Early one gray November morning, retired Lighthouse Cove, NY police chief, Edmund DeCleryk, finds Emily Bradford's body on the beach at the base of the bluff where the local museum and historical society stands. At the same time, a break-in has been reported at the museum, and Emily's coat and purse are found hanging on a peg in the museum's gift shop where she worked. Was her death the result of a burglary gone bad or something more sinister?
When the police chief is called out of town for a family emergency, he hires Ed, now working as a criminal consultant, to assist deputy police chief, Carrie Ramos, with the murder investigation. After several leads don't pan out, the chief, now back in Lighthouse Cove, decides to close the case. Confident that with more time the murder can be solved, Ed is determined to continue investigating on his own, with encouragement from his wife, Annie, the museum's executive director.
One morning while in the basement of the museum, the couple discovers a copy of a map dated 1785, and Ed's instinct's tell him it may be connected to Emily's death. On a hunch, he and Annie travel to Toronto, Canada, where he learns of the original map and a manuscript written in 1847 that were unearthed during an archaeological dig. The manuscript contains information about a ship that capsized during a fierce storm on Lake Ontario - in 1785. Now Ed has clues as to why the murder occurred, but he still doesn't know who committed the crime. Or does he?
Edmund DeCleryk cannot seem to retire! He has given up his position as the Chief of the local Police but he is still teaching classes in criminology and doing Criminal Consultancy work. All of this comes together when he takes a day to himself to do some metal detecting down below the lighthouse, which gives Lighthouse Cove its name and is now a museum where his wife works, instead of finding lost jewelry or some such he stumbles over a dead body, at the same time one of the volunteers at the museum has called in the police as the museum has been broken into.
With the new Chief of Police called away due to a family emergency Ed, along with the Deputy Chief Carrie need to find out what happened, is it a burglary that has gone wrong or was Emily murdered and the burglary was a cover up, with the stress of Annie deCleryk being involved (purely because she was Emily's boss) and the current Chief deciding to close it down as a burglary gone wrong, has Ed got the right idea to keep digging?
A gentle start to what I feel could be an excellent series, my only minor complaint is that information is held back from the readers so we don't have a chance to solve the crime before Ed does! Overall though a great Cozy and I hope to read more about the deCleryk couple and their friends in Lighthouse Cove.
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
October 10 – A Wytch's Book Review Blog – REVIEW
October 10 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 11 – Devilishly Delicious Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 12 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, RECIPE
October 13 – A Holland Reads – SPOTLIGHT
October 14 – Babs Book Bistro – SPOTLIGHT
October 15 – Jane Reads – CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 16 – Here's How It Happened – SPOTLIGHT
October 17 – Varietats – REVIEW
October 18 – Socrates' Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 19 – A Blue Million Books – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 19 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE
Comments