While THE SEASIDE LIBRARY is about the lengths to which friends will go to protect and support each other, it's not really about a library. The setting is Mariners Island, which Brenda Novak imagines off the coast of New England, where all three main characters grew up. Ivy, Ariana and Cam were best friends. When a tragedy occurred one summer, Ivy and Ariana lied to protect Cam. That lie grew and took on a life of its own over the next two decades.

The action begins 20 years after the lie, when Ariana returns to Mariners from her home in New York. She has quit her job as editor at a publishing house and plans to spend the summer on the island. Ivy and Cam find this strange as she has not been back there for years. But they’re happy to see her, even as Ivy wonders if the recent discovery of the body of a slain child might be the reason for her return.

"THE SEASIDE LIBRARY is more about the three characters and their relationships than the murder itself. The mystery is the catalyst that causes those relationships to change and grow."

Twenty years previously, a 12-year-old girl disappeared while visiting the island with her family. She was presumed murdered. Her sister, Jewel, said there was a noise in their rental home at 10:30pm, which is when the girl was thought to have been abducted. Her parents were off the island, and Jewel was babysitting. But as we eventually learn, there is much more to the story.

Novak shares the information sparingly as we read about the three friends. The omniscient narrative allows us glimpses into each of their thoughts. Ivy questions her decision to remain on the island, foregoing a college education to run the library that her wealthy ancestors started while she lives in the mansion they built. Cam has established a very successful architectural business and loves drawing and bringing to life the visions of his clients. He is in an unfortunate marriage that was the result of an accidental pregnancy, and Ariana's return to the island ignites some jealousy. Novak paints Cam's wife as an unlikable woman with few, if any, redeeming qualities.

Because of the number of protagonists, it's difficult to feel especially close to any of them. We do feel their uncertainty and doubt as Ivy and Ariana wonder if lying for Cam was the right thing to do. Like anyone who reads the news, they worry that if they hadn't provided Cam with an alibi for the night of the girl’s disappearance, he would have been the only suspect, and the abduction would have been blamed on him. He might have spent his life in prison for a crime they know in their hearts he couldn't have committed.

But was Cam telling the truth when he insisted that after he was with Ivy and Ariana that night, he went straight home? At least one of them views that claim with skepticism as he hated being in his house alone at night.

Novak keeps events of the past carefully shrouded. We don't know Cam well enough to believe what the two women do --- that he isn’t responsible for the kidnapping. She carefully reveals the details we need in order to understand who the perpetrator was. It's not a huge twist as she leaves clues that point in that direction. THE SEASIDE LIBRARY is more about the three characters and their relationships than the murder itself. The mystery is the catalyst that causes those relationships to change and grow.

I do wish that Novak had done more with the setting. It's summer on a beautiful, tourist-filled island, yet I didn't smell the salt-laden breeze or feel the hot sand between my toes. One of the reasons we love reading novels that are set in gorgeous locations is to experience the place through sensory descriptions. I was left wanting more, but Novak's story of the personal relationships and the crime is quite compelling.