“Martin Short, get your fuzzy butt back here!”
Pulling his leash back, the scruffy dog stops short, letting the squirrel live another day. Covered in squelching mud, he holds his shaggy head high, nose leading the way to downtown Stone’s Throw, our little Lake Michigan beach town.
The end of summer comes with an almost undetectable crispness to the air. I throw on my park ranger hat, tamping down snarled, haphazardly braided hair. I’m late for work. Late enough to skip a decent hairstyle, but not late enough to skip my morning coffee run to Java Jones.
“Morning, Tracy,” I call to my favorite barista. She’s only got a couple of weeks before she leaves for law school. This place won’t be the same without her.
“Hey, hey, Maudy! I’ve got yours already queued up, hang on a sec.” She does her magic behind the counter and hands me a warm-spiced concoction, bitter notes of coffee coming through.
“Thanks.” I breathe it in, feeling more awake already. “I gotta jet, I’m late. See you for dinner tonight?”
It’s Wednesday, and in Stone’s Throw, that means one thing: spaghetti. We have one bar in town. The food is great (I may be a little biased; Eli, the chef, is a friend of mine), and on Wednesdays it’s the only thing on the menu.
“I’ll be there!” she shouts as I walk out the door.
Clear the fallen branch blocking the main trailhead, do backwoods sweep for traces of illegal hunting, work on the grant proposal… My to-do list swims in my head, rushing louder with each step toward my favorite place in the world.
Marty absentmindedly trots forward, our routine down pat, until I hear a low grumble coming out of the dog’s throat.
“Hello, Maude.” Charlotte Roth, my arch nemesis, passes us on the sidewalk. “Look at you, out and about during working hours,” she sneers. “How nice to have such a low-stress job.”
Low stress? Is she serious right now?
Her white sundress gleams in the morning sun as she looks me up and down with pursed lips. Yes, my pants are already covered in mud; yes, my hair is a mess. Give me a break. I work in the woods. The trees don’t care.
“Hello to you, too, Charlotte,” I grumble, trying to push past her.
“Maybe next time you’re in this,” she pauses, “hygiene situation, you could take the alley. We’re still in our tourist season; appearances matter.” She tsks her tongue and walks off, heels click-clacking down the sidewalk.
“Don’t pay her any attention, Marty,” I tell the dog. He keeps glancing over his shoulder, watching the Wicked Witch of Stone’s Throw head toward the art gallery she manages.
“We’ve got more important things to do, bud.” Crossing the Birch River Bridge, we walk into Stone’s Throw State Park. “Time to get to work.”
Tunnel Vision
Series: A Stone’s Throw Mystery, Book 2
Genre: Cozy(ish) Mystery
Release: April 2026
Format: Digital, Print
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org
Autumn in Stone’s Throw, Michigan, is filled to the brim with hot apple cider, chunky pumpkins, and football rivalries. The entire town is gearing up for Homecoming festivities against rival Hemlock Pond, bringing together old friends and new, to the Lake Michigan town.
With the support of her loyal (and cheeky) dog, Martin Short, State Park Ranger Maudy Lorso is determined to keep her head above water. She’s running for local office, tending to a burgeoning relationship, and scrounging to keep the park’s doors open. Already trying to mend a rocky relationship with her best friend Eli, things take a darker turn when his childhood friend, State Senator Paige Ramos, is found dead on his front porch on Halloween night. As secrets surface and old bonds fray, Maudy’s not sure who she can trust.
Stone’s Throw may seem like a postcard-perfect coastal town, but someone is hiding a much larger plan, and they’ll do whatever it takes to keep it buried.
Meet the author
Author Eloise Corvo finds inspiration and peace of mind while skulking around her home library which her husband affectionately (?) says embodies an “Edgar Allan Poe meets Applebee’s” aesthetic. Eloise has short fiction published in literary magazines like The Corner Bar, and her debut novel, Off the Beaten Path, released in March 2025 through Level Best Books. She loves mint chocolate chip ice cream, appreciates a good puzzle, and thinks clowns are creepy. To learn more, visit EloiseCorvo.com.