The Southern Living magazine article was timed to coincide with Josephine Warrick’s ninety-fifth birthday. Brooke still needed to call the hospital’s billing department to set up a payment plan. “If he has any pain or his range of motion starts to seem limited, bring him back into the office. She’d rolled the dice on an “affordable,” high-deductible health insurance policy and came up snake eyes when Henry fell from the jungle gym at the park and landed awkwardly on his arm, leading to a trip to the emergency room, surgery, and weeks’ worth of physical therapy. Brooke shuddered when she thought about the thousands she still owed for the surgery. Himali Patel was the soft-spoken Indian American doctor who’d treated Henry’s broken arm. Just following up to see how Henry’s physical therapy is coming.” Was the pediatric orthopedist already calling to dun her for Henry’s ruinous medical bills? She winced when she glanced at the caller ID. And now Brooke had another call coming in. Her caller didn’t hear her objections because she’d already disconnected.
Be at the marina right at eleven, you hear? C. “It’s too complicated to go into on the phone. You are a lawyer, are you not? Licensed to practice in the state of Georgia?” “Well, um, can you tell me what you’d like to talk to me about? Is this a legal matter?” “I can have my boat pick you up at the municipal marina at 11:00 A.M. “I’d like you to come over here and see me,” Mrs. The woman wore a full-length fur coat and high-top sneakers and had a double-barreled shotgun tucked in the crook of her right arm. Warrick?” Brooke glanced at the computer screen and clicked on a four-year-old Southern Living magazine story with a headline that said “Josephine Bettendorf Warrick and Her Battle to Save Talisa Island.” She stared at the color photograph of a woman with a mane of wild white hair, standing defiantly in front of what looked like a pink wedding cake of a mansion. “Josephine Warrick on Talisa Island,” the woman said impatiently, as though that should mean something to Brooke. She quickly typed it into the search engine on her computer. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but Brooke didn’t know why. “This is she.” Brooke grabbed a pen and a yellow legal pad, just in case she had a potential real, live client on the other end. “I’d like to speak to Miss Trappnell, please.” She was an older woman, with a high, quavery voice, and only a hint of the thick Southern accents that prevailed on this part of the Georgia coast.
“Trappnell and Associates,” she said crisply. But it was a slow day, and the office number actually was the one listed on her business cards, so just this once, she made an exception. The High Tide Club is Mary Kay Andrews at her Queen of the Beach Reads best, a compelling and witty tale of romance thwarted, friendships renewed, justice delivered and true love found.īrooke Trappnell rarely bothered to answer her office phone, especially when the caller ID registered “unknown number” because said caller was usually selling something she either didn’t need or couldn’t afford. When Josephine nears death with her secrets intact, Brooke is charged with contacting Josephine’s friends’ descendants and bringing them together on Talisa for a reunion of women who’ve actually never met. She tells Brooke she is hiring her for two reasons: to protect her island and legacy from those who would despoil her land, and secondly, to help her make amends with the heirs of the long dead women who were her closest friends, the girls of The High Tide Club-so named because of their youthful skinny dipping escapades-Millie, Ruth and Varina.Įven at the end of her life, Josephine seems unwilling or unable to face her past, deliberately evading Brooke’s questions. Over a few meetings, the ailing Josephine spins a tale of old friendships at a time when World War II was looming when secrets led to betrayal and a long-unsolved murder. Warrick has long been a client of a prestigious Atlanta law firm.
Josephine’s cryptic note says she wants to discuss an important legal matter with Brooke, who is an attorney, but Brooke knows that Mrs. Everybody in the South has heard about the eccentric millionaire mistress of Talisa, but Brooke has never met her. When ninety-nine-year-old heiress Josephine Bettendorf Warrick summons Brooke Trappnell to Talisa Island, her 20,000-acre remote barrier island home, Brooke is puzzled. From the bestselling author of The Weekenders comes a delightful novel about new love, old secrets, and the kind of friendship that transcends generations.
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