Beach Thriller by Jamie Day @jamiedaybooks @itsemilyshaffer @janesome @jenwrenpickens @megantusing @macmillan.audio @macmillanaudio.bsky.social #BeachThriller

the setup…
Holly Sinclair returns to Beauport, Massachusetts, her family coastal home where she had her fondest and most awful childhood memories. Broke and grieving the recent loss of her mother, Holly is hoping to write her next bestseller and resurrect the investigation of her older sister Anna’s death. It’s been more than twenty years but she’s convinced Anna was murdered and the police complicit in covering it up as an accident. She later discovers 17-year old runaway Jade Jensen squatting in the attic of her house and decides to let her stay. When Jade finds the beginnings of the book called Beach Thriller that Holly started after Anna’s death, she encourages her to finish it…and surreptitiously starts snooping on her own to help write the ending.

the heart of the story…
At the center of everything is the wealthy Carmichael family headed by matriarch Maeve whose son was secretly seeing Anna and her home the site where she was killed. Holly, Jade and an unidentified character known as The Watcher provide the points of view but are surrounded by a host of others who kept sliding on and off my suspect list. Pretty soon I just gave up but held fast to one theory that ended up being right.

the narration…
Emily Shaffer, Jane Oppenheimer, Jennifer Pickens and Megan Tusing round out the full cast and they made this a great listening experience. They all represented their characters nicely and were excellent storytellers.

the bottom line…
I was expecting a little crazy sauce and it delivered that spectacularly at the end. But! This was a meaty puzzler with character depth. I avoided most of the red herrings but still got handed some surprises. This is a classic Day mystery sprinkled with a whiff of romance and I enjoyed the journey.

Book Info

• Release Date: June 9, 2026
• Narrators: Emily Shaffer, Jane Oppenheimer, Jennifer Pickens & Megan Tusing
• Audio Length: 12 hours, 21 minutes
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio

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(Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)