Eve’s friend Simon is in desperate financial straits and needs his latest venture to be a success. He has launched a new arts centre in Saltwater Cottages and arranged a high profile artist to give classes. But Nena has enemies and is soon found dead. Can Eve catch the killer and save her friend’s business…?
Mystery at Saltwater Cottages is the 11th book to feature Eve Mallow who combines obituary writing with amateur sleuthing.
Eve is trying to support her friend Simon and organises to write an article for the magazine she works for. She is usually an obituary writer and her skills for that genre of news is soon required. Nena Field is a famous artist who grew up in the local area and has now returned. She is having an affair with a married man and causing upset wherever she goes. No one expected her to be murdered though!
There are a host of suspects established in the opening chapters as Nena puts noses out of joint and upsets others. This also means there are several potential motives as well for Eve to uncover. She is ably assisted by her beloved dog Gus as always, but her boyfriend Robin is away in London so she can only phone him for support.
I was kept guessing about the culprit and their motive, and enjoyed watching the case unfold. Eve is a great character and I like the way she has developed her investigating skills over the series of books.
Mystery at Saltwater Cottages is an enjoyable cosy murder mystery.
Saltwater Cottages, Saxford’s new arts and crafts centre, is as pretty as a picture. But when murder makes a blot on the landscape, Eve Mallow must draw on all her detective skills to solve the case!
When beautiful Saltwater Cottages opens, offering art courses in charming surroundings, Eve Mallow and best friend Viv sign up straight away. Viv’s brother Simon is in charge, and they all want him to succeed.
But from the start, Eve finds herself in a sticky situation. Famous guest artist Nena Field is a complete nightmare, painting everyone in a bad light. So when Eve finds her body in Blind-Eye Wood, there’s no shortage of suspects. But who could have hated her enough to take her life? Was it the curiously over-qualified cook, the secretive manager, or the chatty receptionist, mysteriously missing at the time of the murder?
Determined to find the killer and save Simon’s business, Eve sets to work sketching out a theory of the crime. Nena was working on a secret painting when she died, which has now vanished without a trace, and Eve is convinced it holds the answers she needs. But when all her best suspects seem to have alibis, Eve is forced back to the drawing board.
Then Eve has her own brush with death, and realises she must be on the right track. But what did she see or hear at Saltwater Cottages, and can she find the killer before they paint her out of the picture?
An utterly delightful and page-turning English cozy mystery, perfect for fans of Faith Martin, J.R. Ellis, and Agatha Christie.
Author Bio
Clare Chase writes classic mysteries. Her aim is to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations.
Her debut novel was shortlisted for Novelicious’s Undiscovered Award, as well as an EPIC award post-publication, and was chosen as a Debut of the Month by LoveReading. Murder on the Marshes (Tara Thorpe 1) was shortlisted for an International Thriller Writers award.
Like her heroines, Clare is fascinated by people and what makes them tick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as Littlehey Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. She’s lived everywhere from the house of a lord to a slug-infested flat and finds the mid-terrace she currently occupies a good happy medium.
As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.
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