Who says you can’t judge a book by its cover? Many publishers have long since given up on subtlety, opting for cover designs that put intended audiences front and center. For proof, have a look at the sand dunes and boardwalks fronting the latest by Mary Kay Andrews, Wendy Wax and Karen White. All three Southern scribes are rolling out new page-turners just in time for vacation reading season.
‘Beach Town’ by Mary Kay Andrews
Movie location scout Greer Hennessy needs Technicolor palm trees and rustic motels for her next project, not the “infestation of cuteness in planned beach communities” that dot Florida’s Gulf Coast. The sleepy village of Cypress Key seems perfect, but its mayor (and grocer/Realtor/motel maintenance man) Eben Thibadeaux has other plans. The fun and frothy “Beach Town” is the 13th title former Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Kathy Hogan Trocheck has published under her Mary Kay Andrews pseudonym. (St. Martin’s, May)
‘A Week at the Lake’ by Wendy Wax
In her 10th novel, Atlanta author Wendy Wax weaves a complicated history of lifelong friendships and betrayals. Each year, Emma Michaels enjoys a lakefront retreat with the two friends she’s known longest and best. A traumatic accident reunites the women after a five-year absence, with secrets revealed and allegiances tested during one last difficult return to the lake house. (Berkley, June)
‘The Sound of Glass’ by Karen White
“Blood isn’t always thicker than water,” a character declares early in this Southern Gothic mystery set in the Lowcountry heat of Beaufort, South Carolina. An unexpected inheritance gives Merritt Heyward the keys to a spooky mansion and forces her to unravel a series of riddles about her late husband. To make things more complicated, her young and also widowed stepmother surfaces with a 10-year-old boy in tow. White deserves props for her ambitious plotting, which relies on coincidences but keeps the tension high and readers guessing. (New American Library, May)
###
