Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for A Coastal Corpse and Washed Up With the Tide by Rebecca M. Douglass. Today we are featuring a review of these two books – the first two in the Seffi Wardwell Mystery series. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews, and more! There is also a Rafflecopter Giveaway for two sets of each ebook of A Coastal Corpse and Washed Up With the Tide (Seffi Wardwell Mysteries). ENTER HERE!
A Coastal Corpse (Seffi Wardwell Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Maine
Publisher : Independently Published (August 31, 2023)
Paperback : 298 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8854581851
Digital ASIN : B0CGN9Z7ZD
Just what the doctor ordered: fresh salt air, a garden to tend… and a fresh corpse behind the dahlias?
Retired science teacher Seffi Wardwell has moved to coastal Maine looking for peace, fresh air, and an accepting community. So far, she’s enjoying the sea air.
When a corpse turns up in Seffi’s flower garden, she can’t help asking questions about the victim and his death. Police officer Miah Cox doesn’t want her assistance, but Seffi’s curiosity is what made her a scientist.
The more she learns about the dead man’s background, the more she wants to know. Estranged from his wealthy family, and a village pariah for something that happened years before, the dead man had plenty of enemies. At least one wanted to make him disappear forever, and they’re all eager to see this case wrapped up and forget about him.
The way Seffi sees it, somebody has to care about him, and as a fellow outsider, she’s it. But all of her poking around is stirring up trouble in the village. It’s up to Seffi and Miah to figure out whodunit before they strike again, and before the locals decide the handiest scapegoat is Seffi herself.
Washed Up With the Tide (Seffi Wardwell Mysteries)
by Rebecca Douglass
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Maine
Publisher : Independently Published (November 18, 2024)
Print length : 270 pages
ASIN : B0DJPTJ7PM
Beautiful weather, bountiful baked goods, and… bodies on the beach?
Seffi’s pleasure in her long walks among the fall colors is more than a little marred when she encounters cantankerous fisherman Bob Hughes washed up on the shore—sodden, entangled in a net, and very definitely dead. Did the man drink too much and fall overboard in an unfortunate accident? Or was his death something more sinister? With an estranged wife, enemies in the fishing fleet, and ticked-off deckhands, there are plenty of people around Smelt Point who aren’t sorry he’s dead. But did any of them actually kill him? The scuttlebutt at the bakery raises more questions than it answers, and to top it off the fishermen gathering there have eaten Seffi’s favorite treats.
Once again Seffi needs all her reasoning and gossip-gathering talents to help village policeman Miah Cox get to the bottom of the mystery. But will Miah’s own secret tear the village apart?
My Review:
I enjoyed the first two entries to this atmospheric cozy mystery series.
Our main character, Seffi, is a retired science teacher, and it is fun to have a sleuth more mature in age. She’s independent and tough and the characters she interacts with each have their own quirks which makes for an entertaining read. I loved that her curiosity as a scientist fuels her desire to search for justice.
The setting of Coastal Maine was perfect, and I found the vivid writing transportive. I especially enjoyed the fall setting in book two. I felt like I was there, walking with Seffi, even though I was reading on a cold day in December.
Both mysteries were twisty and well-plotted, and while I tried to solve them on my own, I was unsuccessful, but I sure enjoyed the journey. A series definitely worth picking up and how great that readers already have two books available to dive into!
About the Author:
Rebecca M. Douglass has lived and worked around the American West for more years than she’ll admit, while raising two children to adulthood and dreaming up interesting ways to bump people off. Thanks to good friends in Maine, she has also spent time on the other side of the country and has fallen in love with that coast.
Since retiring from work at the library, the author of the Ninja Librarian series for younger readers and the Pismawallops PTA mystery series now lives in Seattle, where she is writing the Seffi Wardwell mysteries. She has also had short stories published in a variety of magazines and anthologies.
When she isn’t writing, Ms. Douglass likes to go hiking and backpacking or to travel to discover new places or revisit old favorites, including the Grand Canyon and of course Maine, where so many of the best cozy mysteries are found.
Author Links:
Purchase Links:
A Coastal Corpse:
Books2Read Universal Buy Link
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Paperback
Amazon Large Type
Washed Up With the Tide:
Universal Buy Link Amazon Kindle
TOUR PARTICIPANTS:
- December 11 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
- December 11 – Frugal Freelancer – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
- December 12 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW (BOTH)
- December 13 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
- December 13 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
- December 14 – Jane Reads – AUTHOR GUEST POST
- December 14 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
- December 15 – The Mystery of Writing – CHARACTER GUEST POST
- December 15 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
- December 16 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST
- December 16 – Novels Alive – REVIEW (1)
- December 17 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
- December 17 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
- December 18 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – REVIEW (BOTH)
- December 18 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – REVIEW (BOTH)
- December 19 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
- December 19 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
- December 20 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT
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