Major Holly Barker is forced out of the military after accusing a superior officer of sexual harassment and attempted rape. Luckily for her, the transition to civilian life is fairly easy; her father secures her a job as deputy chief of police in Orchid Beach, Florida, a quiet, well-to-do coastal island town.

After being warned that someone on the force is involved in illegal activities, the Chief of Police is, invariably, murdered and Holly is left in charge of a police force she cannot entirely trust. She soon finds, however, that the illegal activities extend far beyond her own force, and the answer to the mystery lies in a mysterious real estate development occupied by "billionaires of every stripe."

Never fear though, Holly's father moves to town to keep an eye on his little girl, and just in case she can't handle the overwhelming problems on her own, she soon finds a loyal Doberman who becomes "her inseparable companion and protector." While I deeply admired Holly's unfailing ability to bark orders at her subordinates and run a tight ship, I felt let down, too: another heroine that is, not once, but twice, the victim of attempted rape. And she's not the only one.

But assuming that doesn't bother you, perhaps this may: Hank, Harry, Ham, Hurd, and Hurst. Those are the names of five key characters – good luck trying to keep them straight! At least Holly's love interest has a memorable, mouthful of a name – Jackson Oxenhandler.

What also annoyed me about Orchid Beach was the weak attempt, early in the novel, to provide suspects to the crimes that could be arrested – but later, proven innocent. Their presence in the novel felt like a mere formality, "I'm going to try to trick the reader into thinking the crime is solved, only 40 pages into the novel, sneaky me!" But, no one is fooled, so really, why bother?

While I can't say that the novel was all bad, after all, it moves at a speedy pace and contains some flirtatious and entertaining banter, I found the book far too formulaic to take seriously. It's vacation reading - if you are lying on the beach, baking in the sun, drinking margaritas and generally killing brain cells anyway.

--Whitney Rose Anderson