About Murder by the Seashore
Murder by the Seashore (A California Bookshop Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – California
Crooked Lane Books (October 17, 2023)
Hardcover : 256 pages
ISBN-10 : 1639104933
ISBN-13 : 978-1639104932
Digital ASIN : B0BSKSHZF5
Perfect for fans of Jenn McKinlay and Ellery Adams, Scarlett Gardner’s dream was to open a bookshop in Southern California, but it soon becomes a nightmare when she finds the dead body of a customer—and becomes the prime suspect.
Southern California is where dreams come true—or so Scarlett Gardner thought. When she moved there and opened the Palm Trees and Page Turners bookshop, she thought her boyfriend and business partner would be part of the story. When he leaves her for a better job, Scarlett finds herself struggling to keep her new business afloat. That’s not the only thing she has to worry about—she discovers something underneath the pier by her bookshop that she didn’t outline for her life’s story: the dead body of a book-buying customer.
After Scarlett gives a statement to the police, she thinks her life can go back to business as usual. But when a lawyer, representing someone named Lorelai Knight, tells Scarlett that she now stands to inherit a small fortune, she’s left with more questions than answers. Before she can make sense of any of it, the police bring her in for questioning; the body she found was Lorelai Knight. And the evidence they have against Scarlett doesn’t look good. Business is booming as Scarlett returns to Palm Trees and Page Turners, but for all the wrong reasons – curious tourists don’t want books, they want a glimpse of the Bookshop Killer.
Who could really be behind all of this? And why frame Scarlett? To clear her name, she’s going to have get creative—and hope she can remain one page ahead of the killer.
The motel was a few miles up the coast in an area with beachy-themed fast-food restaurants and an actual surf shop right beside the Surf Side Inn. When we first met, Connor had totally been the type to spend his vacation or free time surfing. Now he seemed so business focused. I was surprised he’d chosen the Surf Side Inn to stay at and not a more upscale hotel closer to downtown. The cracked pink stucco and mint-green railings around the building definitely gave the place a dated look—a far cry from the elegance of the Five Palms Resort. Maybe he really was desperate for cash.
“Which room number is he in again?” I pulled into the parking lot and parked behind a large red pickup truck, hoping it would hide us from view in case Connor was still around.
Evelyn pulled the piece of notebook paper I’d found yesterday out of her purse. “Two-eleven.”
Twilight was setting in, and I squinted at the room numbers on the second floor, trying to find which direction 211 might be.
“There.” I pointed to the last room on the left, the one beside a vending machine. “The lights are off, so I doubt he’s in.”
Evelyn unbuckled her seat belt. “All right. Let’s go.”
My pulse picked up as we headed toward the small check-in lobby. Hopefully, this would go well.
Inside, I rang the silver call bell, and a moment later a young woman stepped out from the back and nodded at us in acknowledgment.
“Are you here to check in?” she asked.
I shook my head, wishing Evelyn and I had come up with some sort of cover story that afternoon during work, but there hadn’t been time with the busy crowd. “I’m here to see my friend, Connor Walker. He’s staying in room two-eleven, but he doesn’t seem to be answering his cell phone. Do you mind calling his room?”
“Sure.”
I tried to keep my cool as I waited for the front-desk clerk to call Connor’s room. The gentle nudge from Evelyn to stop my foot tapping told me I wasn’t being successful. Maybe I wasn’t as good of an actor as I liked to think I was, but I was getting more and more nervous the longer we were here. What if Connor walked in right now? I quietly let out a breath and looked up to meet the clerk’s hazel eyes as she hung up the phone.
“Sorry, there was no answer in Mr. Walker’s room.”
“Do you happen to know where he went?”
“No, I have no idea.” The clerk sounded a little annoyed now. Obviously, it wasn’t her job to know exactly where all the guests were at every moment. I needed to switch tactics.
“Connor has something of mine, something important. Would you be able to let us into his room for a moment so I can quickly get it?” I opened my eyes as wide as possible, going for an innocent expression. “We’ll be fast. I promise.”
The front-desk clerk gave me a You’ve got to be kidding me look. “No, miss. That’s against our policy. Only the occupant with a form of ID is allowed in their room.”
“Yes, we understand. Sorry about that.” Evelyn flashed me a warning smile.
I knew what she meant. Abort! Abort!
The clerk made an annoyed hum sound and then asked, “Would you like to leave a message for Mr. Walker?”
“Oh, no,” I said, way too loudly. “I mean, I’ll send another text. Thank you.”
Before the clerk became any more suspicious of us than she already was, I hurried out of the lobby with Evelyn quick on my heels.
“Well, that was a disaster,” Evelyn said.
“Argh!” I slapped a palm to my forehead. “I totally froze up in there and had no idea what to ask.”
Evelyn chuckled. “I could tell.”
“There’s no way we can try to sneak into his room now without raising any more alarms. She’s already onto us.”
“We could look around the outside of his room. Maybe he dropped something outside the door.”
“It couldn’t hurt, I guess. As long as we’re quick.”
I followed Evelyn up the stairs to the second floor. It was completely dark by now, and I felt very stealthy sneaking around in the shadows. Very Mission: Impossible, as Lucia would say. We walked the route we figured Connor would have taken from his room to the stairs, but there was nothing on the ground.
“The curtains are open slightly.” I peered in through the window but didn’t see much in the dark room. An outline of the unmade bed and the glow from the alarm clock was about it.
“Well, I’m still sure he’s the killer. Even without any proof,” Evelyn said. “But don’t worry. We’ll keep looking.”
I opened my mouth to agree but quickly closed it when I heard a voice from the parking lot, followed by two car door slams.
“Thanks for helping me with this, Jake. That money is rightfully mine. I deserve it.”
“That’s Connor.” I chanced a quick look over the railing and saw Connor and his buddy Jake chatting in the parking lot directly below. Their conversation floated up to us.
“No problem. I’ll do whatever I can,” Jake said.
“I need that money, and I’ll fight to get it.” Connor let out a breath like he was stressed out. “Anyway, thanks again for picking up the tab. I’ll need to remember my wallet next time.”
Footsteps started heading toward the stairs we’d walked up.
“We gotta get out of here!”
“Hurry. Let’s take the elevator down instead.” Evelyn led the way toward the elevator, which was four rooms down from Connor’s.
We both slammed the button at the same time.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry,” I pleaded with the elevator. There was a creaky rumble, and the doors opened. We stumbled into our shelter.
“Do you think he saw us?” Evelyn asked as we slowly descended to the first floor in the old elevator.
“I sure hope not.”
When the doors opened, I half expected Connor to be waiting outside with his arms crossed like he’d caught us, but there was no one. Thankfully, the pickup truck hadn’t moved, so we were able to slip into my car and drive away without being noticed.
All we’d learned was how desperate Connor was to get a hold of my money.
About Samara Yew
Samara Yew is a cozy mystery author who writes about adorable bookshops and dead bodies. A full-time mom, full-time dog servant, and part-time writer, Samara lives in British Columbia, Canada, where she can often be found watching Psych reruns. Samara loves to travel, especially visiting her husband’s home country of Singapore or donning Mickey ears in Disneyland. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers.
Author Links
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GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/24259604.Samara_Yew
Purchase Links – Amazon – PenguinRandomHouse – B&N – Chapters Indigo
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