Penny Brooke

This is the first novel in the series and my first introduction to the author's writing. I love to find new bookshop cozy mysteries and especially by series name suggesting a location by the ocean that in itself is irresistible to me.

With a grandmother beginning her retirement with a dream trip to Paris, Rue Collier is lucky to have the opportunity to live in her grandmother's home and become the manager of her grandmother's bookstore. Rue has friends in Somerset Harbor, south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts from the many summers she spent with her grandmother and helping at the bookstore so she believes the transition will be an easy one. At the very least Rue thought it was a better offer than her failing real estate career and living in her condo in Vermont.

The case involves the mysterious behavior of a friend and popular shop owner of a local bakery and a missing cake recipe that may have ties to royalty with the murder occurring within the first hours of Rue's arrival back in town. It's very predictable that Rue becomes the lead amateur sleuth of this series but I enjoyed her interactions with a private investigator that sometimes collaborates on cases as he's retired from the local police force. Still there are so many amateur sleuths that automatically become romantically partnered with the local detective this was a welcome twist.… (meer)