Susan M. Boyer won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel for Lowcountry Boil. It’s been a couple years since I read it, but it can’t be any better than her latest Liz Talbot mystery, Lowcountry Boneyard. That hot South Carolina weather must just breed suspense, family secrets, and romance. It’s all as thick as mosquitoes in this compelling story.

Everyone in coastal South Carolina knows about the disappearance of Kent Heyward. The twenty-three-year-old heiress to old money disappeared one night on her way to dinner, car and all. Because the Charleston police department haven’t turned up any clues, Kent’s father turns to private investigator Liz Talbot and her partner, Nate Andrews, hoping they can find answers. Where is Kent?

Before Liz and Nate can sift through the stories from Kent’s family, friends and Facebook acquaintances, they have to sift through their own feelings for each other. Can they overcome their love of their own hometowns, and their own histories, to build a life together? Or, are they stuck as business partners, fighting the attraction?

It’s a convoluted network of family connections when Southerners start searching for answers. And, the search for Kent is complicated by her family’s demand for privacy, and the secrets they don’t even want to share with their own private investigators. Even if they’re just business partners, Liz and Nate have the connections and knowledge to search through Kent’s past. Somewhere in her past is the clue to the night she disappeared. And, when Liz is threatened, several times, it seems that their digging is hitting too close to home for someone.

It may be October in South Carolina, but Susan M. Boyer knows how to keep the heat on in this exciting mystery. It’s filled with tension and suspense, relieved only by a hilarious scene on family night with Liz’ parents, and, of course, with the romantic scenes as well. Lowcountry Boneyard is a mystery worthy of an Agatha Award winner.

Susan M. Boyer’s website is www.susanmboyerbooks.com

Lowcountry Boneyard by Susan M. Boyer. Henery Press. 2015. ISBN 9781941962503 (hardcover), 286p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of the book. And, I read it as part of a TLC Book Tour.