Brush with Death

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Gray Whale Inn Mysteries #5
May 2013, Gray Whale Press
ISBN: 978-0738734590

For Natalie Barnes, the flurry of trendy artists setting up shop on Cranberry Island promises to be the perfect recipe for relaxing and enjoying the holiday season. But Natalie’s good luck is turning out to be a stroke of misfortune for her niece, Gwen. The local gallery’s new owner hates Gwen’s paintings, and her mentor Fernand is too distracted by a competing artist to help Gwen improve her style.

When Natalie finds Fernand dead, seemingly the victim of suicide, she can’t believe someone who had so much joy and success in his life would kill himself. Finding clues at Fernand’s home that support her suspicion of murder, Natalie’s hunt for answers places her next on the killer’s list. Will she be able to solve this murder masterpiece before it’s too late?

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Blueberry Blues: A Gray Whale Inn Short Story

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Gray Whale Inn Mysteries #4.5 (Short Story)
April 2012, Gray Whale Press

When innkeeper Natalie Barnes volunteers to host the Cranberry Island Clambake at the Gray Whale Inn, she’s looking forward to good food, good friends — and maybe even a bit of good press. The day is perfect and the event as smooth as Natalie’s crème anglaise — until a mysterious illness grips several islanders, and the police finger the inn’s blueberry pies as the culprit. Will Natalie sniff out the source of the poisoned pies before she — and the Gray Whale Inn — end up in hot water? (Includes the Gray Whale Inn recipe for Double-Berry Lemon Muffins.)

Berried to the Hilt

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Gray Whale Inn Mysteries #4
November 2010, Gray Whale Press
ISBN: 978-0738719665

When a lobsterman discovers a sunken ship, Cranberry Island is abuzz with excitement. Is the wreck the remains of the Myra Barton, the missing ship of island sea captain Jonah Selfridge? Or the elusive Black Marguerite, which belonged to one of the most notorious pirates of the 17th century and vanished without a trace—except for the ghost ship that old-timers say roams the water on fog-shrouded nights?

Soon the island is swarming with marine archaeologists and treasure hunters. It’s good news for Natalie—and for the Gray Whale Inn—until a body turns up floating near the wreck. Natalie finds herself immersed in the world of pirates and sunken treasure, both past and present. Will she solve the mystery and find the killer in time? Or will Natalie be the next to join the lost ship’s crew, down in Davy Jones’ locker?

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Murder Most Maine

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Gray Whale Inn Mysteries #3
November 2008, Gray Whale Press
ISBN: 978-0738713007

It’s springtime on Cranberry Island — and love is in the air. It seems like every woman has the hots for buff trainer Dirk De Leon. He and his equally-gorgeous business partner, Vanessa Black, are leading a weight-loss retreat at the Gray Whale Inn — forcing innkeeper Natalie Barnes to lighten up her butter-laden breakfast menu.

The mood on the island darkens when two grisly discoveries are made. The first is a skeleton walled up at the island’s lighthouse. The second is a corpse of the fresh variety — the handsome Dirk! Could the spirit that once embodied the skeletal remains — perhaps the lighthouse keeper who disappeared a century ago — be responsible for Dirk’s death?

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Dead and Berried

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Gray Whale Inn Mysteries #2
February 2007, Gray Whale Press
ISBN: 978-0738709147

Cool autumn winds may be sweeping across Cranberry Island, but for innkeeper Natalie Barnes, things are just heating up. On her way to pick cranberries one crisp morning, Natalie makes a grisly discovery: her part-time helper Polly Sarkes, dead of a gunshot wound to the chest.

But murder isn’t Natalie’s only problem. Late at night, ghostly footsteps have been creaking across the attic floor of the inn, leading Natalie to discover that the inn has an unsolved mystery of its own. And when ex-fiance Benjamin Portlock sweeps into town with a gallon Natalie’s favorite ice cream — and an engagement ring — relations with her handsome neighbor John turn as chilly as a Maine October night.

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Murder on the Rocks

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Gray Whale Inn Mysteries #1
May 2006, Gray Whale Press
ISBN: 978-0738709086

Thirty-eight-year-old Natalie Barnes has quit her job, sold her house, and gambled everything on the Gray Whale Inn on Cranberry Island, Maine. But she’s barely fired up the stove when portly developer Bernard Katz rolls into town with a plan to replace the endangered terns next door with a golf resort — and replace the Gray Whale Inn with a parking lot.

When the town board approves Katz’s development, it looks like things couldn’t get worse for Natalie. Then she discovers his body at the base of a cliff — and the police finger her as the killer.

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