Hi friends, my name is Raemi Ray. It’s pronounced like ‘Amy’ but with an ‘R’ or as my dad tells people, ‘Like the Sound of Music: do-RE-MI.’ Before you ask, no it’s not short for anything and has absolutely zero meaning. The parents just liked it, I suppose.
Awkward intros out of the way, hi again. I write murder mystery stories for Tule and I’m thrilled to be here to announce the first book in my brand new Martha’s Vineyard Murders series. A Chain of Pearls will be out April 9.
A little about the book:
The last thing she wants is to dig up the past…
When the body of a celebrated journalist is fished from the Edgartown Harbor, the official report rules his death accidental. But why was he alone on a senator’s yacht during a nor’easter? That’s only the first question London-based lawyer Kyra Gibson has when she arrives on the idyllic island of Martha’s Vineyard to settle her estranged father’s affairs.
She’s not looking for closure. She’s not seen him in decades since he left her with her aunt following her mother’s death. But as Kyra delves deeper into her father’s life, she learns he had many regrets and wasn’t as retired as she believed. The more Kyra discovers, the more questions she has. With the help of world-weary detective, Tarek Collins, they uncover a web of intrigue and corruption involving a powerful senator, a dubious energy company, and brutal murder.
As they chase down clues, Kyra and Tarek flirt with danger and race against time to solve the murders and uncover the dark secrets lurking beneath Martha’s Vineyard’s picturesque façade of old money wealth and privilege.
My books, as the series’ name suggests, are ‘whodunnit’ style murder mysteries set on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard. I’ve been visiting the island year-round since college and it holds a special place in my heart. Over the years, I’ve fallen in love with the geography and its unique culture, so inherently New England, but with something else, that’s entirely its own.
It was important to me to capture that uniqueness in my books, and many of places I talk about are either real places, like the towns of Edgartown and Menemsha, or were inspired by the real-life places and businesses that I’ve patroned over the years. Of course, I’ve taken some liberties, so please don’t come for me, when you find out Kyra’s house doesn’t actually exist (but the silkie chickens do, iykyk).
In the first installment, my readers, like my main character Kyra Gibson, an expat visiting the island for the first time, get to explore Martha’s Vineyard through fresh eyes. I hope you enjoy visiting the island as much as I do and if you do, please continue to visit along with Kyra and her friends in books two (The Wraith’s Return) and three (Widow’s Walk) publishing later this year. The books all follow the same characters solving different island mysteries and can be read standalone, but if you read them in order you’ll discover some easter eggs.
Thanks for your time and follow me on my socials for giveaways, updates, and a general look into my travels to and from the island. Thanks again, Cheers!
About the Author.
Raemi Amanda Ray is the author of A Chain of Pearls, her debut and the first book in a Martha’s Vineyard Murders series set on Martha’s Vineyard. Her travels to the island and around the world inspire her stories. She lives in Boston.
