Hi, I’m Junetta Beale, owner of the Shipshape Bookshop in the small Southeast Alaska town of Ptarmigan Port. I like to think of my little corner of the world as paradise, where the mountains come down to the sea and marine wildlife sightings are a daily occurrence. Just watch out for the bears!
Today started out like any other, if you’re lucky enough to live in paradise. I was sailing home from the villages in my floating bookmobile, enjoying the mountains breathing out the morning mist. We cruised past the shipwreck of the SS Fortunate, which had the misfortune of sinking a hundred years ago in 1915 with a load of gold from the Yukon gold fields. The Tongass Glacier came into view—that massive river of ice that puts our small fishing town on the map. Two totem poles anchoring the business district celebrated the vibrant Tlingit culture in our town. I breathed in a contented breath of cool air, looking forward to a bustling day of greeting cruise ship tourists at my beloved bookshop. Instead, I found chaos there. Someone had trashed my bookshop! Beautiful books, that should have been handled with love and care, were scattered on the floor amid broken glass and toppled bookshelves.
My best friend, Marcy George, who runs the adjoining Last Chance Café, had already called the troopers. She pointed me to my back room, where I found my little brother, Trooper Nels, standing over the dead body of Blake Rivers. The nightmare just got worse! Nels and I could both see the distinctive hilt of one of Uncle Vance’s whittling knives protruding from the dead man’s chest. Could our uncle’s running feud with Blake have led to murder?
It was during the troopers’ questioning that I discovered the final crime. The Pastor’s Confession Map was missing from its place of honor on the wall. This hand-drawn treasure map, half a map, really, dated back to 1915. For generations, kids in Ptarmigan Port had spent their long summer days trying to imagine what the other half looked like and searching for the gold it concealed. Its loss felt like someone had ripped out the heart of our town.
When Nels arrested his own uncle on suspicion of murder, I knew I had to find the real killer to prove my crotchety uncle’s innocence. Marcy liked to call me the Alaska Nancy Drew. I’ll take that. I just wish I didn’t have to interview Kirk Dunbar, the local bartender who knows everything that goes on in town. He and I dated in high school, over ten years ago now. While I have moved on, he still nurtures a fantasy of some happily-ever-after for the two of us. How many times does a man have to propose before he realizes that I am never going to say yes?
If Uncle Vance wasn’t the killer, who could have murdered Blake and stolen the map? Could it have been a family member? Blake’s ex-wife couldn’t stand him—but would she gain anything from his death? Maybe Blake’s nephew had a financial reason for killing his uncle. What about Angus Montgomery, the charming East Coast historian who showed up in town asking questions about the SS Fortunate? Nothing like being an outsider to make one stand out in a small town. Or was it Uncle Vance after all?
In the end, all I know is that my little bit of paradise has been defiled by murder. I need to do whatever it takes to bring peace back to Ptarmigan Port.
Death At The Shipshape Bookshop: A Southeast Alaska Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: February 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
Junetta Beale is living in paradise. As owner of the Shipshape Bookshop in Southeast Alaska, she sells books in town, operates a lending library for the locals, and serves the villages in her floating bookmobile. She loves her peaceful coastal life.
That peace is shattered when she returns from her latest voyage through the Inside Passage. Someone has trashed her bookshop, stolen the town’s historic treasure map from the wall, and left a dead body in her back room. Somehow, a charming newcomer’s tale of his family history is bound up with the present mystery. When the troopers arrest Uncle Vance for the crime, Junetta knows the cantankerous old sourdough is no murderer. She must dig up the truth to prove her uncle’s innocence before a killer takes her out of circulation.
About the author
Greta McKennan is a wife, mother, and author, living her dream in the boreal rainforest of Juneau, Alaska. She enjoys a long walk in the woods on that rare sunny day and reading cozy mysteries when it rains. Her author heroines include Louisa May Alcott, Mary Stewart, and M.M. Kaye, among many, many others. She is the author of the Stitch in Time Mysteries as well as her new series, the Southeast Alaska Mysteries. For more information, visit gretamckennan.com.