Swan Song

Bull and Leslee Richardson arrive on Nantucket with money and a plan to be noticed. They buy a twenty-two-million-dollar house and a yacht, then throw party after party to win a place in the island's social order.

Coco Coyle works as their personal concierge. The job gives her a close view of the Richardsons' marriage and of the careful hierarchies that decide who counts on the island.

One day the Richardsons are out on the water and the house burns to the ground. Coco cannot be found.

Chief of Police Ed Kapenash is only days from retirement when the fire pulls him back to work. His investigation moves through the world of summer-colony money, old resentments and people guarding their reputations at any cost.

Elin Hilderbrand's last Nantucket novel, after thirty years of writing about the island, pairs a beach-season mystery with a farewell. Readers who know her work will meet familiar gossip, restaurants and long-time residents. Whether Coco escaped the fire or was caught in it stays open as Kapenash's final case unfolds.