The Empty Chair: Murder in the Caribbean (Olivia Benning Mysteries, #1)

Young Olivia travels to the Virgin Islands to settle affairs after receiving word her mother, a highly acclaimed photographer on St. Thomas, has perished in a boating accident, but island police have no record of her death or even the accident. Could her mother still be alive? Olivia desperately needs the truth, if she has to find it herself. A bar brawl. A break-in and robbery. Her mother's Caribbean bungalow ransacked. Can things get any worse at picturesque Magens Bay? Olivia's search takes a sinister turn when a charming man, claiming to be her mother's lover, is murdered and she's the prime suspect. Entangled in the same dark web of crime that may have ensnared her mother, Olivia is low on cash, high on mistrust, yet must rely on the ruggedly handsome stranger who seems to surface when she most needs saving, but is he her rescuer-turned-lover or her deadly foe? o A steamy Caribbean island o A missing female photographer o A daughter's relentless search and her entanglement in the island's twisted subculture Don't expect an umbrella in your drink when you escape to the Virgin Islands in this heart-pounding suspense novel as young Olivia Benning desperately searches for her photographer mother who has gone missing during a covert assignment. Racing against time, Olivia gets caught up in the same criminal element that may have murdered her mother and finds herself on the run for her own life. Can she evade them long enough to find her mother alive? Or will she be their next victim? See why critics and readers alike are raving about the suspense novels of multi national award-winning storyteller Penny Goetjen. If you like Carol Higgins Clark, you'll love her books. If you love to read stories that are more about compelling plotlines, colorful locales, and intriguing characters than a gruesome crime, you 'll love her books. Click to add to your cart now. "Not even the sultry Caribbean sun can burn off the dark clouds that seem to follow Olivia Benning. Penny Goetjen uses the idyllic setting and island culture so effectively, the reader is tempted to savor ocean views from The Empty Chair, but don't pause too long—danger is never far away." —Kathryn Orzech, Author of Premonition of Terror, a paranormal thriller, and Asylum, a dark suspense saga Awarded SILVER in the prestigious Mom's Choice Awards