Return to Breakneck Island

A Treasure Hunters Club Mystery

About The Book

Long-buried secrets resurface in this alluring mystery from the bestselling and award-winning author of The Treasure Hunters Club that welcomes readers back to Maple Bay—a seaside town “that has all the cozy charm of Jessica Fletcher’s Cabot Cove, with almost as many murders” (Library Journal, starred review)

Breakneck Island: nestled precariously off the coast of Maple Bay, the lighthouse atop this rocky outcrop is all that stands between safe passage and nautical disaster.

For generations, the MacLeary family lived on Breakneck Island in an isolated and physically-demanding existence. One night in 1932, after a ruthless storm battered all of Maple Bay, the MacLearys disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only whispers of a missing fortune.

Nearly a century later, three people are drawn to Breakneck Island and its perplexing past: Peter Barnett, a recent Maple Bay transplant who’s piecing his life back together and possibly catching feelings for a charming professor; Dandy Feltzen, a wistful teenage girl searching for new beginnings while juggling the arrival of an unexpected visitor; and Cass Jones, a successful author given a cryptic tip for a haunting new story.

As Peter, Dandy, and Cass are drawn into the orbit of one of Maple Bay’s darkest mysteries, dangers past and present collide on the rocky shores of Breakneck Island, and the real story of the MacLearys finally comes into focus. But if the island is to reveal its oldest secrets, it may demand fresh bodies in return.

About The Author

Photograph by Nicola Davison

Tom Ryan is the author of two adult mysteries, the internationally bestselling The Treasure Hunters Club, which was a 2025 Edgar nominee for the Lilian Jackson Braun Award, and We Had a Hunch, which Publishers Weekly called “criminally good fun”. He is also the author of the YA mystery Keep This to Yourself, winner of the 2020 ITW Thriller Award for Best Young Adult Novel, the 2020 Arthur Ellis Award for Best YA Crime Book, and the 2021 Ann Connor Brimer Award. His YA follow-up, I Hope You’re Listening, was the winner of the 2021 Lambda “Lammy” Award for Best LGBTQ Mystery. Tom, his husband, and their dog live in Nova Scotia.

About The Readers

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (October 6, 2026)
  • Length: 320 pages
  • Runtime: 8 hours and 30 minutes
  • ISBN13: 9781668175149

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