Mystery Suspense Books Set in Coastal Towns

Kieran and his partner and new baby are visiting their hometown situated on a beach in Tasmania, but this is no happy family vacation. Kieran is helping his mom pack up his childhood home so his parents can move into an assisted living facility, and bad memories lurk in every corner. Years earlier, a terrible storm and a reckless mistake led to a devastating loss that the town hasn't recovered from. And when the body of a young woman is found on the beach, it brings terrible memories—and secrets—to the surface.

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Nestled in an overlooked part of the Mediterranean, Dog Island is home to a quiet and untouched community that has long lived off its fishing, its vines, and its olive trees, far away from the turmoil of its neighbors. But when the bodies of three unidentified men wash up on the beach, the witnesses are faced with an impossible decision: report the discovery and open up the island to grisly inquiries, or conceal the terrible truth?
Resolving to preserve their way of life, the mayor and a small group of conspirators resolve on a cover-up. But after they dispose of the evidence, their act of deception continues to haunt them, bringing waves of suspicion and misfortune to the island. A detective arrives from the mainland, making their secret even harder to keep and threatening to destroy the very community they tried so hard to protect.

Set on the swankiest beaches with the most pristine surfaces, this omnibus edition contains three novels by James Patterson that are all about the darkness that lies beneath the surface. In The Palm Beach Murders, a jaded pair find love and connection, but a dangerous game has them testing the limits of their morality. Nooners follows a man whose life seems ideal, except that everyone around him keeps dying mysteriously...but why? And Stingray is about a teenager who goes missing on the beach, and the unconventional team that uncovers the shocking truth about the disappearance.

As a child, Caitlyn Sullivan was very good at hide and seek. She played with her cousins on the gorgeous, rambling family estate in Big Sur, but she was shocked when one game turned into an abduction. Caitlyn was able to escape and find refuge with teenager Dillon Cooper and his family, but her abduction changed her life in every way. And now an adult, Caitlyn is about to discover even more shocking secrets about her childhood ordeal.

Sylvie Durand hasn't been back to her family home on the French coast in years, not since the death of her first child, Elodie. But now she's received a mysterious letter that calls for her to return with her young daughter Emma in town. It's a sweltering summer and wildfires threaten further inland, but Sylvie feels that there's more that's off about her return than just the heat. And it's not long before it's obvious that something is very wrong at this beautiful beach house.

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When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.
But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo’s empathetic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.