Romance by the Sea: What Could Go Wrong?
One of my least favorite holidays is Valentine’s Day. Even when I had a love life, I didn’t like it. If you’re lucky enough to have a partner, girlfriend, of boyfriend, you shouldn’t wait until Valentine’s Day to treat them well. And. of course, the people who are really making out for the “holiday” are the greeting card, candy, and flower companies.
As for me, I own a bookstore, Beach Reads books, and traditionally, it’s a very slow time of the year for us. Sometimes we used to get people in buying books for their wives or their husbands for Valentine’s Day but it was rare. These days Valentine’s Day is a very busy day for us because we have an event in St. Brigid, and it’s called Romance by the Sea. Mom created it for the bookstore and the whole town now offers Valentines themed events and special offerings. For example, Bridged’s Bakery makes delicious honey cakes that are only available a few days during the season and the new chocolate shop is offering a class about chocolate. ( I am so there.)
As for the bookstore, we have a famous romance author coming, and she will be talking about her new book which is being marketed as “a modern day Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending. I don’t think you have to be a Shakespeare scholar like me to know how ridiculous that sounds. If it has a happy ending it’s not Romeo and Juliet and if it’s a romance, it’s not Romeo and Juliet, as that play was a tragedy. I will fight you on that and I have the degrees to prove I know what I’m talking about.
But this event is something that my mother created years ago and it’s become so good for the town because otherwise February would be so slow in our beach town that it would barely do us any good to keep our businesses open. So mom came up with this idea, mostly for the bookstore, and then other businesses gradually started joining in the festivities.
So while I don’t really like Valentine’s Day, I definitely see how good it is for Beach Reads, and some of the other businesses on the boardwalk. I just hope that everything goes well for all of us. It’s so very well planned that I think nothing could go wrong. Knock on driftwood.
A Killer Romance, A Beach Reads Mystery Book #3
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: February 2024
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link
Love and murder are in the air this Valentine’s day in Maggie Blackburn’s third Beach Reads mystery, perfect for fans of Eva Gates and Miranda James.
When Beach Reads bookshop hosts a Valentine’s Day event, “Romance by the Sea,” bookseller Summer Merriweather has no idea that the guest author is under investigation for her own husband’s murder. When that same author is found dead at the local bed and breakfast, nobody assumes it’s natural causes–there were plenty of people who wanted her dead.
As Summer searches for the truth about the author’s stranger-than-fiction life, Summer finds suspicious indications of shady behavior in the author’s belongings. But the casual sleuthing is quickly derailed when Summer’s friend Glads gets hauled in for the murder, and they launch a full-blown investigation to clear her name.
As Summer and company pick through the scant clues to solve the case, they may find more treachery and heartbreak than they bargained for.
About the author
Maggie Blackburn is the pen name for bestselling mystery author Mollie Cox Bryan, whose first book, “Scrapbook of Secrets,” was nominated for the prestigious Agatha Award. She also writes under Mollie Ann Cox. She is an empty nester rising early to write everyday before she goes to work, where she pens newsletters, blogs, and articles for UVA Health.