The Lightkeeper's Bride

The Lightkeeper’s Bride by Colleen Coble

Reviewed by: Melissa J. MacDonald

Genre: Historical, Mystery, Romance

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Date: 2010

Settle in, you’re going to love this one.

It’s 1890 on the coast of Northern California in a sleep (or not so sleepy) town called Mercy Falls. Katie Russell is in her mid-twenties and her parents are expecting her to make a good marriage match to the wealthy bachelor Bartholomew Foster. Katie finds Bart a bit dull and finds her job as a telephone operator anything but. One evening while working the lines Katie overhears a disturbing exchange between her friend Eliza and a very familiar male voice. With that one overheard phone call the story takes off in ways you’ll never see coming.

Eliza has disappeared and her baby Jennie has been left behind. The new handsome lighthouse keeper Will seems to keep showing up in all the right….er wrong places. Will has his own set of problems as he witnesses piracy and murder and tries to take care of a one-year-old. Not to mention there is a certain telephone operator that is taking his life by storm. In the midst of clue gathering, pirate fighting, and disease fleeing romance springs up where….well exactly where you would expect it and it’s delightful.

Aye mateys you’ll be on the edge of your seat with this one! I consider myself a bit of a savvy mystery reader but even I was a bit fooled by one character in particular. Coble does a fantastic job of helping you enter into the story. With her descriptive words you’ll be sure you’ve taken off on a mystery sailing adventure with all the main characters. Will seems to bounce back from each deadly wound like the superhero we all want our men to be and you’ll find yourself sighing as he rescues Katie from the dastardly pirates.

This is the second book in The Mercy Falls series but can easily be read as a standalone. However, I guarantee once you travel to Mercy Falls you’ll want to stay for awhile. You might find yourself strapping on your skates at the local roller skating rink, stopping in at the haberdashery, or listening on the party line to hear all the latest gossip. Whatever the case you’ll be glad you were introduced to this special little town.

Rated PG- for mild action and murder scenes

This book was provided for me by Thomas Nelson Publishers through Radiant Lit. To see this at Radiant Lit, click here.