Murder on the Rocks by Karen MacInerney

I just started reading this book. It's the first in the "Gray Whale Inn" bed & breakfast mystery series.

The female-sleuth is Natalie Barnes and she has mortgaged her future to relocate from Austin Texas to the coast of Maine when an opportunity to purchase the quaint bed and breakfast inn presented itself. The Gray Whale Inn is a 150-year old former sea captain's house located Cranberry Island, which is accessible only by boat.

Her college-aged niece Gwen has come to stay with Natalie for the summer to clean rooms and help with other chores.

One of Natalie's guests, developer Bernard Katz, has come to convince the town planning commission (the Cranberry Island Board of Selectmen) to approve his latest development called the Cranberry Island Premier Resort. Mr. Katz tells Natalie that his resort will bring in a lot of business for her. She is opposed to the resort and doesn't buy his argument, especially after niece Gwen finds a blueprint tucked away in Katz' room. It shows the Gray Whale Inn being replaced by a parking lot!

What would Joni Mitchell think?



(photo courtesy freefoto.com)