Undertow — Dixie Browning

Like a spent wave, washing broken shells back to sea, the clues to a long-ago death had been caught in the undertow of time...

Cold cases were Gray Hollowell's specialty, and for a bored detective on disability, turning over clues from a twenty-seven-year-old boating fatality on exclusive Henry Island was just the vacation he needed. Edgar Henry had paid him cash, given him the keys to his cottage, told him what he knew about his wife's death -- then up and died. But it wasn't until Edgar's vulnerable daughter, Mariah, showed up to scatter Edgar's ashes that Gray felt the pull of her innocent beauty -- and the chill of this cold case. It was obvious that her zany relatives disliked her and wanted her gone (as they had her mother before her?) -- but not before they gained control of her share of the family legacy. Gray could easily have pocketed Edgar's money and run, but family entanglements could be messy, and he knew, in no uncertain terms, Mariah was going to need him.