I received a copy of this book from St. Martin's Press and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review. Look for THE NEWCOMER on 5/04/2021! Pee-pee,” Maya wailed, right on cue. The kid’s timing was flawless. Like her mother’s, Letty thought ruefully.

Letty nodded and thought about the wad of cash she’d stuffed under the front seat of the Kia. She could already feel it shrinking. “If I empty it out and clean it up, what would the weekly rate be?” Tanya told her sister Letty if something happened to her to take her child and run and to not forget the stash of cash. Tanya didn't want Evan to take their daughter. Maya batted her extraordinarily long, spiky dark lashes. She really had gotten all the very best DNA from the gene pool, Letty thought. “I wanna go swimmin’.” Letty can’t forget her sister Tara’s insistence: “if anything bad ever happens to me–It’s Eli. Promise me you’ll take Maya and run. Promise me.” New York City: Letty Carnahan promised her sister, Tanya, she would take care of her daughter if anything ever happened to her. Tanya told her it would be her ex Evan, if something did. Tanya made her promise that she’d take Maya and run. Letty never imagined she would find her sister's body that morning. Letty grabs Maya and Tanya's go-bag, full of cash and an old magazine clipping of The Murmuring Surf motel.Does Maya seem like a typical four-year-old? Why or why not? What effect do you think she had on Letty? That’s true,” Ava said. She glanced at her son, and then down at Maya, with her bedraggled stuffed toy elephant. Letty Carnahan is in trouble. She’s on the run from New York City; she has her four-year-old niece, Maya in tow, and her sister was found dead in the entry hall of her glamorous townhome. Letty believes she knows who did it: her sister’s awful, money-grubbing ex-husband, Eli Wingfield.

What do you think motivates someone like Evan Wingfield? Have you ever known anyone like him? Do you think he really wanted to have custody of Maya?Letty Carnahan’s life is turned upside down when she is forced to flee New York City with her four year old niece, Maya, in tow after stumbling upon her younger sister’s body in her New York townhouse. Exhausted and emotionally drained, Letty arrives at a small beachside motel in Treasure Island, Florida - The Murmuring Surf. With nothing but her sister’s go-bag full of cash, a couple sets of clothes, and her little niece, Letty finds herself welcomed into the motel community full of quirky snowbirds and the friendly owner, Ava and her family. However, Ava’s son Joe is a local cop who catches a whiff of Letty’s complicated past and begins to dig into what really brought her to Florida. Author Mary Kay Andrews gives her readers what they expect. If you’re in the mood for this type of book, grab your beach towel, relax and enjoy. You may even want to go out and play some bingo afterwards. Reading The Newcomer reminded me of eating one of those colossal entrees served at the Cheesecake Factory. This is a cute, serviceable mystery-romance combo, albeit a slightly preposterous and unbelievable one. Letty flees Tanya's murder scene successfully, a wanted criminal, recognized by no one except Joe, an upstanding, rule-abiding cop who doesn't turn her in. And when the FBI enters the tale, their actions seem highly unreasonable, but... I guess we are supposed to believe anything in the name of love? There’s nothing better than a new Mary Kay Andrews novel because she always delivers. Her novel is no exception. It’s character driven, with a good story and people you root for. A good way to start off the month of May before spring arrives (a great book to read at the pool or beach).”