It’s 1964 in the tiny town of Eastport, Maine, and Billie McCadie is bored to death. She’s surrounded by dull people with more manners than sense, and no sign of the intrigue or romance that fills her beloved novels. That is, until an engagement ring and cryptic love letter turn up, addressed to 'Gertrude'. Until she meets yacht-club handsome Avery Webster. Until the unsettling phone calls and visits from a man in a fedora begin. Until she's one of the last people to see Gertrude alive... and the first to see her dead.
What follows is an intoxicating cocktail of stalking, blackmail, Jell-O salads, and champagne secrets, all served along the rocky Maine coastline. Everyone is a suspect. Everyone has a secret. And (strangely) everyone has a boat. But who is willing to kiss and tell? As the body count rises and the danger nears, why does Billie feel like she’s more than just a side character? After yearning to be in the action for so long, would it be terribly unladylike to have some fun of her own?
Etiquette for Lovers and Killers by Anna Fitgerald Healy will be published July 1, 2025. Penguin Group Putnam provided an early galley for review.
After reading the opening chapters of this novel, I would have been knocked over with a feather if I had been informed that this was Healy's debut novel (which it is). Through Billie's narration, with vibrant prose and energized dialogue the author brings us into the world of Eastport, Maine. I found the grin on my face broadening with each turn of a phrase she dishes out. This is a kind of writing I very much enjoy. It is fun and comes across as effortless (even though, as a writer, I know it often is not so easy produce).
The story is a bit drawn out with Billie bouncing between her investigation and her love life over the course of a year. One would think the police in a small town with only a single public phone booth would be able to solve a murder faster than that. It almost seems like Billie is the only one even trying to resolve the case. I can see where the author was going with the ending, though I personally did not find it to be fully satisfying. I give the book high marks on style even if the substance could have used a bit more polish.
I do have to nitpick a couple minor references dropped in: "Burt Reynolds mustache" (ch 2) which he did not sport until 1972 after filming Deliverance, a mention of watching Guiding Light (ch 4) and then Candid Camera (ch 5) on the same Saturday when they aired weekdays Monday through Friday and Sunday nights respectively. These might go by most readers' heads, but they stuck out to a pop culture fanatic like myself. As we always say in writing group: if you want to include real world references in fiction with historical foundations, you need to make sure they all are accurately presented.
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