Secrets of Hallstead House

Reade, Amy M. Secrets of Hallstead House. New York: Kensington, 2014.

Macy Stoddard of New York City, recovering from the loss of her parents in an accident, takes a nursing job on an island in the St. Lawrence River at Summerplace, also known as Hallstead House. Her job is to provide care and therapy for Alexandria Hallstead who is recovering from a fall. Macy is afraid of the water as she leaves the mainland for the island as she has never learned to swim. She likes Pete, the local man who often works for Alexandria and took her by the island though which puts her more at ease than she expected. She is met with hostility by the housekeeper and her husband the handyman as well as Alexandria's nephew. Macy soon learns that Alexandria's only daughter had met her death by drowning and that Alexandria's husband had suffered a fatal fall. When Macy learns the real reason that Alexandria has invited her to the island, Macy isn't sure that she wants to stay. This story has many of the elements of the classic romantic suspense novel. Readers who enjoyed the works of Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt will find much to enjoy in the novel. It suffers a bit in the believability department in a few places, but the pleasure of finding a book that took me back to my early love of this genre more than made up for it. I received an advance e-galley for review by the publisher through NetGalley with the expectation that a review would be written.