A strange inheritance leads Tess MacKay to an island in Maine. In her unknown relative's ancient house, she discovers that the sins of the past are very much alive and able to be visited on the children. Smugglers and pirates and an old curse are not just things of the past, but dangers and mysteries to be reckoned with today.

Tess has settled into her new home on Little Goose Island only to discover the house has another resident, a troubled ghost whose shocking past has been so deeply buried that she doesn't even have a name. Compelled by compassion and horror, Tess sets out to discover the spirit's identity. Dismayed at her discovery of an old murder, she gathers the descendants of those who were part of the dead woman's life—and death. It's a Twelfth Night party that no one will forget.

"On Deadly Tides" is the thrid installment in the Wendover House Cozy Mystery Series. A body has washed up on the beach and the past which was buried once is now a present danger to Tess MacKay and others in the islands. Questions about the corpse's identity lead to an exhumation of an empty grave and further queries about a supposed accidental death that might be a ritual murder. Unwilling to believe claims of a family bane that kills Wendovers every third generation, Tess sets out to find her missing great-grandfather—dead or alive.

'Never before did I believe that the dead would truly ryse up in judgment if not layd to rest in consecrated ground. But I have seen with myne own eyes, those drowned faces and barnacled bones walking out of the surf.' So wrote Nicholas Wendover (aka Halfbeard, the pirate). But the troubled ghosts did rise every decade and come looking for their stolen treasure, the specially minted coins created by an Aztecan wizard called Pieces of Hate. Unfortunately, Nicholas Wendover was no longer alive and able to reveal where the stolen treasure might have been hidden. It was left to Tess McKay to discover the last of the missing coins before Little Goose Island was overrun with vengeful ghosts.

The islands are being visited by a mysterious plague that is killing the fish and driving away the puffins. Certain that events are supernatural in origin, Tess accepts the help of a strange visitor in the night. Given the threat she uncovers, Tess will need all the help she can get.