The sea keeper's daughters

If restaurant ownership has taught Whitney Monroe anything, it is ferocity even amid threats from corrupt local officials set on driving her out of town. With her current investments at risk, she returns to the Excelsior, a crumbling hotel that holds her grandmother's treasures from an era of wealth and propriety. While digging through these objects, Whitney unwittingly stumbles into a gripping family mystery. As she reads through a series of old letters and contemplates an intriguing necklace, Whitney struggles against her need for quick money and becomes determined to preserve, at any cost, the belongings and story she has found. Set in North Carolina's picturesque Outer Banks, Wingate's (The Story Keeper, 2014) tale of a dark family history becomes an intriguing patchwork of mystery and drama. Readers will feel revitalized as they journey with Whitney through her past as she grows more connected to her heritage and discovers who she really is.--Campos, Kate Copyright 2015 Booklist

Wingate (The Story Keeper, The Prayer Box) will deepen her large fan base with this novel that blends modern Roanoke Island and Roosevelt's Federal Writers' Project. Whitney Monroe's Michigan new restaurant, Bella Tazza, is under fire from a scoundrel who will do anything to keep it from opening a second location. But when she learns her stepfather is ill, she heads to the Outer Banks' Roanoke Island and the Excelsior, the hotel her mother left her. The Excelsior may contain heirlooms Whitney can sell to finance her restaurants, though she'd like to sell the building if she can get her stepfather out of the third floor. Whitney finds more than she bargains for when she discovers letters from her grandmother Ziltha's sister, a writer for the 1930s Writers' Project, not to mention the dashing Mark Strahan. Whitney must find a way to balance the stresses in her life, but the biggest problem is her inability to trust. Wingate has woven myriad strands in this tale, which links to her previous books and brings readers a wonderful tale of history, mystery, romance, forgiveness, and restoration. Agent: Folio Literary Management. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.