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Seven books, two series

Every book solves its own mystery. Read a series in order to follow the people in it.

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Showing all seven books.

The Wren Harbor Mysteries

Nell Corliss comes home to run the library in a fishing town of 1,140 people, and finds that the town remembers everything except what it decided to forget.

Read in order. Each book solves its own case; Nell's story runs through all four. No on-page violence and no sex scenes in any Wren Harbor book.

Book one free

Who's who

Nell Corliss
Head librarian, 38. Came home from Boston and can't stop reading the margins.
Dale Pruitt
Stonemason restoring Gull Rock Light. Says little, notices more.
Vera Hale
Ninety-one, the last keeper's niece. Runs the historical society from her front room.
Ruth Gannet
Owns the Gannet Inn. Keeps the register, and its secrets.

The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter

Wren Harbor 1 · 312 pages · May 4, 2021

A letter mortared into the lighthouse wall names a girl the whole town swears never lived.

  • Small-town secrets
  • Dual timeline
  • Amateur sleuth
  • Letters from the past
Stores, formats and content notes
  • Ebook$5.99Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Nook, Google Play
  • Paperback$17.99Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Signed from Mara
  • Audiobook$21.99Libro.fm, Apple Books, Audible, Kobo

Content notes. A child missing in 1952, off the page. Grief. Mild language. No on-page violence, no sex scenes.

The Salt Road

Wren Harbor 2 · 288 pages · November 8, 2022

Snowed in at the Gannet Inn, Nell finds the quiet guest in Room 4 signed the register with a dead man's name.

  • Snowed in
  • Closed circle
  • Inn mystery
  • Winter
Stores, formats and content notes
  • Ebook$5.99Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Nook, Google Play
  • Paperback$17.99Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Signed from Mara
  • Audiobook$21.99Libro.fm, Apple Books, Audible, Kobo

Content notes. A death at the inn, discovered off the page. Mild language. No sex scenes.

Low Tide at Gull Rock

Wren Harbor 3 · 336 pages · September 10, 2024

A lobster boat drifts back into the harbor with nobody aboard and the engine still warm.

  • Missing person
  • Family secrets
  • Working waterfront
  • Autumn storms
Stores, formats and content notes
  • Ebook$5.99Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Nook, Google Play
  • Paperback$17.99Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Signed from Mara
  • Audiobook$21.99Libro.fm, Apple Books, Audible, Kobo

Content notes. A drowning in the past. A storm at sea, described. No on-page violence, no sex scenes.

A Lantern for the Drowned

Wren Harbor 4 · 320 pages · Out March 9, 2027

Forty years after the Margaret Pell went down, someone starts leaving lit lanterns on the rocks where she sank.

  • Cold case
  • Shipwreck
  • Small-town secrets
  • Spring thaw
Stores, formats and content notes
  • Signed hardcover$28Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Signed from Mara
  • Ebook$5.99Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Nook, Google Play
  • Audiobook$21.99Libro.fm, Apple Books, Audible, Kobo

Content notes. A shipwreck and its loss of life, in the past. Grief. No on-page violence, no sex scenes.

Cold Ledger

Casco Bay 1 · 368 pages · February 7, 2023

A city accountant finds a woman still drawing her salary eleven months after her own funeral.

  • Follow the money
  • Reluctant partners
  • City in winter
  • Slow burn
Stores, formats and content notes
  • Ebook$5.99Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Nook, Google Play
  • Paperback$17.99Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Signed from Mara
  • Audiobook$21.99Libro.fm, Apple Books, Audible, Kobo

Content notes. A murder, investigated rather than shown. Threats and stalking. Strong language.

The Ferry Hour

Casco Bay 2 · 352 pages · June 3, 2025

Forty-one passengers board the 6:15 to Peaks Island. Forty step off.

  • Closed circle
  • Ticking clock
  • Island community
  • Unreliable witnesses
Stores, formats and content notes
  • Ebook$5.99Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Nook, Google Play
  • Paperback$17.99Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Signed from Mara
  • Audiobook$21.99Libro.fm, Apple Books, Audible, Kobo

Content notes. A disappearance and a body in the water. A child in danger, briefly. Strong language.

The Casco Bay Novels

Tess Varga audits the City of Portland for a living. When the numbers stop adding up, Detective Ray Amato is the only one who will listen, and he is two years from retiring.

Read in order. Book three is being written now, for 2028. Violence is mostly off the page, but these are darker books. Content notes are on every book.

Who's who

Tess Varga
Forensic accountant for the City of Portland. Trusts numbers, not people.
Ray Amato
Detective, Portland police. Two years from his pension and in no hurry.
Lina Okafor
Captain of the 6:15 to Peaks Island. Counts every passenger, every trip.
A lighthouse on a rocky shore in thick fog

One book, one ending

One book, one ending. A summer cottage, a calendar, and a house-sitter who should have left in August.

The Summer People

Standalone · 274 pages · July 14, 2020

House-sitting a shut-up cottage in Kennebunkport, a young widow finds the family calendar crossed off to a date that hasn't come yet.

  • Gothic house
  • Unreliable narrator
  • Summer
  • Slow dread
Stores, formats and content notes
  • Ebook$5.99Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Nook, Google Play
  • Paperback$17.99Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Signed from Mara
  • Audiobook$21.99Libro.fm, Apple Books, Audible, Kobo

Content notes. Grief and a past suicide, referred to. Psychological menace. No on-page violence, no sex scenes.

Not sure which?Three questions, one first bookBook clubsFree discussion guides for all seven

Concept build for a fictional brand. Names, prices and numbers are illustrations. Built by Jefi Studio.