Title: Death on the Dunes
Author: Claire Harlow
Date: 2023
Publisher: Claire Harlow
Quote: "Seaglass Shores is a small town in Northwest Oregon, slightly north of Portland..."
It's a nice little place but it appears to be in for a crime wave. Emma, a shy, sensitive shopkeeper, doesn't know whether to faint or be sick when her dog digs up a recently killed body during the beach clean-up event. When one of the town's few, under-trained and no doubt underpaid, policeman makes it obvious that he suspects Emma of having killed the man, Emma feels obliged to question everyone else who knew and disliked him, all by herself. The man will never be missed, but is any of the neighbors who disliked him capable of murder?
Emma's methods are even more amateurish than Officer Wilson. A guileless, sheltered Nice Girl who wishes she could be a dog, she simply makes a list of people who knew the victim and asks them where they were at the time of the murder. Luckily for her, most of the townsfolk really are nice enough that all this gets her is a high probability of being referred to as "our own Nancy Drew" for the rest of her life.
With a big boost of beginner's luck, Emma beats Wilson to the identity of the murderer. The mystery is not much of a challenge, but Emma wouldn't have a chance if it were.
Claire Harlow has a series of cozy detective stories in mind. It'll be interesting to watch Emma gain confidence and sophistication in harder-to-solve mysteries. All good fictional detectives have a friend on the police force; perhaps Wilson will mature, too, enough to be Emma's.
No comments:
Post a Comment