Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

The Harbor Pointe Inn has loomed on California’s cliffs for generations of Hawthornes. For some, it’s been a blessing. For others, a curse. Travel through two centuries of stories to discover the old inn’s secrets.
                 Suicide, accident, or murder?
After an argument with her fiancé, up-and-coming actress Leah Myers booked a room at the Harbor Pointe Inn. Near the end of her stay, someone found her body at the bottom of the nearby cliff. The police ruled her death a suicide.
Five years later, four people from Leah’s past visit the inn on the anniversary of her death. Her fiancé, her brother, her psychologist, and her close friend, Adele, who was a guest at Harbor Pointe the night Leah died.
Deputy Brad Sherman, assistant to the lead detective, has always believed something was amiss with the investigation. When he learns Leah’s former acquaintances are staying at the inn, he decides to look at the old case file.
The four guests soon learn each other’s identity and begin to discuss the events leading up to Leah’s demise. But someone doesn’t want them to know the truth. When Adele confesses that she is haunted by the possibility she saw something important that fateful night, it puts her in grave danger.
Now it’s a race against time before she becomes the killer’s next victim…

About the author

Joan Hall

Joan Hall has always enjoyed reading or listening to stories about inexplicable events, so it’s not surprising she writes mystery and romantic suspense. A lover of classic rock music, songs often serve as the inspiration for her books.

When she’s not writing, Joan likes to observe the night skies, explore old cemeteries, and learn about legends and folklore. She and her husband live in Texas with their two cats. Learn more about Joan at her website, http://JoanHall.net.

Our Review

This intriguing story begins like one of those Hollywood movies where mysterious strangers turn up at a pre-arranged destination, and none of them seem to know why.

This story starts the same way. Four people turn up at the Harbour Pointe Inn, supposedly for the anniversary of Leah Myer’s death, five years before.

None of them seem to know if it was an accident or murder.

One of these people, Leah’s friend, Adele Rivers, was present at the Inn when Leah died. Did she see something suspicious five years ago?

Do any of the others have secrets from that fateful time?

Is that why they all turn up at the Inn on the anniversary of Leah’s death?

A brilliantly written story that kept me guessing right up to the end…

An 5* Review

 

A neat whodunnit with a great cast of characters

A Death at the Inn is the penultimate book in the collaborative series based on Harbor Pointe. This series has the place and history in common, but each writer is left to decide how to write their tale and in which genre. Joan Hall has written a neat whodunnit for her contribution and I really enjoyed it.
Leah Drake’s death on the Harbor Pointe rocks was ruled a suicide. Five years later, four characters are making their way back, unbeknownst to the others, on a pilgrimage of sorts. Daryl Warren, Leah’s partner at the time, blames himself for her death. A professional footballer, he’d suffered a career-ending injury and had quarrelled with Leah and left her to go to Harbor Pointe on her own. Adele Rivers, a vivacious friend of Leah’s, senses there’s something she’s forgotten about the night she disappeared. Kevin Drake, Leah’s brother, blames his sister for his father’s death and her mother’s decline. Liz Gentry, Leah’s therapist, needs to know what happened and if she missed something in their sessions. A fifth major player is Deputy Sheriff Brad Sherman who was a junior deputy at the time and who feels the investigation was shoddy.
The author brings these characters separately to the Inn and they are all distinct from each other and wonderfully realised and believable. We see them gradually coming together to unravel the mystery and the suspense builds really well right up to the surprising denouement…

I love reading books!