The good news: Letty Carnahan has just made it to the Murmuring Surf on Florida's Gulf Coast with her four-year-old niece, Maya, and has managed to secure a room there and even a job.The bad news: She's on the run, having found Maya's mother murdered and suspecting Maya's father of the deed. With a 300,000-copy first printing.

Andrews (Hello, Summer, 2020) takes a slightly darker turn in her latest beachy read. Letty Carnahan is on the run. Her sister, Tanya, had always said if anything happened to her, to take her four-year-old daughter Maya and get as far away from her ex as possible. Letty always assumed Tanya was just being dramatic, until the day she walked into her sister's New York townhouse to find Tanya dead and Maya sobbing and terrified. Now, with just a bag of cash and a page from a travel magazine that Tanya had left for her, Letty finds herself at a little Florida roadside motel. She's hoping to keep a low profile while unravelling the many mysteries that her sister left behind, but can't help becoming involved in the lives of the motel residents, along with a certain charming police detective who just happens to be the son of the owner. Andrews expertly builds the tension (and a sweet romance) while exhibiting her deft hand at developing quirky characters, strong southern women, and charming locations. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A new book from Andrews means the start of beach reading season, so expect demand.

Murder, theft, and shady real estate dealings feature in the convoluted plot of Andrews's so-so latest (after Hello Summer). Letty Carnahan, 33, flees Manhattan with her four-year-old niece Maya after Letty's charming but troublemaking younger sister, Tanya, dies. Letty believes Tanya was killed by Tanya's abusive and unscrupulous husband, Evan Wingfield, who's under investigation by the FBI for running illegal Airbnb properties, because Tanya had recently confided her fear of Evan to Letty. Guided by a magazine clipping in Tanya's "go-bag," which also contained $19,000 in cash, Letty stops at the Murmuring Surf motel in Treasure Island, Fla., where owner Ava Decurtis offers her a job in exchange for a place to stay. Letty endears herself to the older guests and catches the eye of Ava's handsome cop son, Joe, while untangling Tanya's involvement with a pair of local criminals who swindled the motel's guests out of their jewelry. In one of many contrivances, one of the criminals might also be Maya's biological father. Meanwhile, an FBI agent sets up a sting to prove Evan wants Letty dead. Andrews is great at making the motel community come alive, but a host of one-note villains weakens the narrative, as does the overly complicated story and unconvincing romance with Joe. This one is a miss. (May)