The Terrible Tide

by Alisa Craig, Charlotte MacLeod

Uprooted New York model Holly Howe has got herself stuck in a tiny New Brunswick village, her beauty ruined by a freak accident, her funds running out. The brother she hardly knows and the sister-in-law she could do without are making life intolerable for her. Desperate, she grabs the only job she can get and lands smack in the midst of a Gothic novel.

But it's all too real for romance: the dust up her nose, the spiders in her bed, the ancient, bedridden mistress of the house to be diapered and spoon-fed, the hired man's dirty socks smelling up the kitchen, and wretched old Annie the housekeeper trying to hold the place together despite her terror of things that go bump in the night. People down in the village think Annie's gone soft in the head. Holly isn't sure. Then she learns the truth, and it's every bit as terrifying as a heroine could expect.

Hostile trustees, priceless antiques, and the modern craftsmen who create them, horrible home cooking, old hates, new loves, and a charming professor who only wants some good photographs for his book wind Holly into a tangle from which she may or may not escape with her life and reason, as Alisa Craig drops another hint about what just might be happening in one of those Canadian towns tourists find so peaceful and picturesque.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Canada

182 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

A pseudonym used by Charlotte MacLeod.

Reviews

[Daniel Stainback · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I found a new favorite author!

[Marjorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Joe Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a Boston mystery(which is why I picked up an eariler book of hers), but still pretty good.. especially considering it's a rare non-murder mystery. While the story and the red herrings were massively obvious, the characters are really fun and remarkably well developed for a under 200 page novel... you really felt like you were in the little Canadian town of Jugtown.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite fun readable mystery but also unexpectedly charming and disarming look at aging and relationships between genders, family members, and between generations.

[Priscilla Herrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte MacLeod is an old favorite author; I thought I had read everything she ever wrote. To my great surprise I came across The Terrible Tide, which she wrote as Alisa Craig!

This one is almost a gothic novel - a large decaying manor house on the edge of a cliff above the Bay of Fundy, an old woman dying in an upstairs bedroom, an elderly housekeeper.....and a mansion filled with dust, cobwebs and antique furniture. Entire Holly, a New York model whose career derailed when she suffered a horrific accident causing injuries including facial scarring. She comes to New Brunswick to stay with her brother who has left his high powered job to become a furniture maker, assisted by his wife who raids abandoned houses for antique wood.

Once again, I was held in suspense to the very end by MacLeod/Craig's deft pen!

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early Bird Book Deal | Overloaded and obvious, but a good piece of fluff to while away an afternoon | There's too many sides to the plot, and all of them are clear from the start, but if you're reading MacLeod for difficult puzzling mysteries you're looking in the wrong place. I do find myself wondering if her Alzheimer's had already been diagnosed by this time; she lived another twenty years and wrote 23 more books after this, but if the disease was as unknown in the mid 80s as the book suggests, it's hard to imagine she would have used it without the personal stake.

[PR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well crafted.A bit confusing. Wrapped up a bit fast...

I liked the beginning well enough to read to the end.
Th story ked you step by step to the crime and the criminals.
I would have enjoyed a bit more intrigue!
A fast read. Not her best, in my opinion.
The writing is good...not her most 'educational', for the reader, endeavor.
Not funny!
Seems like it mat be an early effort.
Characters, okay, A bit predictable. Plot, okay, A bit, predictable. Solution, okay, A bit, predictable.
It was all okay, and, A bit predictable.
Simply, in my opinion, not had best. Too predictable.

[David Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun being surprised by the ending. Some of the clues and conclusions our narrator made were a bit too obvious to be the truth. However, the ideas made sense to her, and isn't that the author's job? Am I not supposed to immerse myself in the narrators world and the story, or stay outside judging everyone and everything?
It's been several years, but I remember enjoying the Professor Shandy books. Now I'm catching up on the stand-alone novels and Max and Sarah books that I missed.

[Catsalive · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been languishing on my shelves for decades: I read most of the MacLeod/Craig series in the 90s but missed a few stand-alones like this one. It is a light, amusing, rather charmingly old-fashioned, slightly Gothic mystery that could have been very much darker if the antagonist had had his/her way. Heroine Holly & handyman Bert have some great lines, Sam Neill seems like a keeper & Geoffrey Cawne too good to be true, and I'd definitely recommend a relocation - fancy living in Jugtown, New Brunswick or anywhere, it would drive one to drink. Great fun & very easy on the eyes.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is from a delightful author who wrote under both this name and also Alisa Craig. Her books are fun, well-plotted, quirky enough to withstand re-reading, and filled with memorable characters . Do yourself a favor and seek out her work. She is greatly missed.

[Debra S. Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stand alone mystery

As usual Charlotte MacLeod provides a gentle mystery with plenty of odd ball suspects and a slice of life in rural Canada. A very enjoyable read.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all her series. This one was a bit different but very good.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good stand-alone. Not nearly as gothic as the review would have it.

[Lila · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Macleod's Canadian mysteries, full of her usual humor as eccentric behaviors are revealed to have criminal purposes.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cozy little mystery akin to “Murder, She Wrote”, but without a murder. The characters and setting were great, but I wish the ending wasn’t so rushed.

Song that was on repeat while reading: Chores by Feeble Little Horse

[Kunni Biener · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a stand alone that did not do well with the passage of time. Ms. MacLeod has written so many good books, skip this one.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a terrible accident and now scarred, New York model Holly Hunt flees to the house she inherited with her brother near the Bay of Fundy. Brother Russell is totally absorbed in his woodworking business, and his wife Fan cares only for his career. Desperate to get away from them, she takes a job helping care for a dying old woman in the once-beautiful mansion outside of town. And that's where some of the rules we learned in children's stories come in handy: Work hard, carefully pick people to trust, keep trying. An interesting historical sidenote: When this book was published in 1983, one of the characters had to explain to the others just what Alzheimer's Disease is. 1983!

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were certain aspects of this book that I liked and some that I didn't. I like to see a woman look around, determine what needs to be done, and do it, so I thoroughly enjoyed Holly's advent into Cliff House. There was so much that needed to be done. I also liked that Ms. MacLeod didn't minimize Holly's injuries by ignoring them as so many authors do. When one is in pain, it stays with you. You don't forget it for hours at a time. Holly was very aware of her leg problems all the way through the book. I did not like the way she giggled at the wrong moments, which I found jarring. It made Holly a difficult character to get a handle on. The other thing I didn't like is the way Ms. MacLeod made the two males somewhat superfluous to the female heroine. You never get a good grip on who they are, because Holly doesn't. On the whole, the book was an enjoyable but not a great read.

[Lori Henrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holly moved to Canada to recuperate from an injury she received when a flood light exploded. She is half owner of the property that her brother and sister-in-law are currently living in. She feels in the way and Roger's wife Fan keeps dragging her into deserted homes to steel wood. Roger is a master craftsman and uses the old wood to make the furniture he makes look more antique. Holly decided to take a job helping to take care of an elderly woman and to also look after the elderly housekeeper. The home is full of antiques and the trustee wants someone there to make sure nothing is taken from the home. Strange things are happening at Cliff House and her snooping might just cause more trouble.

I liked this story. It is a well told story and the characters are reminiscent of Agatha Christie. The characters are well developed, the plot keeps you turning the pages.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the 11 Canadian based cozy mysteries Charlotte MacLeod wrote as Alisa Craig, this was the only non-series novel. Somewhat darker than the others, in this case the protagonist doesn't have a sympathetic supporting cast.

Mystery - The tiny New Brunswick village was a lifetime away from the chic world of a New York fashion model. But a freak accident sent Holly Howe there to recover in seclusion...and to work at the only job she could find - as a servant at Cliff House. Sitting high above the bay, the gloomy mansion was filled with priceless antiques, a bedridden old woman, and things that go bump in the night. Holly didn't believe in ghosts, but she knew something eerie was happening when the moon was full and the legendary tides came sweeping in from the sea.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few months after a freak modeling accident, New York model, Holly Howe, moves to a New Brunswick village whose ownership she shares with older brother. She relocated to Howe Hill where her brother and his wife have been living to continue her recovery. The village, Jugtown, is located on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, famous for its massive tides. Holly takes a job as a caretaker for 2 elderly women which involves her in a multi faceted mystery that is the center of the story.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story line was hasty and sometimes silly but a lot of fun to read. Screwball would be a good description.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Very* predictable, but still comforting, like grilled cheese and tomato soup.

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a different type of book of Ms Macleod than I've read before. I liked it, but I preferred her other book series.