on-call private investigator. Liz’s ex-boyfriend, Travis Osterman, his literary agent, his intern, and a publisher are uninvited and unwanted guests who crash the New Year’s Literary Masquerade Ball, the kickoff event for the weeklong New Year’s Writers’ Festival. When Travis is found dead with a bullet hole in his chest the next day, Liz becomes the prime suspect since she was overheard and recorded arguing with and threatening Travis. Agent Crowley is the lead investigator because Agent Crowley is removed from the case due to a conflict of interest.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

Murder by the Sea is the third installment in the A By the Sea Mystery series set on the Florida island of Melbourne Beach and featuring author Liz Holt. Settling in to life at her family's Indialantic Hotel, Liz is looking forward to attending the New Year's Eve Literary Ball with her great aunt Amelia, her father and the other permanent hotel guests.

Everyone is having fun dressed as literary characters and Liz is very much looking forward to kissing her beau Ryan at midnight. Liz is distraught when she realizes that her abusive ex boyfriend Travis Osterman has appeared at the ball accompanied by members of his publicity team. It's really no surprise to Liz that he's still the same threatening, manipulating person and she feels no real remorse when he's found shot to death the next morning. The problem is that Liz was witnessed by none other than the local reporter having a verbal altercation with Travis that could very well have been his last.

Determined to clear her name, Liz sets out with the help of her family and friends to track down a killer. Her investigation uncovers an even deeper layer of deceptive behavior and the suspect list continues to grow.

This was the first installment in the series that I have read and I will go back to start from the beginning. The author does a good job with back history and character description which enables the book to read as a stand alone. In addition to the humans, a great cast of animals including the delightful parrot, Barnacle Bob and a collection of tasty recipes round out a fast paced plot.

I received an advanced copy of Death by the Sea from NetGalley via Lyrical Underground. While not required to write a review I am more than happy to offer my honest opinion.

I literally could not put this down. Liz's traumatic past is revisited as Travis, the former boyfriend who disfigured her comes to Florida to blackmail her into doing something for him. He ends up murdered and Liz is the number one suspect. The story is fast paced, with many misdirections and a surprising ending. I love all the characters in Liz's environment, especially her Aunt with all of her real film and television experiences. There is the perfect blend of mystery, humor and romance. I highly recommend 'Murder by the Sea' and the entire series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Great series! Makes me feel like I'm in the tropics, I love to ecsape away for a few hours with Liz as she solves another who dun it!

MURDER BY THE SEA by Kathleen Bridge is the third book and my first in the “By the Sea” mystery series featuring writer Liz Holt and a cast of characters who appear to have on-going roles in the series. They all live on a barrier island in or near a historic hotel, the Indialantic. Liz has returned to Florida after ten years in New York City where she was involved in an abusive relationship which left her both physically and emotionally scarred.
In this novel, the mystery stand alone, although there are references to the previous books in the series. It cannot be determined if the relationships between Liz and the other characters have developed gradually over the course of the book.
The book opens with Liz, her family and friends attending a literary party hosted by her great aunt, owner of the Indialantic. Everyone is in costume as a favorite character from fiction and the party is in full swing when Liz is suddenly pulled aside by her ex-boyfriend. He angrily approaches her about forcing her to support his latest literary endeavor and she is consumed by how he knew about the party and where to find her.
Liz and her ex have a verbal confrontation which is overheard and, as the book seems to telegraph, he is discovered dead the next day. Suspicion immediately falls on Liz, with a local reporter feeding the flames of suspicion and a new detective, who doesn’t know Liz and family being brought in to solve the murder.
There are some interesting characters who make for enjoyable reads, including Liz’s aunt, a well-known writer who has been a lifelong friend, Liz’s father, and Liz’s boyfriend. I liked these characters better than I liked Liz, who seems to make bad decisions time and time again, digging herself deeper into trouble. Why does she allow herself to be pulled from the party by an abusive ex in the first place? When he is determined to be missing, why does she agree to go to the house he and his party are renting and engage in a hunt for him? Throughout the book she makes poor decisions that seem to lead her deeper into trouble.
I like the setting of the book, along the Atlantic coast, and I like many of the secondary characters as well. I would like to see Liz as a bit smarter and more savvy, more worthy of having such interesting friends.
The mystery itself does have some good clues and red herrings, although I found it fairly easy to solve. The plot moves at a good pace and the end is satisfying for the most part. This is a book you can easily pick up and put down between other activities, which might make it a good read for the beach or in between other activities. An added bonus are the recipes at the end of the book if you enjoy trying your hand at some new dishes.
My thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books Lyrical Underground for providing an advance copy of this book for review.

Murder By the Sea by Kathleen Bridge is the best one yet in this series. I was drawn into the story from the first chapter.

Liz and her family and friends are enjoying a masquerade ball on New Year's Eve at the Indialantic by the Sea when her past comes back when her ex-boyfriend, Travis, crashes the party. Travis is one of those characters that I love to hate so it was no surprise when he is found dead the next day. Ms. Bridge's descriptive writing made me feel right at home again at the Indiatlantic. All of the residents are of a "certain" age but they are quirky, intelligent and some of the best sleuths that Liz could have helping her solve the case. A plot that moved swiftly with red herrings and twists to keep me guessing I couldn't put the book down until I had finished it. I am already anxious to read the next one in the series.

Unfortunately, this book wasn’t for me.

The plot itself was fine, and while I appreciated protagonist Liz Holt’s efforts to investigate the murder of her ex-boyfriend and clear her name, I'm always confused when authors choose such an unlikable character to be killed off. By all accounts, the ex-boyfriend was a deplorable human being with zero redeeming qualities and I wasn't sympathetic over his death at all.

A sense of suspense was also missing from the murder investigation, and everyone seemed happy to meander about their business or get really involved with the investigation despite the fact that a killer was loose among them.

Liz Holt was fine as a character, but I never got invested in her or her mission to clear her name. Her best friend is her elderly Aunt Amelia and if it wasn’t explicitly stated that Liz was twenty-eight, I would have pegged her as at least a decade older.

Overall, an easy read, but not one I’ll be picking up again.

Liz should have given her ex a floorer when he grabbed her at her aunts masquerade ball and guess what he wasn’t even invited. The storyline was absolutely captivating, it had me glued to my chair, and wishing I was part of Liz investigative team, hahaha, funny right. But on another, this book is intriguing, engrossing and truly entertaining.

Murder by the Sea by Kathleen Bridge was a very enjoyable story. It did take me several chapters to get really invested in the story but once I did it was a great story and kept me wondering who was the "bad guy" a couple of times I thought I knew but was proven wrong. Loved the location of the story and could really see it through Ms. bridge's words.

The new year has started and the Indialantic hotel is holding a masquerade ball to ring the New Year. Liz Holtz is upset when she discovered her ex-boyfriend Travis and his friends have crashed the party uninvited. He wants Liz to support his book on their affair which she declined in a loud angry voice. When is a dead body is found he becomes the leading candidate for the murder? Her law enforcement friends are not allowed with the investigation because of a conflict of interest. Liz and her friends work behind the scene to clear her name. The ending is a surprise.

I highly recommend this book and series.
Recipes from the Indialantic kitchen are included.

Disclosure: Thanks to Kensington Books for a copy through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are my own.

This May the third book in the By The Sea mystery series will be released and I got an advanced copy to read and review from Netgalley. This is a treat for me as I have been a fan of the series since book one and could not wait to see what would happen next. In Murder by the Sea, main character Liz finds herself finally settling back into familiar patterns and enjoying herself at a New Year's Eve Costume Party, only to be accosted by her ex on her families hotel property. Not the start to the year she is expecting when her ex turns up found dead the next morning. With so many suspects and the blame shifting in her direction, the situation feels quite dire, the twists and turns in this one, in the end the twist I did not see coming but truly enjoyed. This is a book not to be missed!

Novelist Liz Holt is ringing in the New Year with her family and friends at the Florida Writes Literary Masquerade Ball when she runs into her abusive ex-boyfriend. Not long after Liz and Travis Osterman engage in a semi-public argument, Travis is found murdered on the grounds of her family hotel, the Indialantic by the Sea. Liz, unfortunately, has a motive for killing for Travis. She also has no alibi. While the police focus their investigation on Liz, she teams up with her boyfriend and a family friend to look into other suspects and find the real killer.

Even though I did enjoy it, I just couldn’t get into MURDER BY THE SEA. My main issue with the novel was the stilted, unnatural dialogue. I think Bridge relied too heavily on conveying information to the reader through the characters’ dialogue, but the characters were discussing topics that everyone in the conversation already knew about. Basically, the conversations came down to one character explaining something to another character in an “as you already know” context. I found it off-putting. That being said, the mystery itself is fairly enjoyable. The murder victim is a thoroughly unlikable guy, and there are plenty of suspects with solid motives.

Unfortunately, this book didn't ever grab me. The characters were good, as was the mystery. My problem was it was too descriptive. Also, one of the suspects motive dealt with a horse and there was a major error in regards to the race that made the horse so valuable. A little research would have corrected it - the Preakness is only for 3 year olds and can't be won twice.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

Murder by the Sender is a cute cozy mystery that is third in this series. I have not read the first two , but I will be getting them because I really enjoyed this one.