THE HOUSE ON BISCAYNE BAY by Chanel Cleeton-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 9, 2024

With the Great War finally behind them, thousands of civilians and business moguls alike flock to South Florida with their sights set on making a fortune. When wealthy industrialist Robert Barnes and his wife, Anna, build Marbrisa, a glamorous estate on Biscayne Bay, they become the toast of the newly burgeoning society. Anna and Robert appear to have it all, but in a town like Miami, appearances can be deceiving, and one scandal can change everything.

Years later following the tragic death of her parents in Havana, Carmen Acosta journeys to Marbrisa, the grand home of her estranged older sister, Carolina, and her husband, Asher Wyatt. On the surface, the gilded estate looks like paradise, but Carmen quickly learns that nothing at Marbrisa is as it seems. The house has a treacherous legacy, and Carmen’s own life is soon in jeopardy . . . unless she can unravel the secrets buried beneath the mansion’s facade and stop history from repeating itself.

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REVIEW: THE HOUSE ON BISCAYNE BAY by Chanel Cleeton is a stand alone, adult, historical, mystery thriller focusing on the Maribrisa, a grand mansion in Miama built as a birthday gift by a man for his much younger wife.

Told from dual first person perspectives, and dual time lines (Anna -1918, Carmen-1941) THE HOUSE ON BISCAYNE BAY focuses on deaths or perceived murders of the women of Maribrisa. In 1918, Robert Barnes, tired of New York society, moved his beloved wife to Miami, Florida where he gifted her with one of the most magnificent homes to be build in Florida but from the outset all was not as it appeared to be as cracks in the marriage began to reveal a disheartening reality.

Fast forward to 1942, businessman Asher Wyatt and his wife Carolina, the new owners of the refurbished Maribrisa home, find themselves with an unexpected houseguest in the guise of Carolina’s younger sister, following the tragic drowning of both of their parents. Similar to the 1918 timeline, Maribrisa holds too many deadly secrets, and when Carmen begins to investigate the truth, suspicion and rumors begin to spiral out of control when death and destruction, murder and infidelity mirror one another in two different timelines.

THE HOUSE ON BISCAYNE BAY is a story set in a gothic mansion, a mansion that keeps its’ secrets buried deep within the walls. Jealousy and envy, secrets and lies, infidelity and obsession blur as the investigation takes a twist no one expected. The premise is intriguing and enthralling; the characters are edgy, broken and struggling. Not everyone will get their happily ever after, and those that will, reveal a surprising and impassioned love.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy