The fast pace of Murder on Edisto (Edisto Island Mysteries) by C Hope Clark is set in the first
few pages when the heroine, Edisto, Callie Morgan returns home from her job as
a Boston Police Detective to find her home is an inferno and her husband has
been killed. Devastated by the murder, she and her teenage son seek refuge and
healing in a quiet beach house on one of south Carolina’s barrier islands, but
Callie is given no
respite and neither is the reader. One page after another C.
Hope Clark builds the suspense to create an entertaining and believable story
where the stakes are high and the consequences shattering.
Clark has created a main character, Callie Jean Morgan, that
comes to life with incredible strength and genuine flaws. The reader feels her struggle
with very real demons, both internal and external, while trying to support her
son through the loss of his father and keep him safe but she finds the secrets
she has kept from him impeding her efforts.
Adding to the readability of the book, the town of Edisto is
populated with a cache of eccentric personalities. From the yoga practicing
neighbor to the local handyman to the town cops Edisto island comes to life
with classic small town traits.
Murder on Edisto is C. Hope Clark’s fourth novel and is
preceded by her Carolina Slade Mysteries. Having read Clark’s first novel,
Lowcountry Bribe, I was pleased to return to her work to see Clark’s growth as
a novelist.
I received this book as my winnings in a promotional contest
but I have just purchased the follow-up, Edisto Jinx.
