Much Ado about Nauticaling by Gabby Allan
Series Name: Whit and Whiskers Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: July 27, 2021
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Whitney Dagner is your tour guide to a Pacific paradise that’s to die for–only to find it’s a place people are also willing to kill for–in Gabby Allan’s Much Ado About Nauticaling, first in the Whit and Whiskers Mystery series.

After far too many years in the Los Angeles corporate world, Whitney Dagner has come home to Santa Catalina Island off the California coast to help her brother Nick run Nautically Yours, the family tourism business. Between gift shop shifts selling all manner of T-shirts and tchotchkes and keeping her feline Whiskers in fine fettle, she pilots the Sea Bounder, a glass bottom boat showing tourists the underwater sights of aquatic plants, marine life–and a murder victim?

The self-proclaimed “Master of the Island,” Jules Tisdale was a wealthy man with business interests throughout Catalina who was about to be honored as Person of the Year before someone strangled him with his own tie and tossed his body into the water. That someone appears to be Nick, who had a raw deal from Jules and no alibi the night of his murder. To clear her brother’s name, Whit will have to investigate Jules’ shady associates and not exactly grief-stricken family members–with the unwelcome help of Felix Ramirez, police diver and Whit’s ex-boyfriend who’s looking to rekindle their relationship.

Dru’s Short Musing:
This fast-paced and action-packed whodunit was a fun book to read. When her brother becomes the prime suspect in a murder, Whit along with help from an unexpected source, looks for clues to clear her brother and find a person with a stronger motive to want the victim dead.

The author did a great job in presenting this mystery with visually descriptive narrative. The dialogue was engaging, the characters were a mixed bag of quirkiness, and the setting made the story pop as the heroine did all that she was able to do. The suspect pool was plentiful, but I liked how the gathering of the clues narrowed the field down to where only one person was left standing. A few of the characters had pivotal roles that enhanced the telling of this tale in addition to a few red herrings that were smothered into the plot. Overall, this was a very enjoyable and I look forward to more jaunts with Whit and her friends in this entertaining debut series.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.