Thoroughly enjoyed Death at High Tide, the first in this new series by Hannah Dennison. After the death of her husband, Evie inherits a run-down old hotel on the coast. That in itself is kind of a mystery. Evie's sister comes along to help her sort things out and before you know it, there's a murder. I like the quirky relationship between the sisters and the setting is fantastic. I'm looking forward to the next installment in this series.

I went into "Death at High Tide," the debut novel to a new series, without knowing a thing about the book but the blurb and absolutely nothing about the author, Hannah Dennison. I must admit that I went into the book thinking it was super-shallow chick lit, but was I wrong! Our protagonist, newly widowed Evelyn “Evie” Mead, is a bit naïve, but she’s resourceful, generous and impossible to dislike. Her sister on the other hand, …

When Evie’s husband dies unexpectedly, Evie, the man’s second and much-younger wife, finds herself bereft. Evie’s sister, a Hollywood producer named Margot Chandler, returns home to England to help out. It’s due to Margot that the sisters head out to the fictional Scilly island of Tregarrick Rock (the island is fictional, although the Scillys are real and, indeed, quite tiny); it seems that Evie may actually be heir to the hotel there. Or not. The sisters soon find out more than they ever wanted to know about this desolate hotel and the denizens of Tregarrick Rock.

Dennison’s novel serves up plenty of twists, surprises and laughs. I enjoyed it much, much more than I expected to. I can’t wait for the next one. In fact, I’m so eager to read more by Dennison, that I’m going to read "Murder at Honeychurch Hall," the debut novel in one of Dennison’s other series.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books and in exchange for an honest review.

A truly terrific first book! I'm obsessed with the books setting and am following this author. I can't wait for more books.

I absolutely loved this one! Newly widowed Evie Mead is just learning that her wealthy husband's recent business failures have left her with nothing except, possibly, the Tregarrick Rock Hotel. With her sister, she heads to the foggy island, curious to see what the place is like. It's not what she expected. Access to the old Art Deco hotel is by sea tractor and there's only a narrow window each day to get onto or off of Tregarrick Rock. The locals aren't particularly friendly and the owner of the hotel insists that he never met Evie's husband, let alone used his family's property as collateral to a loan he never repaid. There's a cast of quirky characters, and fantastic atmosphere, and a murder that makes Evie look like a possible suspect... and I can't tell you more than that because I don't want to spoil the fun. I cannot wait for the second book in this series to come out so I can see what happens next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books/Macmillan USA for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was absolutely delightful from beginning to end. It was a mix of cozy mystery and comedy, with wonderful characters. Evie Mead and her sister Margot Chandler travel to Tregarrick Rock in the Scilly Isles after Evie's husband Robert dies of an apparent heart attack. His affairs are in a shambles after he lost money on a Safari Park tragedy, a Catamaran Company that was lost to a fire and doomed land deals. The hotel on Tregarrick Rock might be the only thing that Evie has left of him. Robert had loaned Jago Ferris one hundred thousand pounds and it's questionable whether it was repaid or not. Robert's accountant Nigel Hearst and his ditzy assistant Cherie seem very helpful but are they trustworthy?

Once on Tregarrick the sisters learn that the hotel is closed for the season. They find it rather stuck in the 1970's as far a decor and missing most amenities one would expect at the resort. They do meet a colourful group of people Jago Ferris, his wife Tegan and their son Cador. Also living at the hotel is Lily Travis, who for some reason lives in the best suite for free. Traveling to the island with them was Alex Karlsson from Stockholm a famous photographer who has some link to Tegan. The staff at the hotel consists of Dennis Simmonds who acts as the hotel manager and his niece Vanessa Parsons who works the front desk, cooks and serves the food. There is also Vicar Bill who is Lily's brother and his pet macaw Roger. Vicar Bill fancies himself a bit of a "Doctor Dolittle" who can talk to the animals.

The star of the book has to be Mister Tig. A tuxedo cat who has his own Instagram page. There is an enjoyable sequence where he is questioned by the police!!

When dead bodies start showing up naturally the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary of DS Patricia Williamson, PC Owen King and PC Kip Granger immediately assume that the strangers - namely the sisters are behind the crimes.

I can't wait for the next book in the series. It was an absolutely wonderful read and very engaging from the first page to the last. Definitely worth the 5 stars and more.

This was such a cozy murder mystery! I highly recommend reading this book, like I did, on a rainy day. This was a quick, fun read. I was able to finish it in one day. I really liked the Agatha Christie feel that think book had. I did find that I had a had time relating to the characters in this book though. Our main character is the recent widow to the love of her life husband, but she really doesn’t seem like she cares too much. As each character is murdered, no one seems to care too much. However, I did think this was a nice fun, light read. I would definitely pick up a copy for my grandma when this comes out, I think she would love this book. I’d be highly interested in continuing on with this series. The location sounds beautiful and I found myself googling the isles. I hope I have an opportunity to read more from this series in the future. Thanks netgally for allowing me to read this book before it was published.

Hannah Dennison has written several mystery series; this title is the first in a new one about the "Island Sisters."  The islands of the title are the Scilly Isles.  They make a great setting for a novel that bears some resemblance to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None as the characters are together on an island and can only go back to the mainland when/if the tides allow.

The Island Sisters are Evie and Margot.  Evie, who married the much older Robert, has recently been widowed.  Margot flies in from LA to support her but...does she have her own issues?  (No spoiler, as I am sure that you know the answer.) The two go to Tregarrick Rock where possibly Evie has a claim to the local hotel, a place where all the suites are named for mystery writers, but is her claim valid?  What about those on the island from the unhappily married couple, to the hotel employee with a prison record, the artist and the double named Lily who collects gossip, delivered island babies and seems to know everything?

There are several murders, a small police force, lots of walks in the mizzle (a cross between mist and drizzle) and more before all is revealed, as they say in mysteries.  Along the way, the pages easily turn.

This is a story that requires a good deal of suspension of disbelief.  There are many coincidences, interconnections and unlikely events.  That said, it was a quick, fun read.  I look forward to spending more time with Evie and Margot in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the premise of the book and the quirky characters, however I would have liked a bit more character development.
I also found that the mystery part of the story took a back seat to the sisters talking about their husbands.
Overall it was a quick cozy mystery with some interesting characters and may be the start of an enjoyable series.

I enjoyed DEATH AT HIGH TIDE, the first installment of the Island Sisters series. It was a cozy mystery with quirky characters and a remote but beautiful setting. While it was a quick read, I look forward to future books in the series, where the characters might have a little more depth – this felt too surface level for me to ever be invested in the danger or secrets that each character faced. I’m hoping this will change as the series expands. I’m also a little bummed that I found the whodunnit pretty easy to solve. Overall, I was invested enough to be interested in other books in the series, but a little underwhelmed with the mystery. But the cat (and the cat psychic) and the cover were A+.

A death, and inheritance, and a murder are the perfect recipe to this well executed first installment. Almost like a setting of a gothic novel, this book introduces us to two sisters that are thrown into an old hotel and murder soon follows. Full of well written characters, twists and turns, and a perfectly written mystery, the reader will not be disappointed. A book you can read again and again.

This was a new series by Hannah Dennison. I have read her other series and thought I would give this a try. Overall I was a bit disappointed. The characters lack depth and it was hard to really get into the story because they seemed so one dimensional. Perhaps this will improve in future books. I did feel as if the condlusion of the whodunnit was a bit of a stretch and unlikely. It just didn't feel fully developed.

This book did not live up to the blurb provided.
It felt like it was trying to be a classic mystery like Agatha Christie but did not quite get there.
A cozy with a story of inherited property has been done to death (no pun intended).

Death at High Tide March 10, 2020
I love a good cozy mystery. The characters are usually a bit quirky and fun.
Plus this cover is great.
This is the first in the Island Sisters Mystery series.
I was excited about starting a new series. I was sure I was going to like this. I am a Harry Potter fan and yes! I have a Hogwarts tee "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus" ~ Never tickle a sleeping dragon .
A mystery on a tiny island sounded like a great read for a rainy afternoon.
Unfortunately it didn’t rain until late at night and this turned out not to be the great read I was hoping.
However, Author has other novels that I may try.

Want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this early release granted in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this first entry in the Island Sisters Mystery series by Hannah Dennison. The story has some clever plot twists and turns and lots of humour set in a rather creepy hotel on a small island. I am hoping for a little more development of the sisters in the next entry as I found both sisters' characters not very sympathetic.

Sisters become closer upon the death of one's husband. Upon finding that her only inheritance could be a remote hotel, the sisters travel there for a weekend of relaxing while scoping out the island resort. The first in a new series, I think this is the best book I have read by this author and eagerly await the next installment.

This is a solid cozy with all of the elements that will please cozy readers. This is from an experienced author, so the pacing is good, as is the dialog and the story itself. Touch to go wrong with this one.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

Thank you for letting me read this book. The setting was great and it felt like I was really there. Good who done it book that has you guessing til the end.

I received this eARC from the publisher through netgalley to try out a new cozy mystery author. It was a fast paced read with quirky characters and pretty random plot twists, though the characters are a bit too zany and not likeable enough for me. There's a grieving widow with a complicated relationship with her older husband but she comes off a little dense and not really expressing her grief, her sister is a typical brash American caricature, saying things that seem outlandish in their inappropriateness. A number of characters are introduced on the island, all with secrets and bizarre behavior but everyone seems to think all this is normal. There are multiple murders, which weirdly do not have much shock value, probably because of lack of normality in the story, and we have one revelation after the after, leading to the final solution & aftermath which, after everything ends up being pretty intriguing, if unpredictable. It is a fast paced easy read with evocative descriptions - I just wish I liked the characters enough to want to know more about them.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. At some parts, I was invested into the mystery and on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next. At other parts though, I was confused and frustrated, particularly when it came to some of the characters. Allow me to elaborate.

What I liked:
I think one of the strongest parts of the book was the setting. While some of the descriptions of the island and the hotel could get a little long (ESPECIALLY when the the main character Evie got going about Art Deco), I think the book did a great job of painting the scenery and the general feel of the island.

I also liked the set up of the mystery, I think that it was laid out well in that it was able to build up enough that almost all of the characters were suspicious enough to be the murderer.

What needs improvement:
My least favorite part of the book was definitely the characters. I felt disconnected with all of them, and frankly didn't particularly like any of them, especially our main protagonists, Evie and Margot. These two went through several scenes talking about broken marriages and the problems they were having and through all of the scenes I felt no pity (I feel a little bad that I felt nothing, if I'm honest). The side characters felt a little flat, and while I enjoyed uncovering their secrets and past, there was nothing else about their personality that made me interested.

My last criticism is that some parts of the book just felt a little off. There was one scene in which a character gets murdered, and our main protagonist simply brushes over this fact and goes on to worry about other things. This "brushing off" of things kind of felt like a theme in the book, where something would be brought up and then promptly brushed off in favor of something else, or to move the plot forward in some way. I think what I'm trying to get at is that I wish the book had a little more of an emotional aspect to it and was in general more organized.

In conclusion, I think I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a quick, yet intriguing mystery.

This is an excellent story and a rousing start of a new series titled Island Sisters. Dennison has created a sympathetic main character with young widow Evie Mead and her sidekick sister Margot. The setting is a remote island hotel off the Cornwall coast of England, providing a delightful nod to the master of suspense Agatha Christie. While there is no Poirot or Miss Marple, readers will thoroughly enjoy the intriguing cast of characters and the pile up of bodies. Dennison sets up a future for these two sisters with a solid performance in this first story.