The Inspiration behind Death by the Sea by Kathleen Bridge

As a writer, I’ve always been drawn to the sea, so when we moved to a small barrier island on the east coast of Florida, it felt like coming home. I immediately knew my By the Sea series would take place in Melbourne Beach. The island is on what the locals call the Treasure Coast. After researching the history of area, I found that back in 1715, a fleet of Spanish ships laden with hundreds of millions of dollars in silver, gold, and precious jewelry had been shipwrecked near the island’s Sebastian Inlet. Salvagers, had scored not only from the bounty of the shipwrecked fleet, but also on a nearby beach that had once been a survivor’s camp for the Spanish fleet. Even today, salvagers are finding treasure.

I was also intrigued by a town on the island named Indialantic By the Sea. The name was formed from a combination of the two waters that surround the barrier island, the Indian River Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean. After scouring local antique shops and used bookstores for information on area, I came across two old 1926 postcards of the Indialantic by the Sea Hotel, a sprawling white stucco Spanish-style hotel and resort that later changed names as the Tradewinds Casino. The resort fell into ruin and was torn down, but now lives on in my series as an old family run hotel trying to stay afloat in modern times, barring numerous hurricanes and murdered guests.

National bestselling author Kathleen Bridge presents a delightful new series set on a barrier island where waves meet sand—and mayhem meets murder . . .

The Indialantic by the Sea hotel has a hundred-year-old history on beautiful Melbourne Beach, Florida, and more than a few guests seem to have been there from the start. When Liz Holt returns home after an intense decade in New York, she’s happy to be surrounded by the eccentric clientele and loving relatives that populate her family-run inn, and doubly pleased to see the business is staying afloat thanks to its vibrant shopping emporium and a few very wealthy patrons.

But that patronage decreases by one when a filthy rich guest is discovered dead in her oceanfront suite. Maybe this is simply a jewel theft gone wrong, but maybe someone—or many people—wanted the hotel’s prosperous guest dead. Only one thing is sure: there’s a killer at the Indialantic, and if Liz lets herself be distracted—by her troubled past or the tempting man who seems eager to dredge it back up—the next reservation she’ll book could be at the cemetery . . .

Praise for Kathleen Bridge

“A delightful sneak peek into life in the Hamptons, with intricate plotting and a likeable, down-to-earth protagonist. A promising start to a promising series.” —Suspense Magazine on Better Homes and Corpses

“The descriptions of furniture and other antiques, as well as juicy tidbits on the Hamptons, make for entertaining reading for those who enjoy both antiques and lifestyles of the rich and famous.” —Booklist on Better Homes and Corpses “Ghostal Living is a marvelously entertaining tale of revenge, murder, quirky characters—and disappearing books! With a clever protagonist, wonderful details of life in the Hamptons, and plot twists on top of plot twists, Kathleen Bridge will have mystery readers clamoring for more.” —Kate Carlisle, New York Times bestselling author