Invitation Only Murder by Leslie Meier

A private island owned by a millionaire is opening its doors for a welcome party for the mainland village. Lucy and her husband are invited too. Further as a reporter, she is invited to interview Mr. Newman on the island spending a few days with the family to get his ideas and views how he has discarded all modern appliances including telecommunication facilities and even cooking facilities wanting to live off the grid as it were.

Lucy approaches the break from her usual routine happily. There is much tension at home with her daughters and especially one of them has a new boyfriend who is anything but acceptable. Lucy feels the break will do all of them good.

The discovery of a teenager's body on the second day of her stay - the twin daughter of the owner is unexpected and when it is confirmed that it is not an accident but murder it becomes even worse. There are only two families on the island. The caretakers who have been there for generations and the only people who refused to leave the island and now the present owner.

When Scott Newman becomes more irrational, more drunk and not quite in his senses, his wife seems to be also losing control of reality. With two twin boys to look after and neglected by their mother who seems to be living in a world of her own,it is upto Lucy and the remaining older sister to be caretaking the two kids. When they disappear too, it is too much to be a coincidence and you need to try to reach the mainland in one way or the other. Waiting for the weekly steamer to come is far too long a wait with a family living on the edge.

The story was long, but the island was very well described. The characters were peculiar, but they added substance to a very odd dysfunctional family.

Sent to me by Netgalley for an unbiased review, courtesy of Kensington Books.