A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh welcomes you to a remote town on the edge of the world where even the blinding brightness of the sun can’t mask the darkness that lies deep within a killer…

On the rugged West Coast of New Zealand, Golden Cove is more than just a town where people live. The adults are more than neighbors; the children, more than schoolmates.
 
That is until one fateful summer—and several vanished bodies—shatters the trust holding Golden Cove together. All that’s left are whispers behind closed doors, broken friendships, and a silent agreement not to look back. But they can’t run from the past forever.
 
Eight years later, a beautiful young woman disappears without a trace, and the residents of Golden Cove wonder if their home shelters something far more dangerous than an unforgiving landscape.
 
It’s not long before the dark past collides with the haunting present and deadly secrets come to light.
(From the book blurb)

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My thoughts:
This is my first book by this incredibly talented writer, so I had very few, if any, expectations. I was swept away by the beauty of descriptions of the West Coast of New Zealand:

....She stood on a jagged cliff looking out over the crashing sea below as fog wove through the treetops, a light misty rain falling and dissipating before it ever got to her...

Anahera Rawiri returns to her home town of Gloden Cove after eight years of absence, a successful career as a classical pianist and the death of her handsome, elegant and cheating husband. Anahera is a fascinating character and you gradually discover how her strength/ hardness are the result of tragic experiences in her childhood and adolescence. You also discover that she is fiercely loyal and kind.
Will is a decorated police officer who got sent away from Christchurch and is now serving as the one and only policeman in Golden Cove. He takes his job seriously and is liked by the locals, although he will never be able to change his status of an outsider.

When nineteen year old local girl Miriama goes on a run and vanishes into thin air, he leads first the search party and then investigation and finally solves the mystery, not only of Miriama's death, but also the cold case of hikers who disappeared several years ago in a similar way.
Will needs Anahera's help to discover what happened to the beautiful Miri, who was admired and courted by many local men as well as tourists passing through the town. There are plenty of suspects, as well as plenty of secrets that run 'like a thick tide of lava beneath the surface'. The poem in the prologue foreshadows the story:
 
...Sunshine.
That's what she was.
Sunshine.
Bright. A thing of life. A thing that could burn.
And this heart, it beat only for her.
It could murder for her.
For love. For Sunshine.

There is a touch of romance, but mostly Madness of Sunshine is a thriller which focuses on the tragic loss of human life. Whether you are a fan of Nalini Singh or you are new to this author, and are just looking for a mystery set in New Zealand, this unique story has a lot to offer.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Berkley for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.