I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
From the first few paragraphs, this mystery grabbed me and like the whirlwind featured, didn't let up the action until the very end, spitting me out on the shoreline. Wild ride, deeply detailed and rich in content. This is my first of the authors' works and won't be my last. The characters are likeable and well written. Historical details of the region add to the feeling you are a participant in the story. Enjoyable mystery.

Francine Matthews is the talented author of two mystery series.  As Ms. Matthews, she writes the Merry Folger series and, as Stephanie Barron, she pens a series with Jane Austen as the protagonist.  I have always preferred the Nantucket based series.


I had not read a book by this author for a number of years but the return was satisfying and easy.  I remembered the characters, loved the settings and expected a good mystery.  The author did not disappoint.


Throughout this novel, weather was a main character.  There was a huge hurricane  striking the island.  As someone who has been at home for weeks, the awesomeness of Mother Nature really struck me. 


Tuckernuck, the island named in the title of this book, is off the coast of Nantucket.  It is a real place that sounds very beautiful.  Much of the action of the novel takes place here.


I don't want to give any spoilers but suffice it to say that there are murders that need to be solved.  Readers may think, early on, that they have figured everything out and may even think of putting the book down...Don't. There are sufficient complications to keep you turning the pages.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.  I enjoyed spending time with this series, an old favorite, again.

Death on Tuckernuck - Francine Mathews

Thank you to @netgalley, author F.Mathews and the publisher for gifting me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first book I've read from this author and I am hooked, I'm going to read the others as well.

In this one, detective Merry Folger deals with a Cat Three Storm, a murder and her wedding.
I liked the authors description of the surroundings and nature, although at times it could get a bit boring. You arr gently pulled in into the story, and about half way through the book, the pace quickens and I just couldn't put it down. I had to find out who did it.
The characters are well built, nothing too much to make the story dull or to make you dizzy tryingto figure out who's who.

It's a nice read, I finished it in 2 days and I'm off to hunt the others... A solid 4 stars from me.

I have never read any of Francine Mathew books but I will be getting more of them. Death On Tuckernuck was a fast and entertaining read. I enjoyed the many aspects of the characters as they each had their own story that melded well to a great conclusion. A detective trying to solve a crime while preparing for her wedding with the onset of a hurricane. A caretaker going beyond the call of duty while her Dad lays in the hospital and the hurricane hitting dead on. Lots of action. I enjoyed this book.

originally wanted to read this book for several reasons: I've always wanted to visit Cape Cod and Nantucket and the surrounding area; stories near water become very appealing as the hot, dry, desert summer descends on me here at home and my yearly hankering to escape to a lake or ocean overwhelms me; and cheesily, I liked the cover. I loved the book! In fact, I read over half of it in one long reading session because I didn't want to put it down. Very fast paced and well-written, I was swept up into the many storylines of several Nantucket residents facing a Category 3 hurricane bearing down on their island and disrupting their lives, for some of them, permanently. The majority of the book takes place in the 24-hours of the hurricane's direct onslaught, and switches between the viewpoints of 4 or 5 main characters. Generally I am not a fan of multiple POVs, because many authors have trouble juggling several storylines, but Mathews did a superb job of not dropping any of the story lines nor lingering too long on any. Perfect summertime escapism, Maybe not if you're planning a fall vacation on Nantucket, however. Highly recommended.

If you want to read books that make you feel as though you're experiencing life on Nantucket Island, you need to read Francine Mathew's Merry Folger series. It also goes without saying that, if you want to "experience" a hurricane without actually living through one, you need to read Death on Tuckernuck.

The mystery is a cracker. Readers have a little inside knowledge that characters like Dionis and Merry don't-- how many people were on board that yacht for instance-- but that's certainly not enough to put all the pieces together until Merry's hard work begins to pay off. (And that hard work of hers will pay off in unexpected ways.) The only real question is: Is the wedding still on despite a murder investigation and a hurricane?

That you will have to find out for yourself, and you are going to enjoy yourself while doing so. New to the series? I'll be honest with you. I've read only three books in this series, the first and the most recent two, and I haven't felt lost. But the setting is superb and the characters and stories so strong that you might just want to start with the first, Death in the Off-Season and enjoy the sea breeze along with a murder or two.

Sometimes, after you have been reading some intense books you need to step back and just read something easy, but good. Thank you Net Galley for this very enjoyable mystery by an author and a series I have not read before. The locale is perfect, the characters are personable and of course you have your whodunit that will keep your interest and with a little twist at the end. Perfect!

Recommended!

This is the 6th book in the Merry Folger series. I had not heard of this series before receiving an arc of this book from Net Galley. I am interested in reading the other books, and you can read and enjoy this book as a stand-alone.

Merry, a detective on Nantucket, is about to get married when a stage 3 hurricane is forecasted. As the storm reaches land, a luxury yacht with a dead body is found, The characters in the book prepare and endure the storm, prepare for the wedding, and try to solve the mystery as the storm whips around them creating havoc.

I enjoyed this book. I always like books set on Nantucket and books about storms, so the setting was a win-win. There are a lot of characters and it took a while at first to figure out who everyone was.

It was a fast-moving and fun read, that I enjoyed and recommend. I look forward to reading other books in this series.

2 Stars for Death on Tuckernuck by Francine Mathews.

The perfect storm is moving in on Tuckernuck. A Nor'easter is headed straight for Tuckernuck, the private island off of Nantucket where the police only set foot on it if called to a crime or accident scene.

One of the town's police officers has planned her wedding for the weekend, feeling it was the perfect time of year, historically slow and predictable for the rest of the force.

Three people are out on a yacht, one is jealous. One ends up dead. They talk about a secret, and what, "she," knows.

A man and his daughter are caretakers of the island. They make a living by seeing to the homes in the off season and during storms. They board up the homes, they carry the domestic trash off the island, and they run supplies to the residents from mainland when the island is hopping with vacationers, honeymooners, and families with a history of residence on the island.

Somewhere along the line, all of these lives are going to intersect. To be honest, I can't tell you more because by page 20, there were at LEAST 20 people introduced in the book. People on the police force, family members involved in the wedding plan, people from the island that are out of their nursing home for time on the island, the 3 people on the yacht. It went on and on. As a distracted reader right now, it's difficult for me to get consumed by books that begin this way. Give me a handful of characters at the beginning, show me their lives, shape them for me without introducing all of the people from their extended family.

Thanks to @soho_press for granting my wish to read this one. I didn't realize that Francine Mathews writes additional books that are part of this series. I think it probably is okay as a standalone for those who can follow all of the multiple characters, for me I give it 2 stars. Something was building, but by no means was I sucked in to the island or invested in the all of the people Francine was introducing me to.

#couldntfinish #2stars #disappointed #betterlucknextbook #cantlovethemall #distractedreader #bookreviews #sendmebooks #readmore #igreads #booklife #weekendisbooked #bookstagram #bookcommunity #booklover #thatbooklife #bookeater

DEATH ON TUCKERNUCK by Francine Mathews had all of the elements I look for in a mystery. I loved the plot lines, the characterization, and the feel of the Nantucket area. This is a well written, enjoyable mystery that I would like to see become a series. It would be on my must read list.

Always a distinct pleasure to revisit the character of Detective Merry Folger. Interesting addition to set the mystery on Tuckernuck, an island within an island, as part of Nantucket. The setting is central to the mystery,
as is the hurricane which takes center stage and adds to the suspense, upping the ante. Highly recommend to mystery readers who like character development.

This solid series set on Nantucket keeps getting better and better. Fans will enjoy this latest installment, which has police officer Merry in the middle of an incoming hurricane, investigating a puzzling murder while battling the new hostile police chief. Oh, and Merry is also just days away from her wedding. Mathews excels in providing a fascinating grounding in island place and culture. This time much of the action centers around a remote, off the grid, tiny island that is part of the Nantucket region. There's plenty of authentic detail and description, as well as tense action and a satisfying plot. All in all, a highly recommended series.

It was a Wednesday near the end of September and a Cat 3 hurricane was headed in the direction of Nantucket and Tuckernuck , a small private island off the coast of Nantucket. Meredith Fogler, an officer with the Nantucket police department was planning for her weekend wedding to Peter, a wealthy man who also owned a farm.

Dionis Mathers and her father Jack ferried residents and supplies back and forth from Nantucket to Tuckernuck. They also acted as year round caretakers to the mostly seasonal homes on Tuckernuck. So they were very busy boarding up the homes of the summer residents. They informed the few year round residents still on that island of the danger and then ferried them back to Nantucket.

Jack had a heart attack during the evacuations and ended up in the small local hospital. Dionis realized that horses were outside alone at an estate on Tuckernuck and went back there to secure the horses in the barn.

It was on the way to see the horses that she saw a flare from a yacht in trouble near Tuckernuck. When the police and the Coast Guard found the yacht, they discovered 2 people who had been shot. Then a third person from the yacht ended up at the estate with a gun shot wound and found Dionis, who was waiting out the storm there.

Meredith and and another Nantucket officer, Howie Seitz, try to find out the identities of the people they found on the yacht as well as the source of the large quantity of cocaine they found on board.

This fast moving mystery will appeal to those who are familiar with Cape Cod and the nearby islands as well as the turbulent weather that can effect that area.

I really enjoyed Death on Tuckernuck. Although it was a bit disjointed and I felt it hadn't been edited as much as it should have been, I found it very readable. I'll certainly keep my eyes open for the next in the series and be sure to read it.

Death on Tuckernuck had too many characters for me to keep track of, and I kept feeling I should know more about the characters than what was written, as if I was missing something. Googling the author I saw, yes, I was. This is the fourth book in a series set on Nantucket. And I think I would enjoyed the book more if I read them from book 1 on. The multiple plots jumped around abruptly, but all in all the mysteries were original, I liked this book, and I will go back and start with book 1.