Family ties and sibling rivalry: two sisters who couldn’t be more different must join forces when their mother dies and leaves some shocking news for them. In “Road Trip,” Mary Kay Andrews introduces us to Maeve and Therese Dunigan, whose mother passed away after four months of hospice.

We learn that it’s perfectly in character for sister Maeve to drop everything and care for their mother, and it’s also not a surprise that sister Therese doesn’t show up at all. Until the funeral. And she’s late. To say that there is a frigid atmosphere between the sisters is complete understatement, and it’s Savannah, Georgia, where there is practically never any ice. Maeve feels that Therese is selfish and irresponsible, and Therese feels that Maeve is judgey and way too uptight. They are both correct.

But they share the hope that the proceeds from their mother’s estate will help them financially. Therese has nothing; her acting “career” never took off. Maeve finds out that she’s been let go from her job as a college professor of creative writing. They really need the money that the sale of their mother’s house, with its paid-off mortgage, will bring them. So it’s a complete shock when their uncle Keith shows up with the bad news that the house is fully mortgaged.

What they find out is that their mother spent all her retirement money and mortgaged her house to send it to a shyster preacher who sent her cheap ceramic praying hands in return. She has boxes full of them. The only thing left of value, maybe, is a portrait of Lady Geraldine Rossington. Their mother told them it is a painting of one of their ancestors, and that it is very valuable. But their mother loved to spin tall tales, so they don’t really put much stock in that.

But when Therese happens to see a newspaper article about an identical portrait selling for over a million dollars, she takes note. The only other thing their mother left them was a coffee can filled with small bills, which she collected over the years so that the sisters could travel to Ireland to look up their family history.

What they find is that there are lots of family secrets. In Tarrymore, where the family is from, Therese meets Esme Rossington, who lives in the gardener’s cottage now that the huge Rossington estate has been donated to the National Trust. She dresses in disheveled clothing and drinks and smokes incessantly. There are very few people she likes, but Therese pushes her way in and gets Esme to reveal a lot about the mystery of the paintings.

Because why there are two paintings of Lady Geraldine is a true mystery. The one that sold for over a million dollars and the one in the sisters’ possession. Is one a fake? Were there actually two paintings? And to make the mystery even more mysterious, the painting was stolen during a robbery by the IRA in the 1970s, and while all the other paintings were recovered, the portrait was not. Where was it all this time? And why was it sold now?

Andrews writes novels about family and friendships. There’s also some romance. And this novel has that trilogy in delightful shares. Maeve meets Liam, who works in the Tarrymore distillary, and the electricity is immediate. But Maeve will only be in Ireland for less than a week, so is that relationship doomed?

There’s a dog named Sinead who becomes an important part of the story. There are lambs frolicking in the Irish hills. There is beautiful weather (most of the time) and abundant fragrant gardens. There’s also a bit of danger and lots of mystery. All in all, that combination results in a perfectly lovely novel that is the epitome of the summer read.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.