Christmas mysteries & more: 6 new books written or set on Cape Cod & the Islands
Christmas may be months away, but if you're ready for some chill or want to plan some reading (or gifting!) for the holidays, two local authors have new mysteries out set at a time of year that's traditionally filled with decorations and cheer.
For other reading ideas, there's a children's book centered on favorite pastimes of trucks, sand and imagining; a look into the historic mysteries of Wellfleet's Bound Brook Island; a dual-timeline novel set on the Cape and Penikese Island; and a look at defining moments in life that a Cape author contributed to and that is being sold to help people suffering in Ukraine. So for those on a book hunt, here are some ideas:
“Mistletoe Can Be Murder: Every Wife Has a Story,” by Susan Santangelo; Suspense Publishing, 2022
Santangelo, from West Dennis, has reached book No. 10 in her Baby Boomer cozy mystery series and wasn’t at all concerned about her Christmas-set whodunit debuting in June. “If the Hallmark channel can celebrate Christmas all year long, so can I!” she says. The series centers on Carol and Jim Andrews and in this installment, Carol is planning grandson CJ's first Christmas down to the last detail, but things get in the way. Like a furnace fiasco; the unexpected appearance of CJ's other grandmother and her new boyfriend; and a family feud. Then there’s a murder and the boyfriend becomes the chief suspect, so Carol has to add crime-solving to her holiday to-do list.
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“A Vineyard Wedding,” by Jean Stone; Kensington Publishing Corp., 2022
In another Christmas-set book that was released in late spring, Stone, now a Martha’s Vineyard resident, continues her island series about transplanted 40-something author Annie Sutton, who now owns a Chappaquiddick inn and has a rich life with a found family. In this fifth book in the series, Annie is close to marrying the Edgartown police sergeant she loves on Christmas Eve, but then the 2-year-old girl she once found left on her doorstep goes missing and Annie has to focus instead on solving the mystery and finding the toddler.
“My Big Tow: The Adventures of Captain Recovery, Book 2,” by Kyle Chirgwin; BookBaby, 2022
This sequel that has been years in the making for Chirgwin, a Cape Cod resident, who takes young readers back to Darren and Kaylee playing in the sandbox and imagining all types of rescues and adventures for Captain Recovery and his shiny tow truck. There are rescues of train locomotives and trailer trucks, and their dogs even get into the action. Chirgwin, a former towing company owner who invented a device now used by other companies, describes his children’s story as positive and constructive, exemplifying the values of helping others, teamwork, racial and gender inclusion, and girls aspiring to whatever they are capable of. When not writing, Chirgwin also hosts an international rock and roll show for Provincetown’s WOMR radio station.
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“An Island in Time,” by Sharon Dunn; The Rose Press, 2022
Dunn describes her book as one about “falling in love with a place and wanting to know more about it,” so ideal for “all lovers of Cape Cod.” It’s her personal rendering of Bound Brook Island in northwest Wellfleet and her micro-history of the beautiful and secluded place in the Cape Cod National Seashore. The story covers its geological creation thousands of years ago, its native Punonakanits, its later settlers, and the maritime community and individuals once there. Dunn says she hiked the hills and ravines on this one-square-mile area, finding abandoned roads and cellar holes where houses once stood. Stories include Lorenzo Dow Baker, the “banana king”; schooner builder Capt. Reuben Rich; the Methodist revival meetings that drew devotees from Boston; the Black family that lived on the island in 1850 — and why a thriving maritime community of 150 inhabitants in the 1850s dwindled to nothing by the turn of the century. The book includes antique maps and photographs as well as her own maps, photographs and poems, and her original research.
“Hope Beyond the Waves,” by Heidi Chiavarolli; Hope Creek Publishers LLC, 2022
The award-winning author is from Swansea, but her novel is set on Penikese Island in Buzzards Bay, using a dual timeline that takes readers from 1993 Massachusetts (when Penikese was a home for troubled boys) to 1916 Massachusetts (when Penikese was home to the Penikese Island Leper Colony). In 1993, Emily Robertson is sent away to live with her grandmother on Cape Cod and finds an old photograph that might uncover a secret piece of family history. In 1916, Atta Schaeffer is forced into a life of exile after a health diagnosis and her hopes of rescuing her sister from their abusive father rests with a doctor seeking a cure. Described as “a testament to faith and love,” the novel is dedicated to Dr. Frank and Marion Parker, whom Chiavarolli considers “unsung heroes” for ministering to the patients on Penikese from 1907 to the hospital’s closing in 1921. Chiavarolli’s other books include a novel inspired by the life of author Louisa May Alcott, and a series of books giving a contemporary twist to Alcott’s “Little Women.”
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“Defining Moments: Memorable and Inspiring Stories from Outstanding Leaders,” compiled by Dr. Bill and Phyllis Nichols; Southern Stories Publishing, 2022
Cape Cod writer Rachael Colby is one of 28 contributors to this book about moments that can shape a person’s beliefs, values, goals or life’s trajectory. The globe-spanning contributors of two moments each were a soldier, scientists, doctors, ministers and missionaries, business leaders, lawyers, teachers and writers. Proceeds from the book, Colby says, will go to Samaritan’s Purse, a non-profit ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association to be used in their work to provide relief to those affected by the Ukrainian crisis. Colby is also a contributor to the new book “The Courage to Write: 62 Devotions to Encourage Your Writing Journey.”
To have a new book by a Cape Cod and Islands writer considered for coverage, contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Books written, set on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Christmas mystery
