Meadowlark Elizabeth Heron-Finch is known as Lark and she has returned to the island where her mother lived as a child. Lark has come with her sister Pip (Sandpiper Alanna Heron-Finch), with their stepfather Thomas and his three sons.
"When I was five, and Pip was three, our dad died ... That same summer Thomas's wife was killed by a falling tree branch when she was jogging in Central Park. Four and a half years later, Mom married Thomas. ... So we had kind of a Brady Bunch thing going for a couple of years but then, three months ago, Mom died, and what was left? Thomas and his kids, and then Pip and me. I don't know what we are exactly, but it doesn't quite feel like a family."
The Island of Swallowtail is holding a mystery. One resident now claims the island is his because of an inheritance. He has a plan to develop the island with holiday houses and a golf course but one resident - Nadine Pritchard - is desperate to find the truth and stop this dreadful development which will ruin their tiny island home. Nadine was Kate's (that's Larks Mom) best friend. She is also the granddaughter of a man who was killed in a boating accident many years ago off the coast of the island. This is where describing this story could get a bit complicated.
Captain Edward Cheever was born on Swallowtail island. His wife and young daughter Ada died during the flu epidemic. Edward Cheever has only one brother named Gilbert.
"So, when Captain Cheever dies, he owns all this land, everything north of this line. Something in the neighborhood of five hundred acres, or almost twenty percent of the island. A lot of land. Unfortunately, the only will that the captain leaves behind is one written in the 1930s that, naturally, leaves everything to his wife and daughter. One little problem: they're already dead. So who gets it all? His only living heir, the brother he hates, Gilbert."
So now we have several mysteries to solve. Did Captain Cheever write a new will? If so where is it? What do his dying words (will, safe, two bells, Ada holds the key) mean? Was the boating death of Albert Pritchard really an accident? Did one of the witnesses leave something important out of the inquest into his death? Why is the woman at the Cheever Museum so nasty? You need to read this book to find all the answers to these and many more questions.
There are a lot of characters in this story and I did find at times I was a little bit confused but that may be because I read this book a little too quickly. It might have been helpful if the author had popped a character list at the beginning of the book perhaps.
Here is the publisher blurb: Twelve-year-old Lark Heron-Finch is steeling herself to spend the summer on Swallowtail Island off the shores of Lake Erie. It’s the first time she and her sister will have seen the old house since their mom passed away. The island’s always been full of happy memories—and with a step father and his boys and no mom, now everything is different.When Nadine, a close family friend, tells Lark about a tragic boat accident that happened off the coast many years before, Lark’s enthralled with the story. Nadine’s working on a book about Dinah Purdy, Swallowtail’s oldest resident who had a connection to the crash, and she’s sure that the accident was not as it appeared. Impressed by Lark’s keen eye, she hires her as her research assistant for the summer.And then Lark discovers something amazing. Something that could change Dinah’s life. Something linked to the crash and to her own family’s history with Swallowtail. But there are others on the island who would do anything to keep the truth buried in the watery depths of the past.
Each character, historic and contemporary, sparks with life. Lark’s process and the reveals are perfectly paced. Descriptions of the island and weather, plus some dramatic moments on rough water, help build atmospheric tension. Kirkus Star review (this reviewer also said Readers will be hooked—more, please!)
I love the way Thomas inserts wise quotes into his everyday conversations by people like Marcus Aurelius, Aristotle, and Cicero.
If your reader aged 10+ loves a good mystery story they are sure to enjoy Wreck at Ada's Reef. I would pair this book Out of the Wild Night by Blue Balliet. And the publisher links this book with The Parker Inheritance.
Here is the website of Michael D Bell. And here is an interview where he talks about is book. Nearly everything is resolved at the end of the first installment in this series except we do need to know more about the little bird that Lark found in her bedroom and also more the book that was carved inside to hold this little treasure. The second book from the series The Swallowtail legacy was published in 2023 and it takes up this part of the mystery.
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