Author(s): Julie Wassmer

Crime

Pearl Nolan always wanted to be a detective but Life, and a teenage pregnancy, got in the way of a police career and instead she built up a successful restaurant in her coastal home town of Whitstable - famous for its oyster festival held every July. Now, at 39, and with son Charlie away at university, Pearl finds herself suffering from empty nest syndrome until she discovers the body of local oyster fisherman, Vinne Rowe, wrapped around an anchor. Is it an unfortunate accident, or murder? Pearl seizes the opportunity to prove her detection skills and discover the truth but she soon finds herself in conflict, and competition, with attractive Canterbury city police detective, Inspector Mike McGuire. It isn't long, however, before another body is discovered and Pearl finds herself trawling the past for clues, triggering poignant memories of another emotional summer more than twenty years ago...