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Deadly Tide
Her father is accused of murder …Samantha Bretton takes over as skipper of her father’s fishing trawler, the Sea Mistress, determined to clear his name.His job is to find out the truth …Brisbane cop Chayse Jarrett, guilt-ridden by the death of a young woman on his last assignment, goes undercover on the vessel, and soon realises that Samantha is hiding something.Secrets that could implicate her father in more than murder.Secrets that Chayse becomes reluctant to uncover.Are friends really what they seem …The case takes a sinister turn and Samantha is forced to relive the horrors of her past.In a night as deadly and unpredictable as the ocean that threatens his life, Chayse finds new allies, but now faces danger from old and bitter foes.Before that night has ended, even enemies will discover that things are not always as they seem …In Deadly Tide, the truth proves to be a destructive force �
- GenresRomantic Suspense
330 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
15 people want to read
About the author
Sandy Curtis
21Ìýbooks39ÌýfollowersSandy Curtis lives on Queensland’s Central Coast, not far from the beach where she loves to walk and mull over the intricate plots in her novels. Her husband says he doesn’t know how she keeps it all in her head, and her friends think she must be far more devious than she appears.
Actually, after having dealt with the chaos involved in rearing three children, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and a kookaburra (teaching it to fly was murder), creating complex characters, fast-paced action and edge-of-your-seat suspense is a breeze for Sandy.
At fourteen she wrote a story about a pickpocket who steals a wallet from an off-duty cop. To make sure her details were authentic, she wrote to Police Headquarters asking them about fingerprints. Her mother received a phone call wanting confirmation the query was genuine, and as Sandy hadn’t told her about the letter (or the story), she nearly had a heart attack thinking her daughter was in trouble with the law.
Sandy’s query resulted in an invitation to tour Police Headquarters with her teacher and several schoolfriends and meet the Police Commissioner. That’s when she learned that although the pen might be mightier than the sword, it does nothing to imbue self-confidence in an extremely nervous fourteen-year-old who had to shake the hand of Queensland’s top cop.
“All my pocket money and birthday money went on purchasing books,� Sandy says. “I devoured them. My aunt and uncle used to let me borrow their Saturday Evening Post (American version) and Reader’s Digest. In one Saturday Evening Post I read a story called “The Answer� by Philip Wylie, about a nuclear explosion which kills an angel and the Defence Force’s efforts to prove it was ‘really an alien being�. I was so impressed with the story I decided that one day I would become a story-teller like Philip Wylie.�
Interviewers often ask Sandy to describe her normal writing day. “Normal is when the chaos in my life subsides to frantic rather than frenzied. I once told a friend that I must have a chaos attractor glued on my forehead and she said that creativity hovers on the edge of chaos, to which I replied that I’d long ago fallen off the edge into the middle.�
Her various occupations, from private secretary to assistant to a Bore Licensing Inspector, as well as hitch-hiking around New Zealand and learning to parachute, have given Sandy lots of people and research skills. It’s the paperwork going feral in her office she has trouble with.
Actually, after having dealt with the chaos involved in rearing three children, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and a kookaburra (teaching it to fly was murder), creating complex characters, fast-paced action and edge-of-your-seat suspense is a breeze for Sandy.
At fourteen she wrote a story about a pickpocket who steals a wallet from an off-duty cop. To make sure her details were authentic, she wrote to Police Headquarters asking them about fingerprints. Her mother received a phone call wanting confirmation the query was genuine, and as Sandy hadn’t told her about the letter (or the story), she nearly had a heart attack thinking her daughter was in trouble with the law.
Sandy’s query resulted in an invitation to tour Police Headquarters with her teacher and several schoolfriends and meet the Police Commissioner. That’s when she learned that although the pen might be mightier than the sword, it does nothing to imbue self-confidence in an extremely nervous fourteen-year-old who had to shake the hand of Queensland’s top cop.
“All my pocket money and birthday money went on purchasing books,� Sandy says. “I devoured them. My aunt and uncle used to let me borrow their Saturday Evening Post (American version) and Reader’s Digest. In one Saturday Evening Post I read a story called “The Answer� by Philip Wylie, about a nuclear explosion which kills an angel and the Defence Force’s efforts to prove it was ‘really an alien being�. I was so impressed with the story I decided that one day I would become a story-teller like Philip Wylie.�
Interviewers often ask Sandy to describe her normal writing day. “Normal is when the chaos in my life subsides to frantic rather than frenzied. I once told a friend that I must have a chaos attractor glued on my forehead and she said that creativity hovers on the edge of chaos, to which I replied that I’d long ago fallen off the edge into the middle.�
Her various occupations, from private secretary to assistant to a Bore Licensing Inspector, as well as hitch-hiking around New Zealand and learning to parachute, have given Sandy lots of people and research skills. It’s the paperwork going feral in her office she has trouble with.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 3, 2013
With Samantha’s beloved Dad accused of murder and her mother recovering from both cancer and a stroke, Sam was desperate to keep the Sea Mistress working and the stress from them. Without the income generated from the trawler’s catches the bank would take both it and her parents� home from them and Sam had no intention of allowing that to happen. Her Dad’s leg had been broken in the altercation which had ended with Ewan McKay’s death and evidence was needed to prove his innocence.
When Brisbane policeman Chayse Jarrett was told his next undercover job was to find out if Tug Bretton, Sam’s father, had been involved in McKay’s death and the drug running the police were following, he had no idea that his new skipper would be a female, Sam Bretton. She had finally won the argument with her father, though she still needed a new deck-hand and when Chayse came offering his services, she reluctantly accepted. Bill, the Sea Mistress’s other deckie wasn’t so trusting, and eyed Chayse with suspicion from the start.
As they took to the sea, working the fishing nets and getting to know each other, Chayse felt a distinct attraction to his skipper. But his undercover duties also made him realize there were secrets on board the trawler, secrets he needed to find out if he was ever going to get to the truth. With them alternatively trawling for catch and following the Kladium, the vessel in the midst of the murder and suspected drug running, Chayse learned a lot about trawling, and the hard work which was involved. He also found himself questioning his role in what was happening.
Suddenly the danger was on them; their fear and adrenalin kept them one step ahead, but could they outsmart the criminals who were not at all worried about more bodies? What would the outcome be? With sharks and other creatures in the depths, the ocean was a great dumping ground!
I really enjoyed this book by Aussie author Sandy Curtis. The pace and the action was fast, the tension palpable. I was also interested in her notes at the end stating this book was made up of “some fact, some fiction�. There is history of the Madagascar which came to grief on the Australian coast in 1853, and it was deeply interwoven in this story.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable thriller, one I would highly recommend.
When Brisbane policeman Chayse Jarrett was told his next undercover job was to find out if Tug Bretton, Sam’s father, had been involved in McKay’s death and the drug running the police were following, he had no idea that his new skipper would be a female, Sam Bretton. She had finally won the argument with her father, though she still needed a new deck-hand and when Chayse came offering his services, she reluctantly accepted. Bill, the Sea Mistress’s other deckie wasn’t so trusting, and eyed Chayse with suspicion from the start.
As they took to the sea, working the fishing nets and getting to know each other, Chayse felt a distinct attraction to his skipper. But his undercover duties also made him realize there were secrets on board the trawler, secrets he needed to find out if he was ever going to get to the truth. With them alternatively trawling for catch and following the Kladium, the vessel in the midst of the murder and suspected drug running, Chayse learned a lot about trawling, and the hard work which was involved. He also found himself questioning his role in what was happening.
Suddenly the danger was on them; their fear and adrenalin kept them one step ahead, but could they outsmart the criminals who were not at all worried about more bodies? What would the outcome be? With sharks and other creatures in the depths, the ocean was a great dumping ground!
I really enjoyed this book by Aussie author Sandy Curtis. The pace and the action was fast, the tension palpable. I was also interested in her notes at the end stating this book was made up of “some fact, some fiction�. There is history of the Madagascar which came to grief on the Australian coast in 1853, and it was deeply interwoven in this story.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable thriller, one I would highly recommend.
August 24, 2024
‘So where do I come in? And why?�
Bundaberg, Queensland. Allan Bretton (known as Tug) the owner of the trawler Sea Mistress, has been accused of murder. The murdered man, Ewan McKay, a deckhand on the trawler Kladium, was found with Tug in the Kladium’s freezer room. Tug wouldn’t say why he was in the Kladium’s freezer room, and it appears to be a straightforward case.
But then the police discovered that the Kladium is owned (through a series of companies) by Stefan Kosanovos, a lynch pin in Melbourne’s drug trade.
Tug’s daughter, Samantha (known as Sam) takes over as the skipper of the Sea Mistress. While Tug is reluctant to let Sam take over, the reality is that without the income generated by trawling, he will lose both his home and the trawler.
Chayse Jarrett, a Brisbane policeman, still dealing with the death of a young woman on his last
assignment, is asked to go undercover again, to seek employment as the second deckhand on the Sea Mistress. The police want to know whether Tug is involved in the drug running the Kladium is suspected of being engaged in.
The story that follows is a combination of mystery and romance. Sam and Chayse, attracted to each other, each realise that the other is keeping secrets. The romantic tension builds as does the suspense when the Sea Mistress faces danger on several different fronts.
There are a few mysteries to be solved in this novel, and I enjoyed reading the story as it unfolded. The disappearance of the Madagascar on a voyage from Melbourne to London in 1853 is also woven neatly into the story.
This is the first of Ms Curtis’s novels I have read: I’ll be looking for others.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Bundaberg, Queensland. Allan Bretton (known as Tug) the owner of the trawler Sea Mistress, has been accused of murder. The murdered man, Ewan McKay, a deckhand on the trawler Kladium, was found with Tug in the Kladium’s freezer room. Tug wouldn’t say why he was in the Kladium’s freezer room, and it appears to be a straightforward case.
But then the police discovered that the Kladium is owned (through a series of companies) by Stefan Kosanovos, a lynch pin in Melbourne’s drug trade.
Tug’s daughter, Samantha (known as Sam) takes over as the skipper of the Sea Mistress. While Tug is reluctant to let Sam take over, the reality is that without the income generated by trawling, he will lose both his home and the trawler.
Chayse Jarrett, a Brisbane policeman, still dealing with the death of a young woman on his last
assignment, is asked to go undercover again, to seek employment as the second deckhand on the Sea Mistress. The police want to know whether Tug is involved in the drug running the Kladium is suspected of being engaged in.
The story that follows is a combination of mystery and romance. Sam and Chayse, attracted to each other, each realise that the other is keeping secrets. The romantic tension builds as does the suspense when the Sea Mistress faces danger on several different fronts.
There are a few mysteries to be solved in this novel, and I enjoyed reading the story as it unfolded. The disappearance of the Madagascar on a voyage from Melbourne to London in 1853 is also woven neatly into the story.
This is the first of Ms Curtis’s novels I have read: I’ll be looking for others.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
February 9, 2019
4.5 stars
Deadly Tide by Sandy Curtis has adventure, romance and crime all rolled into one amazing story.
Much of the action takes place on a trawler off Bundaberg’s coast. The author also includes some really interesting info about trawling throughout the narrative which I found quite fascinating despite the fact I don’t like fishing but I do very much enjoy eating fish.
A gripping page-turner that I’m sure any reader will have a hard time putting down.
*Book #2 of my coffee table to-read pile challenge
Deadly Tide by Sandy Curtis has adventure, romance and crime all rolled into one amazing story.
Much of the action takes place on a trawler off Bundaberg’s coast. The author also includes some really interesting info about trawling throughout the narrative which I found quite fascinating despite the fact I don’t like fishing but I do very much enjoy eating fish.
A gripping page-turner that I’m sure any reader will have a hard time putting down.
*Book #2 of my coffee table to-read pile challenge
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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