When I needed to hide from my ex, The Balefire Bay Book and Tea Shop’s bookclub became my new family and kept me alive. Xander, a world-famous author, gave me a job in his personal library, which looks like it belongs in Downton Abbey, and a cabin to stay in on his property. He trusts me to do what I love: research, work with his antiquarian collection, and babysit his mother’s dog, Judy. After my messy divorce, I’m falling in love again, with Xander, and it terrifies me.
During bookclub meetings, I leave Judy with Anderson, Xander’s friend and father figure.
When I arrive at Xander’s house, Anderson is oiling the butcher block counter vigorously.
“Careful. If you keep polishing like that, you might spark a fire. Are you okay?” I ask.
“Okay? Okay? No! Xander’s picking up his mother. Rhoda is coming to town.”
“Personally, I can’t wait to meet her.”
“You can’t wait to meet her? Trust me. Yes. Yes, you can. You should be afraid, very afraid. In fact, if you move fast, you can quit your job and make it out of town before she arrives.”
***
The Book and Tea Shop’s screen door slams behind me, and I smile at the bookclub members. We meet daily over breakfast. Sometimes we talk about books, but usually we talk murder.
“Where’s Xander?” Conner, a local police officer, asks.
I drop into the soft wingback chair by the fireplace. “He’s picking up his mother.”
“Rhoda?” the local police chief says. His brows rise to amazing heights, and he starts belly-laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I ask.
“Rhoda…” is all he gets out.
I look around the group and see Aggie paused with her teacup halfway to her open mouth below her wide eyes.
Jessica stops knitting. “We mustn’t be rude, Chief. Rhoda is…” She tips her head, thinking.
“Notorious! Hilarious! Always good for a meme,” Jenny says.
“How bad can she be?” I ask.
“Shouldn’t we be talking about the body that washed up on the beach?” Conner asks.
I say, “I heard they were murdered.”
“Listen, Miss Marple, so far this is just a suspicious death,” the Chief says.
He’s always sure nothing ever happens in Balefire Bay. So, the group does what we do best. We try to convince the chief it’s a murder, laugh, and sleuth over breakfast.
The screen door opens again, and Xander holds it for his mother before they join us.
“Mom, this is Ivy,” Xander says.
Rhoda looks at me, eyes drawn together. “Xander tells me you’ve taken a liking to my Judy. Well, she is my dog and Mama’s home now. You’re his new assistant, right?”
My mouth falls as open as my eyes. I am speechless.
She plops down in the circle and smiles demurely at the chief. Then her head snaps around and her eyes fix on me. “Coffee girl, get me a caramel macchiato and a cinnamon roll.”
MURDER BY THE BOOK
Series Name: A Balefire Bay Mystery, Book 2
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: November 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Welcome to Balefire Bay, Oregon. Here the cinnamon rolls are hot, the book club is loyal, and murder is just a plot twist away.
Ivy Kelly has finally found peace in the coastal town she now calls home. Not only does she have a book club that feels like family, she’s entered an exciting new romance with her handsome boss.
But then someone drops dead at the Book and Tea Shop.
Ivy’s gut insists it’s murder. She even thinks the real target might be her boyfriend’s prickly mother. Everyone else thinks past trauma is clouding her judgment… Until a celebratory boat ride turns deadly.
With a killer on the loose and danger hitting way too close to home, Ivy recruits her book club back into sleuthing mode. But solving the mystery means confronting feelings she’d rather keep buried and facing a past that never really let her go…
This cozy mystery is perfect for fans of small town whodunits, quirky book clubs, and scrappy amateur sleuths with heart!
Meet the author
Shannon Symonds writes in an old house by the sea and in the Utah Desert. She is the proud mother of six children and Nana to 15. She loves her Savior, time with her family, laughter, a good mystery, walking the beach, clamming, and bonfires.
Shannon is an Indie Author and traditionally published by Cedar Fort. Shannon’s professional training began at age eight, when she found an Agatha Christie novel and read it on a rainy day at the family beach house. Shannon has worked for over 15 years as a certified advocate serving survivors of violence alongside law enforcement, and on other causes that she is ridiculously passionate about. In 2018 Shannon was nominated for the Storymaker’s Witney Award, she was awarded the Author Ready Author to Watch Award for her By the Sea Cozy Mystery YA series, and in 2023 her book was a finalist for the Indie Cozy Mystery of the Year award.
Her books and audiobooks have been available on Amazon and in Indie Bookstores, Beach Books, Costco, Deseret Book, Barnes & Noble, Target, and other retailers.
Visit Shannon at her website, www.shannonsymonds.com, on Facebook, or on Instagram.