Secrets by the Sea – Beach Rose Cottage Mysteries #1

When Liza Bowen finds herself at a crossroads in her career as a historical restoration specialist, the offer from her childhood friend to return to her hometown of Cape May, New Jersey, to restore Kristin’s family’s historical beach house is a godsend. Beach Rose Cottage is definitely in need of some TLC, but Liza is excited to bring it back to its former glory while she decides where to go next with her career. And living there during the process will be icing on the cake. The very first afternoon at her new home and project, however, something unexpected turns up on the beach: an old green glass bottle, with a message from the past inside. Not a letter, but rather an old photograph of a bride, a dried rose, and a wedding band. And most curious of all, in the background of the photo is Beach Rose Cottage itself.

As Liza and Kristin try to sort out who the bride was, what tragedy led her to cast these memories out to sea, and how in the world it washed up here, they find more questions than answers. Especially because all over town, other mysterious artifacts keep appearing out of nowhere, with no explanation. Is someone trying to bring old tragedies back to Cape May’s memory—and if so, why?

Liza will have to peel back the layers of the past on more than the cottage she’s been hired to restore. And as she pieces together this generations-long mystery, she’ll learn too that restoration is about more than paint and plumbing, wiring and wood. It’s about finding herself and uncovering who the great Restorer always intended her to be.