Thursday, May 13, 2010

WRECKED: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
WRECKED

BY CAROL HIGGINS CLARK

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Private Investigator Regan Reilly and her husband, Jack "no relation" Reilly, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad, are about to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. They are looking forward to a quiet romantic weekend out of town. Wouldn’t you know their choice of destination provides them with anything but!

Regan and Jack had considered going to Bermuda, but instead they decide to spend four days at his parents’ beautiful beachfront home on Cape Cod, a wonderful spot where they’d never been alone. During the summer the house overflowed with Jack’s family, bubbling with activity from morning until night. But to be up there for a weekend in April, just the two of them, sounded like a perfect escape.

Arriving at the Cape late at night, Regan and Jack are just in time to experience the beginning of a major storm. The next morning, Cape Cod Bay is quite a sight, churning with whitecaps. The wind is howling ferociously. Sheets of rain are pelting the house. Regan is looking forward to settling in the den with Jack and watching the storm.

However, the best laid plans . . . In the bedroom, Regan opens the curtains to find Skip, the Reillys’ young caretaker, pressing his nose against the glass, supposedly checking for leaks. A moment later, Jack arrives home from the market, two gossipy older women who live up the street in tow. A branch crashed through their living room window, and they need a place to stay. When Regan thought things couldn’t get any worse, Skip comes running into the house, distraught that he’d just discovered Adele Hopkins, the woman renting the house next door, in a heap at the bottom of her staircase to the beach. Regan and Jack run back down with him, but huge waves are crashing on the shore. Hopkins is gone, presumably swept out to sea.

Who was Adele Hopkins? No one knows. The sixty-ish loner, who moved in five months ago, shunned her neighbors. Even her landlords, friends of the Reillys, have no idea how to locate her next of kin. Discovered in her dining room are stacks of apology cards she’d not yet sent and bags of decorative pillows that are embroidered with the saying grudge me, grudge me not.

Regan and Jack begin an investigation to help their friends track down Hopkins’s family. They start by interviewing two young women who own the shop where Adele had bought the pillows. Pippy and Ellen opened Pillow Talk after they both lost their jobs. When a newspaper article revealing the terrible way the women had been treated by their former employers was posted on the Internet, business took off, they started to become well-known, and the Pillow Talk website became a place for people who had had similar experiences to vent their feelings.

Pippy and Ellen just received an anonymous e-mail from someone who spews venom about her former rowing coach—Adele Hopkins. Could she be the same Adele Hopkins?

Regan and Jack’s search for clues to this mysterious woman’s identity makes for an anniversary weekend they’ll never forget!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Carol Higgins Clark is the author of nine previous bestselling Regan Reilly mysteries. She is coauthor, along with her mother, Mary Higgins Clark, of a bestselling holiday mystery series. Also an actress, Carol Higgins Clark studied at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and has recorded several of her mother's works as well as her own novels. She received AudioFile's Earphones Award of Excellence for her reading of Jinxed. She lives in New York City.

Her website is www.carolhigginsclark.com.


MY REVIEW:

In WRECKED, Carol Higgins Clark once again gives readers a “curl up and read a good mystery” that is like reading about old friends with Regan Reilly heading up the group. When Regan wants to celebrate her first anniversary with her husband Jack, what could be more perfect than the empty family cottage on Cape Cod? As it turns out, just about anywhere would have been better if you were looking for peace, quiet, and a romantic getaway. Filled with colorful, intriguing characters that you might actually find annoying in the real world, WRECKED will grab your attention from the first chapter when a pair of gossipy neighborhood sisters and a handy man intrude on what was supposed to be the Reilly’s romantic weekend. At the end of Chapter One when Jack quietly mouths the word “Bermuda”, the only other place they considered spending this special time, you realize this couple is in for more than romance at Cape Cod! Needless to say it turns out to be a weekend to remember but not for the reasons Regan had originally planned for.

Now a mysterious missing neighbor, or possibly dead body, Adele Hopkins had rented one of the nearby houses but was rarely seen except to row a boat out in the ocean, or buy pillows at Pillow Talk, a local shop. The pillows are unusual as they all say GRUDGE ME, GRUDGE ME NOT. Early in the story when handyman Skip finds her body near the steps down to the sea and races to Reilly and Jack for help, Adele becomes the center of the mystery as her body is gone when they run down to help her. What follows is a mystifying mystery that is perfect to accompany the wild weekend weather described in the book. As the investigation goes on, one surprise after another grabs the reader’s attention and just when you think you know what or who is involved, something else happens to make you rethink your decision. This is a enjoyable book to read especially if you are fans of the Regan Reilly series and if not, you probably will be when you finish.

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO CHRISTINA AND THE
NICE PEOPLE AT SIMON & SCHUSTER,
I HAVE ONE COPY OF THIS REALLY
GOOD MYSTERY TO GIVE AWAY



--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT THIS BOOK IN THE INFORMATION AND REVIEW ABOVE

+1 MORE ENTRY:
BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND THEN COME BACK AND LEAVE A LINK

+1 MORE ENTRY:
COMMENT ON IF YOU ARE A GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT FOLLOWER AND IF YOU AREN'T, YOU CAN BECOME ONE AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE (AIMING FOR 700 SOON?)

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT
6 PM, EST, MAY 30

GOOD LUCK!

51 comments:

Unknown said...

This sounds like a wonderful summer read! I have read a few of her books in the past and this one sounds really good! I love to curl up with a good mystery! I am a follower so please enter me!

lead[at]hotsheet[dot]com

Pamela Keener said...

I am going on a cruise in June & would love to win this book to read onboard,
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

Pamela Keener said...

I am a follower via GFC. I hope u get 700 real soon.
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

traveler said...

This book sounds intriguing and the locale interesting as well. Thanks for this giveaway. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

debbie said...

I am a gfc follower.
debbie
twoofakind12@yahoo.com

debbie said...

I have read her previous series, and I am looking forward to this one. Her characters are always well written and I like her writing style.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com

holdenj said...

I am a google friend connect follower.
JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com

holdenj said...

This looks like a great story! Especially for summer, what with Cape Cod as the locale. I love a good mystery, thanks for the info and chance to win.
JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com

Reading said...

I follow on GFC

lizzi0915 at aol dot com

Reading said...

Sounds like there are a bunch of colorful characters in this book. I think this is something I would enjoy. Thanks for the giveaway.

lizzi0915 at aol dot com

Martha Lawson said...

I follow on gfc

mlawson17 at hotmail dot com

Martha Lawson said...

Awesome review! I've never read her books - but I will now. this looks like an awesome read.

Please enter me for it.

mlawson17 at hotmail dot com

Linda Kish said...

GFC follower

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Linda Kish said...

This sounds like another fun Regan Reilly mystery. I always enjoy them.

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Tea said...

I think it's interesting how the business, Pillow Talk, got started. I also would like to know what is she trying to say with the quotation on the pillow, "Grudge me, Grudge me not.....What happened to Adele???

I loved Hitched by this author. I know this is another good mystery.

teakettle58(at)yahoo(dot)com

Tea said...

I am a Google Friend connect. Didn't know about the 700....

Tea said...

I tweeted about Wrecked by Carol H. Clark from http://twitter.com/bookinbingo to http://twitter.com/Pearltulips

Unknown said...

It sounds like a pretty suspense read. I am also a email subscriber. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

g.g. said...

I am a google friend connect follower

anjamie4 at gmail dot com

g.g. said...

I have read many of her and her mom's books and this would be perfect for a fun summer read

anjamie4 at gmail dot com

Margie said...

Blog follower via GFC.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

I read a couple of the earlier Reilley books....fun mysteries with interesting characters. Now your review makes me want to pick up the series again. (I missed the book where Regan got married.)
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

Blog follower via GFC.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

blogged-http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/p/giveaway-memes-516-530.html

alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

I've yet to read a Higgens Clark book, by mother or daughter, that I didn't throughly enjoy

alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

I did not realize that Carol Higgins Clark was also an actress. Easy to see then where she gets her sense of timing.

alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

tweeted-alterlisa
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/2010/05/wrecked-review-and-giveaway.html

alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

Angie said...

I am a GFC follower

aksimmo at brainerd dot net

Angie said...

Sounds like a fun mystery! Count me in!

aksimmo at brainerd dot net

Angie said...

Sounds like a fun mystery! Count me in!

aksimmo at brainerd dot net

Unknown said...

This book sounds like a good mystery. I'd love to win this book, if I don't I think I'll get it.

chirth7@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

I'm a GFC follower

chirth7@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

Tweet: http://twitter.com/Romantic73/status/14101917889

chirth7@yahoo.com

angie said...

I am glad to know that this book involves Jack and Regan Reilly. I have read about them when Carol and her mother do their Christmas books together. Mary Higgins Clark is one of my all time favorite authors:)
Thanks for telling me it is a good curl up and read mystery. My favorite!!
bangersis(at)msn(dot)com

angie said...

I am a google friend follower
bangersis(at)msn(dot)com

angie said...

I tweeted http://twitter.com/bangersis/status/14108996114
bangersis(at)msn(dot)com

bison61 said...

stacks of apology cards she’d not yet sent and bags of decorative pillows that are embroidered with the saying grudge me, grudge me not. wow that sounds good!

tiramisu392 (at) yahoo.com

Shirley said...

I'm a GFC follower

shundelt@yahoo.com

Shirley said...

http://twitter.com/Grandmamaof10/status/14167891324

shundelt@yahoo.com

Shirley said...

I love a good mystery. While it';s not what I normally read. I'd like to win it and see if I like it. You offer such great giveaways on your site I'd say it's the bnest I've found!!

shundelt@yahoo.com

Debbie F said...

I'm a follower - GFC

dcf_beth at verizon dot net

Debbie F said...

There's nothing better than a good old fashion mystery to get through the summer. I would love to read this one! Count me in! Thanks

dcf_beth at verizon dot net

Unknown said...

Mystery novels always get me on the edge of my seat.... and like many of the fellow bloggers have commented, it would surely make for a good summer read.

archanaskorner(at)gmail(dot)com

Margie said...

I found BWB's fan page!
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

MRWriter said...

I love stories set in the Cape, especially a good mystery. The Pillow Talk shop sounds interesting. I wonder who this hermited matron was and what secrets she took with her to the grave.
AlexDean03@yahoo.com

MRWriter said...

I'm a GFC follower.
AlexDean03@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

I am a GFC follower (MelanieL)

peacelily_2006(at)yahoo(dot)com

Anonymous said...

Now I want to know what happened to Adele and why she had so many people she needed to apologize to.

peacelily_2006(at)yahoo(dot)com

CherylS22 said...

GFC follower
megalon22 at yahoo dot com

CherylS22 said...

I found it interesting that it is part of a series - I didn't know that Carol Higgins Clark had a series.

Thanks ~ megalon22 at yahoo dot com

Tina said...

I know this series but didn't realize there was a new one out. Please enter me.

tbranco (at)hughes (dot) net

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