The sun streaked through the slats in the old venetian blinds, casting a golden, almost hazy, film across the bed. Outside, a magpie carolled to welcome the day, its mate joining in the chorus. Life didn’t get much better than this. I imagined Grieg’s “Morning” was playing as I sat up and languidly stretched my arms above my head, before sliding out of bed and dressing quickly.
Pulling a terry-towelling hoodie over my swimmers, I shoved a towel and my goggles into my crocheted tote and headed across the road to the beach. Even though it was early May and technically autumn, the weather-gods in Whale Bay, south-east Queensland, hadn’t got that memo, and today promised to be another of those days that advertising executives waxed lyrical about perfection yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Swim done, I slipped the hoodie over my wet swimmers and, still towel-drying my hair, walked up the sand and across to Beach Brewz. Manned by Finn Marello, Beach Brewz was the best purveyor of caffeine in town. (If you’re ever in Whale Bay, don’t be tempted to get your coffee from Bron’s Bakery. She might bake swoon-worthy sausage rolls, but her coffee is foul. You’ve been warned.)
After patting Finn’s Labradors, I leant across the counter and gave Finn a lingering kiss.
‘You taste all salty,’ he mock-grumbled.
‘I missed you last night,’ I replied.
That’s the other thing that was making life here in Whale Bay almost perfect. In addition to the ocean swims and reconnecting with old friends, I was also dating a wonderful man. I wish Rose were here to see it. I swallowed hard as the sadness that was never far away bubbled up.
Today marked five weeks since I’d learnt of the death of my aunt Rose. I’d inherited her Whale Bay beach cottage as well as New Moon, the new age shop she’d owned in town. But on that morning, as I’d dressed in my usual corporate suit and caught the tram into the Collins Street offices of the Melbourne law firm where I was a junior partner, I hadn’t known my life was about to change. All I’d been focused on that day was finalising Marta Cametti’s divorce.
When I left Whale Bay over two decades ago, I’d vowed never to return, so now I intended to sell Rose’s cottage and get on with life in Melbourne. A week, maybe two. Max. Instead, with the help of Finn, and old friend Maggie King, I’d solved the mystery of Rose’s death and, in the process, discovered that Rose had, in fact, been my birth mother.
Long story short, I’d decided to stay. Instead of facilitating the decoupling of Melbourne’s rich and famous, my days began with a swim before helping in New Moon. I’d even refreshed the astrology and tarot skills Rose had taught me when I was young. Although Nina, New Moon’s manager, was encouraging me to take on the occasional client reading, I wasn’t quite ready for that.
I had, however, agreed to become a partner in Maggie’s law firm; currently, you had to go to Brisbane if you wanted a decent divorce. It was ironic that Marta Cametti would be my first client in my new gig – she’d reconciled with her husband and now needed a post-nuptial agreement drawn up. You can’t help some people.
‘What are you thinking?’ asked Finn as he handed me my coffee.
I closed my eyes briefly as the life-giving fluid coursed through my veins. ‘How close to perfect this is,’ I said.
On the horizon, storm clouds began to gather.
Murder In The Mangroves – A Clementine Carter Mystery, Book 2
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: August 2025
Format: Digital
Purchase Link
It’s the perfect coastal town to start over.
And the perfect place to commit murder…
Former divorce lawyer Clementine Carter’s life in Whale Bay is close to perfect. She’d never admit it, of course, because that would invite disaster and she’s got big plans for her new-age store as well as her romance with local barista Finn Marello.
Disaster still finds her anyway, in the form of Finn’s not-quite-ex-wife, who comes to town to conduct an environmental assessment. Only something smells off about the whole process to Clem and her friends—and it turns out to be the dead body Clem discovers floating in the mangroves.
With Finn under suspicion for his wife’s death and Clem needing answers, she sets out to investigate the proposed development of the protected mangroves area.
But Clem has secrets of her own, and when the reason she left Whale Bay twenty-five years ago arrives in town in the middle of a murder investigation, Clem might need an alibi or two of her own.
Can Clem solve the mystery before the killer—or her past—catches up with her?
Meet the author
Sunshine-Coast-based Joanne Tracey is the author of sixteen contemporary romance and cosy crime novels. When not writing, Jo loves baking, reading, long walks along the beach, posting way too many photos of sunrises on Instagram and dreaming of the next destination and the next story. Jo’s life goals (apart from being a world-famous author) are to be an extra on Midsomer Murders (perhaps a dog walker in Badger’s Drift) and to cook her way through Nigella’s books – yes, all of them. You can subscribe to Jo’s regular newsletter at Storycrumbs on Substack, keep up with her travels at and anyways, and check out today’s sunrise (or baking adventure) on Instagram @jotracey.