Tigers in Red Weather, By Liza Klaussmann

This sizzling debut is a nice reminder that balmier times are on their way. Nick and her cousin Helena have always spent their summers at the family mansion in Martha's Vineyard.

Both on the cusp of married life they promise each other: "Houses, husbands and midnight gin parties...Nothing's going to change."

Returning years later with children, a grisly discovery turns this country-club world on its head.

A deft novel, it conjures up the magic and melancholy of post-war American life. If Richard Yates had penned a beach-bag read, this might have been it.