Secret Tide

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Summary: Secret Tide
Review: What would you do if you found plastic bags filled with money on a deserted beach? English journalist Douglas Arnold's first novel "Secret Tide" puts Geoffrey Wilson to the test with that very question.

Susan Birch watched the nervous man transfer the plastic bags from the beach to the side of the Dumpster outside the restaurant below her apartment. He went to the phone, hesitated, then loaded the bags in his car and drove off. Susan hesitated herself before calling the police, reporting the man's strange behavior and giving them the license number of the car.

When unemployed Geoffrey Wilson finds bags filled with money in a tide pool at Devils Point while walking the family dog, he intends to do the right thing and notify the police. But, by the time he has lugged them all up the hill, he decides to just take them home. He and his wife Elizabeth have just finished counting the money and storing over four million in currency, wishes, and dreams in the attic when the police knock on their door.

Geoffrey muddles his way through the interview with the police and then promptly calls an attorney. When the attorney advises him of the Treasure Trove Law, they turn the money over to the police.

If no one claims it, the money will be theirs, with interest, in ninety days. If the money is claimed, Geoffrey and his family will receive a tidy finders fee. All their troubles will be over, if...the vicious drug dealer who has lost it doesn't find Geoffrey and his family first.

Author Douglas Arnold weaves and blends an exciting adventure of temptation, what ifs, mishaps, and intrigue in his first novel "Secret Tide." His literary mastery of language has the story of the misadventures that put the money on the beach drifting smoothly into the imagination and blending nicely with Geoffrey's find, and the police investigation. A well told, credible adventure, "Secret Tide" is a delightful read.