Tess Channing inherited her aunt's Salt And Lantern Inn and in the second book of this series, she has settled in to the harbourside community. She hopes. MURDER AT THE HARBOR GLOW is enough to make her think otherwise.
Seabrook Cove has some friendly folks, the fisherfolk a bit rough around the edges and the ladies highly practical. Bev Hartley comes in each morning to help with food, as does Bette Hollis, while Clem Doyle arrives quietly and sits to chat. This week, the talk is all about the upcoming Harbor Glow festival, when the boats parade with lights shining and everyone celebrates another safe year at sea. Unaccountably, the chair of the committee, Marguerite Voss, has made some decisions that annoyed several people.
Tess has the bad luck to encounter the second dead person on the premises in this series. Oh, dearie me. The first had been a land developer who tumbled down the stairs, in Murder At The Salt And Lantern. Now, she finds a familiar face dead in the boatshed attached to the inn. If anyone screamed, nobody heard. The police are considering the death an accident, but Tess isn’t so sure.
I had fun reading the account, but most scenes are set indoors, usually mulling things over with cups of coffee and baked goods on the inn table. I’d like more harbour in my harbour mystery. Poppy Grier is writing for the cosy mystery novella market, where violence occurs off page and communities pull together to find reasons behind a killing. MURDER AT THE HARBOR GLOW features a brave young woman starting out, and a handsome cat called Petals. You don’t need to have read the first book.
Tess Channing has finally stopped feeling like a guest in her own inn. Her kitchen fills every morning with people who don't knock. Seabrook Cove is preparing for the Harbor Glow festival, and for the first time in twenty years, something like belonging feels possible.
Until Petals stops at the boathouse door and won't go in.
The woman inside chaired the festival committee, and half the harbor had reason to resent her. The sheriff calls it an accident. Tess knows better. She'd been meaning to replace the rusted boathouse latch... and someone beat her to it.
Nobody wants a murder during Harbor Glow week. But Tess has always noticed what other people overlook, and she isn't about to stop now, even when the truth leads somewhere she'd rather not go.
No excerpt available.
© 2003-2026