by Ann Cleeves, 2014
Fun murder mystery set in seaside town called Mardle, near Newcastle in England, modern day. Police detective, Vera Stanhope, and her team looking for the murderer of Margaret Krukowski, a 70-year old beautiful woman, living in the attic room of an inn on Harbour Street. Loved the characters, the setting. Vera is a hefty older woman, genius at solving murders, trying to get in shape but loves her cakes, pastries, whisky, fish and chips. Her #1 teammate, Joe Ashworth, is a handsome family man with wife and 3 children. He loves his job, loves his boss, but his precious daughter, Jessie, almost becomes the 3rd victim of this murderer. If it weren’t for Malcolm Kerr, who you really like but at the end think he might be the murderer, Jessie would have been the 3rd victim. The murderer ended up being Ryan Dewar, the teenage son of Kate Dewar, who runs the inn on Harbour Street. There were many engaging twists and turns and details in coming to the successful conclusion. Loved reading this book. I got it from a little free library (Smith Street?) and read it while on our wonderful Dead Horse Ranch State Park vacation with Adam, Danette, and Eliya.