Scone Cold Dead, by Karen MacInerney (Gray Whale Press, 2019)

An island seacoast inn in Maine complete with food, cats, and a punny title is definitely worth a second look.

Tensions on Cranberry Island run high when rumours of illegal lobster fishing bring an official observer to ride on a volatile fisher’s boat. It gets a little tense at the Gray Whale Inn, too, when guests discover unwanted past connections.

Then a person is found murdered, and innkeeper Natalie Barns finds her suspicions divided between the locals and the strangers sleeping under her roof.

The mystery is good and it kept me guessing. The locals and the inn guests provided plenty of suspects and misdirection. A few continuity issues escaped the final edits and jumped out at me. They didn’t affect the mystery, but they interrupted the story flow.

There are at least 12 books in the in the Gray Whale Inn Mystery series. Scone Cold Dead is #9. The characters’ relationships have clearly developed throughout the series, but beginning with this book wasn’t hard (except keeping straight who’s who among Catherine, Charlene, and Claudette in the regular cast—newcomer Chelsea was easy to keep track of).

As a bonus, the book includes delicious-looking recipes for scones and other items we’ve seen Natalie prepare in the book. The recipes are also available on the author’s website.

For those who like to start a series at the beginning, book 1 is Murder on the Rocks. USA Today bestselling author Karen MacInerney has other cozy series as well. Find them all on her website: karenmacinerney.com/all-books.

[Review copy from the public library.]

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