December 1925, Salem, Massachusetts: Jeepers, creepers, it looks like trouble’s ambushed me again. And at Christmastime, no less.

I’m Lizzie Crane, a New York jazz singer with a band known as The Troubadours. My three musician pals and I have just arrived in Salem, Massachusetts, a three-hundred-year-old town known for its seafaring history, Nathanial Hawthorne, and hanging women suspected of witchcraft. Matthew Gardner, the man who hired us, is the heir to a shipping fortune and he’s paying us big bucks to perform twelve days’ worth of music and theatrical entertainments for his ritzy friends.

It seemed like a swell deal until a cop showed up tonight with a letter he found in the pocket of a dead thief, addressed to Gardner, that said “The lady is not so easily won.” Gardner denies knowing anything about it, but I’ve got to wonder why a thief was carrying a letter to my employer when the fella met his Maker. And who’s the mysterious lady? To complicate matters, police discovered the body near a tavern owned by my cousin––a cousin I didn’t even know I had until last night. I’d hoped to get to know my cousin and maybe lay my hands on some hooch, but that might not be wise if he’s mixed up in the guy’s death. I’ve had enough problems with people dying at my stints lately and I don’t want the cops sniffing around me again.

There’s another fly in the ointment too. In October, when my friends and I performed at a Halloween party in nearby Gloucester, I got to know a handsome, rich man from one of Boston’s most elite families. Even though he’s a blueblood and I’m the daughter of poor Irish immigrants from the Bronx, the sparks flew fast and furiously between us. I’d planned to see him again while I’m in the area. Now I find out Gardner intends to marry his daughter to the man who’s starred in my fantasies these past two months!

As you might expect, all these unexpected snags have thrown me into a Lizzie-tizzy. If I had my way, I’d high-tail it back to the Big Apple in a jiffy. But I can’t let my friends down, and besides the dough’s ducky. Well, I’m an entertainer and it’s my job to make people happy. I’ve got twelve days to turn my luck around––the play’s not over until the curtain falls. So, on with the show.

The Goddess of Shipwrecked Sailors, A Lizzie Crane Mystery Book #3
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release: September 2023
Format: Print, Digital
Amazon  |  Barnes and Noble

December 1925: Salem, Massachusetts

When Matthew Gardner, the heir to a shipping fortune, hires New York jazz singer Lizzie Crane and her band to perform during the Christmas holidays, she has high hopes that this prestigious event will foster their career and bring them riches and recognition. She’s also eager to reconnect with a handsome man from one of Boston’s most esteemed families, whom she met at an earlier visit to Massachusetts.

But the evening the musicians arrive in historic Salem to begin their engagement, police discover the body of a man near a tavern owned by Lizzie’s cousin–a cousin she even didn’t know she had until Christmas Eve. In the dead man’s pocket is a cryptic letter addressed to Gardner. To compound her dismay, she also learns that her host plans to marry his daughter to the man Lizzie wants for herself.

Soon Lizzie’s caught in the middle of a high-stakes feud between her cousin and her employer over a mysterious lady. When she digs deeper into their conflict, she discovers its roots are deep and bitter: her cousin’s father crewed on one of Gardner’s grandfather’s ships that sunk during a storm in 1868. As she struggles to piece together the puzzle and find the lady at its center, Lizzie becomes a pawn in each man’s deadly game for money and revenge.

About the author
Skye Alexander is the author of nearly 50 fiction and nonfiction books. Her stories have appeared in anthologies internationally, and her work has been published in more than a dozen languages. In 2003, she cofounded Level Best Books with fellow authors Kate Flora and Susan Oleksiw. The first novel in her Lizzie Crane mystery series, Never Try to Catch a Falling Knife, was published in 2021; the second, What the Walls Know, was released in November 2022. The third, The Goddess of Shipwrecked Sailors, came out in September 2023. After living in Massachusetts for thirty-one years, Skye now makes her home in Texas with her black Manx cat Zoe.