Sandbar Sinister

By Phoebe Atwood Taylor

Book Overview

When a box of bootleg liquor washes up on the shores of Cape Cod, it brings a whole lot of trouble along with it in this classic case for Asey Mayo, the Cape's answer to Sherlock Holmes.

The picturesque Cape Cod village of East Pochet is not its usual self when Elizabeth Colton arrives. The previous evening, a bootlegger dumped two hundred cases of liquor offshore, and the whole town endeavored to drink it before the hooch could be impounded. When the fog of revelry lifted, however, a bearded mystery writer was found dead in the boat house at the Sandbar estate, and another body was discovered on the nearby beach.

As every uncovered clue reveals a new question, Asey Mayo, the Cape's answer to Sherlock Holmes, finds himself investigating one of the trickiest cases of his career. Luckily, though, he's got enough Cape Cod know-how and common sense to cut through the red herrings and discover whodunit.

A charming beachside cozy with an unpredictable plot, memorable characters, and loads of 1930s Cape Cod atmosphere, Sandbar Sinister offers hours of vintage reading pleasure, placing it among the greatest mysteries of celebrated author Phoebe Atwood Taylor.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1613167660
• ISBN13: 9781613167663
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: American Mystery Classics
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A 30's classic

I consider all of these Asey Mayo mysteries American classics. If you've never read one, the setting is Cape Cod, MA. The detective is an area native with diverse experience, a sailor, a cook, a master mechanic, etc. He's referred to as a hayseed because he's usually dressed in old corduroy trousers and flannel shirts. His age is never given beyond saying he's somewhere between 45 and 60. In the earlier books, the story is told in the first person through the eyes of an older woman who accompanies Asey on the investigation. In this one it is Penelope Colton. The time is the 30's. The stock market has crashed and this woman is reduced to clerking in a department store, but a friend has invited her to summer at her house called Sandbar. Once there, she gets drafted into acting as housekeeper and the house is soon full of family and guests -- lots of suspects when there are two murders on the same night. Asey and Pen find the body of a young man in the boathouse and the body of the home owner buried in sand on the beach. Of course, there are no TV's, PC's, cell phones, etc. but I don't find their absence jarring because the mysteries are so well plotted. I am seldom able to figure out "who did it" before Asey wraps it up at the end. I do have to remind myself that in the 30's life expectancy wasn't as long so a woman in her 50's was considered older than she would be today. Also, the author was turning out these great mysteries one after another at a young age, (25 when she wrote this one,) so her perception of age would have been affected by her youth. I recommend this book and all of Taylor's work - great pure old-fashioned mystery.