By Jeff Shaw
A beach day is the time to relax. First move, ditch the device, and instead pack an actual soft or hard cover book. Sit in a colorful, slightly uncomfortable beach chair, along the water’s edge and prepare to decipher words on paper. I call this process, “reading without interruption,” sort of.
Distancing yourself from devices and those persistent pop-up ads, annoying dings, and growing inbox number, is a great way to start a day at the beach – unless of course you are “remote working.” “Hey, watch the sand! My laptop, kid! Umm, where’s the nearest outlet to charge?”
Indeed, embrace accidental kicked-up sand by pre-teens, rowdy college kid cheers and jeers or innocent cries of hungry toddlers. Once those moments pass, dive-in to those crinkly pages.
The short list below (and fourth annual) includes books featuring stories that take place on Cape Cod. Perhaps your next beach day will occur in an area featured in one of these stories. Give them a read to find out!
The Old Cape Teapot, Barbara Eppich Struna
The sequel to the first story, The Old Cape House, is a fast-paced, captivating story that picks up with familiar characters from the first book. Once again, alternative chapters spanning 300 years takes readers to the Caribbean island of Antigua, setting the stage for another historical fiction mystery. Similar to Dan Brown’s signature “short chapters,” Barbara writes a concise story that takes off after a seemingly unimportant visit to an antiques shop. A race to another treasure chest buried in the woods of Cape Cod awaits!
A Mysterious Murder in Monomoy, Hunter Laroche
Fair warning, this book is self-published, i.e., no professional editing. But as a fellow wannabe writer, I’m rooting for the little guy in the publishing world. Go ahead, ignore the typos. There are a handful of things I like about this book. One, the story covers a lot of ground; a family secret, traveling to exotic places, dining lavishly and solving riddles to pursue centuries-old treasure are delightful elements for easy reading. Two, the story takes place on Nantucket, in the “present day,” meaning the author uses real locations, like bars, restaurants, stores, beaches, etc. Though “present day” is the 1990s or so, as the characters communicate by payphones and landlines, no smartphones or internet are mentioned despite the book being published in 2021. The use of real locations may also be helpful for “Nantucket newbies,” who may appreciate leads on dining and recreational activities ahead of an upcoming visit to the island. Three, chapter titles are “island truisms,” many of which resonated, though they didn’t seem to have anything to do with the chapter’s part of the story. As a bonus, the author also makes at least two Jimmy Buffett references, likely completely unintended (pages 83 and 123). So, if you can ignore exhaustive details, grammatical and punctuational errors – which the author admits in the epilogue — enjoy this beach read.
The Summer Place, Jennifer Weiner (summary courtesy of Jessica Devin, Brewster Book Store)
Admittedly, I have not read this book, yet. But I love the Outer Cape, so it has to be good, right?! Rest easy, multiple literally sources including the local Brewster Book Store and the New York Times Book Review, recommended it. I’ll take their word for it.
A traditional beach read, the Summer Place, tells the story of the various secrets that unfold and come to light for one Cape Cod family during the pandemic. The story is set at the family’s fictional summer home in Truro and is also partially set in Provincetown.
A follow up to Weiner’s 2021 book “That Summer,” “The Summer Place” as “a complete page turner” for its storytelling and plot twists, which will keep the reader engaged through to the end. At the same time, it’s not a cumbersome read. The complexity of the relationships are intriguing. This author is masterful in the way she weaves these secrets together.
Do you have any favorite stories that take place on Cape Cod? If so, please share!
July 22, 2022