Sand in My Shoes is a mystery novel that teases and surprises. The set-up is an old summer resort hotel on the Jersey Shore in 1965. The owners stretch back to the Gilded Age, a time when manners ruled and murders were swept under the carpet. Enter Stanley Blackmon V who wants to carry on the upper-class family tradition at almost any expense—except being murdered which he very nearly is while trying to solve the murders of his aunt and grandfather. Enter Oliver Sterling, a state-appointed detective who reveals old grudges and ancient enmities in the Blackmon family. Think Agatha Christie, for plot, and Edward Gorey, for manners and moods, and you have Sand in My Shoes.