There are a few things I answer to these days: Mimi Goldman (my name), “Chautauqua’s Miss Marple” (my flattering nickname) and “Grandma” (my grandma name).
One Grandma Day, a recent Wednesday, required extra grit. I promised my son I’d take Charlie, my 6-year-old grandson, to day camp. Charlie, friendless, didn’t want to go. I had to insist.
“It’s kids’ jobs to go to school and camp,” I said. “Grownups go to work. Me? At The Daily and solving crimes.”
Reluctantly, Charlie hoisted on his backpack. I grabbed his hand. Heading to the lake, we passed gingerbready cottages, churchgoers, bird watchers, joggers, dog walkers — a charmingly intoxicating mix I blame for most Chautauquans’ see-no-evil approach to crime. A recent murder (by poison) is just the latest they dismissed as an accident.
By the lake, other kids rode past us on bikes, heading to camp, too.
“Aren’t you getting too old to solve crimes?” Charlie asked.
I chuckled. “You’re not the first to ask. But, no, I’m not.”
Overhead, gulls screeched. Or laughed?
At Club, I kissed Charlie good-bye. I headed to work. Yeah, I wanted to tell the gulls, I can’t outrun, but I can still outsmart, the bad guys.
Retracing my steps — past a sun-drenched yoga class at Heinz Beach, more dog walkers, joggers and sailboats on the lake — I hoped I was right.
TOSSING SEAS
Series: A Chautauqua Mystery, Book 12
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: June 2026
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
Tossing Seas is the twelfth book in Deb Pines’ traditional whodunit Chautauqua Mysteries featuring the wise and witty reporter sleuth of a certain age Mimi Goldman.
When Simon Howell, a lonely widower, takes up with Jeanine Davis — a younger woman who claims she knew him from childhood Chautauqua summers — Simon’s family is dubious.
They enlist Mimi Goldman, “Chautauqua’s Miss Marple,” to prove Jeanine’s a gold-digging fraud. But when Simon turns up dead after his 65th birthday bash on a local steamboat, Mimi has a new mission: finding his killer among Chautauqua’s high-minded talks and charming cottages.
Jeanine, of course, is everyone’s top suspect. But Mimi’s list also includes: Simon’s daughter, a big-spending actor; his brother, a jealous professor; and a neighbor who teaches a class about mushrooms.
When another body appears, Mimi’s husband begs her and Sylvia Pritchard, her 90-year-old sidekick, to retire. Try mah-jongg, he says. Try bridge. Mimi, too stubborn to quit, hopes she and Sylvia really do have enough left to outwit a ruthless killer.
Fans of Agatha Christie, Louise Penny, Elly Griffiths, Richard Osman and “Only Murders in the Building” will enjoy the latest twist-filled mystery in this popular series.
About the author
Deb Pines, an award-winning New York Post headline writer, is the author of 11 other Mimi Goldman Chautauqua mysteries all set in the Chautauqua Institution in southwestern New York where they are top sellers. A former reporter, Deb is also a lover of puns, show tunes, Wordle and her four grandkids. She lives in New York City with her husband Dave.