I'm pleased to welcome Delia Dickens to Cozy Up With Kathy today. You can find Delia on the pages of the Books on the Beach Mystery series by Allison Brook. DEATH ON DICKENS ISLAND is the first book in the series and was released last week.
Hi, Everyone. My name is Delia Dickens. Yes, I'm one of the Dickens family that founded Dickens Island in the Long Island Sound between Long Island and Connecticut. I'm thirty-eight, divorced, and I've just moved back to the island to live with my fifteen-year-old son Connor in the beautiful Victorian house that Helena, my grandmother, left me. Connor has discovered a small secret room lined with bookshelves. Here, unknown to anyone but Riley, our Bearded Collie, Helena appears to me in ghostly form and reveals secrets that help me solve two murders fifty years apart.
My parents live nearby. My father sees himself as the family's patriarch and responsible for the island's residents' peace of mind and well being. However, Dad dislikes confrontation, and so he usually relies on my mother to resolve conflicts. Dad runs the Dickens General Store. Mom has moved into my Manhattan apartment to take a break from Dad's depending on her to resolve problems and his refusal to accept her suggestions to modernize the store, and has taken up writing a novel. Sales have improved since Dad's agreed to let me order new merchandise. I'm doing my best to work around his stuck-in-the-mud attitude about making changes that the general store sorely needs if its going to survive.
My brother, Wayne, a well-known author, lives with his partner on the island part-time. He owns and edits the island's weekly newspaper, for which I've been writing articles.
Right now my aunt and uncle, who love each other dearly are having one of their public squabbles. Aunt Reenie, my mother's younger sister and Dickens Island's manager (mayor), is all for more housing and a ferry line to Connecticut while Uncle Brad, Dad's younger brother and the town council's president, wants to keep the island the same way it's been for years. Also suspecting him of having an affair with Missy Faraday, Aunt Reenie has thrown Uncle Brad out and he's staying with my dad. With Mom away, Dad expects me to convince my aunt and uncle to make nice and stop squabbling. An impossible job.
Riley came into our lives when he followed Connor home one afternoon and seemed to adopt us. While I was happy to have him live with us, I knew that, despite his badly matted coat, a wonderful dog like Riley had to belong to someone. And so I contacted our local vet, Jack Morrison. Reluctantly. Jack and I were an item years ago when I was sixteen and he was nineteen. Then he broke my heart. Believe me, I had no intention of rekindling our relationship, but one thing led to another . . .
And so you see, my life is rather full at the moment. Even more so, when Uncle Brad brought Missy Faraday to dinner at Dad's and the next morning she was found dead in her house. Of course Uncle Brad became Suspect Number One and I felt obliged to prove his innocence. So much goes on in a supposedly sleepy island, and I, being a Dickens, am right in the middle of everything.
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Review
DEATH ON DICKENS ISLAND by Allison Brook
The First Books on the Beach Mystery
After years living in Manhattan Delia Dickens has returned to Dickens Island living with her 15 year old son, Connor, in the house her grandmother left her. All is not peaceful on the island however. Her mother, claiming she needs a break from Delia's dad, is living in Delia's Manhattan apartment. Delia's aunt and uncle are leading members of the town with diametrically opposed views on what's best for the island. Their contentious behavior has divided the town and Aunt Reenie has thrown her husband out! Then, of course, there's the drama of living with a teenaged boy. But things come to a head when Missy Faraday is found shot to death in her own home. Missy was manipulative, at least in regards to men on the island, but why would anyone want to kill her? As Delia tries to deal with her family, she can't help but be interested in solving the murder, especially as both her aunt and uncle make good suspects. Unexpected help comes in the form of her grandmother's ghost who help her uncover secrets from the past that just may be impacting the present.
I enjoyed meeting Delia Dickens in the first Books on the Beach Mystery. I appreciate how she has taken past trauma, and while it still affects her, she learns and evolves from it. Delia has a solid supporting cast too, my favorite being Helena, her ghostly grandmother. I also love Riley, who shows how dogs can bring people together and help mend hurts.
The mystery was satisfying. I particularly enjoyed how the past played a big part in the present with a pirate log, Helena's youth, and family drama adding to the mystery. As for the present, who would want to kill Missy? And why? I admit I figured it out the motive well before Delia, but it was fun seeing her catch up.
With likeable characters and a well thought out mystery DEATH ON DICKENS ISLAND is a charming start to a new series.
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Death on Dickens Island: A Books on the Beach Mystery by Allison Brook
About Death on Dickens Island
Cozy Mystery 1st in Series
Setting - On Dickens Island, a fictional island in the Long Island Sound between Long Island & CT.
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: October 21, 2025
Hardcover Print Length: 320 pages
A divorced sleuth in her thirties must bring peace back to her small town after a murder tears neighbors and family members apart in this series debut from Agatha Award nominee Allison Brook, perfect for fans of Cynthia Riggs and Eva Gates.
Delia Dickens has come home to Dickens Island, a small island in the Long Island Sound, after a twelve-year stint in Manhattan. She’s looking forward to helping her father revitalize the general store that the family owns as well as curating a small book nook. Most importantly, she wants to reunite with her fifteen-year-old son. But Dickens Island isn’t the peaceful town Delia remembers–and she might be in more danger here than she ever was in the big city.
Delia’s Aunt Reenie and Uncle Brad, both prominent community leaders, are at odds over the sale of a farm and its future use. This has created friction, not only in their marriage, but amongst the citizens of the town. When a young woman, new to the town council and friendly with Brad, is found murdered, everything escalates and reaches a new boiling point.
With Reenie and Brad both suspects in the case and at each other’s throats, the townspeople start to take sides. When the ghost of her grandmother visits her, Delia learns how past events have impacted the present, and it is up to her to expose the farm’s sordid secrets in order to catch a murderer and restore peace to her beloved island.
About Allison Brook
A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, novels of suspense, and books for kids. Her books have received many accolades. As Allison Brook she writes the Haunted Library series. Death Overdue, the first in the series, was an Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel in 2018. Other mysteries include the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series, the Twin Lakes series, and Giving Up the Ghost. Her suspense, Come Home to Death, was released in April 2024, and her suspense, Dangerous Relations, will be republished in 2025. Death on Dickens Island is the first book in her Books on the Beach series.
Marilyn's juvenile novel, Rufus and Magic Run Amok, was an International Reading Association-Children's Book Council Children's Choice and has recently come out in a new edition. Rufus and the Witch's Drudge, the second book in the series, has been released, and the third, Rufus and the Dark Side of Magic, will be out later this year. And Don't Bring Jeremy was a nominee for six state awards. Her YA horror, The Devil's Pawn, came out in a new edition in January 2024.
Marilyn lives on Long Island, where many of her books take place. She loves traveling, reading, doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku, chatting on FaceTime with her grandkids, and playing with her kittens, Romeo and Juliet.
Author Links:
Website/Newsletter Sign Up: http://www.marilynlevinson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.levinson.10
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/161602.Marilyn_Levinson
X: https://twitter.com/MarilynLevinson
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/marilyn-levinson
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/allison-brook
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marilynlevinsonauthor/
Purchase Links: Amazon B&N Bookshop.org PenguinRandomHouse
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