Piper Donovan, aspiring actress, is headed to Florida to be the maid-of-honor in her cousin's wedding and to help her mom bake the wedding cake. When she arrives, she find that one of the bridesmaids has disappeared and no one has seen her for three days. This is just the first of a string of unfortunate events that seem to be plaguing this wedding. The beautiful Sarasota beach setting seems to be covering a dark secret and Piper is determined to find out what it is so her cousin's wedding won't be ruined. There are plenty of suspects, interesting characters,lovely settings and sea turtles. In fact, a great beach read! American Cozy Mysteries (don't know if that's an official genre but it is to me!) is my favorite genre and this is a fun, fluffy example. There is the involvement of the Amish community which I know appeals to many readers. Footprints in the Sand is the third mystery in the Piper Donovan series and the first one I've read but that doesn't seem to be a problem. It was fine as a stand-alone mystery. It's a quick read that makes me want to find the first two in the series.I received this book from as a Goodreads giveaway and I appreciated the chance to read and review it. so, this one was much more in line with what i'd classify "beachy summer mystery" - not terrible enough that it takes forever to convince yourself to get into it and not so great you wish you'd read it when you could really focus on each and every authorial decision.honestly, i picked this one up because i assumed the author was mary higgins clark, not mary jane clark.i'm guessing she benefits from that mistake often.turns out, they're ex-in-laws. SO close.piper donovan is apparently (i've not read her other mysteries, but i probably will now because they take me less than three hours from start to finish) an actress turned cake designer whose one-dimensional parents suffer from macular degeneration and a paranoid obsession with death. they also make cakes, which piper helps out with between acting jobs. which seem few and far between these days, if i'm reading these things right.when i googled "mary jane clark" (because you know i did), i learned that she has a daughter elizabeth higgins clark who is an actress and starred temporarily in a soap opera, like piper, and who featured in an episode of "criminal minds", that piper watched in her hotel room. nice plug/moral support from mom there, kiddo!still, the book wasn't awful. there are some pretty terrible stereotypes (um...jo-jo, the waitress/single mother of three who blackmails the lady killer???) but the pacing is quick and easily digestible and you can almost forgive the perhaps one-dimensional, stereotypical treatment of many of the minor characters.also, if piper could stop saying things like "ridic" the world would be a happier place.three stars for a fast-paced cadence that made me wish suddenly that i, too, was vacationing on a beach somewhere.
What do You think about Footprints In The Sand (2013)?
Love the setting. Another enjoyable installment in this series!
—brabee
Excellent. Held my attention from cover to cover.
—pebblz74
Weak story line and plot. Very predictable.
—Mohamed
