Murder on the Rocks by Karen MacInerney

23. Murder on the Rocks - Book 1 in the Gray Whale Inn Mysteries
by Karen MacInerney
mystery, 2006
fourth book for the Foodies Read 2 Challenge 2012
Kindle book 13
finished 4/21/12


My favorite sweet foods are not chocolate cake or ice cream, but fruit concoctions, coffeecake-like breakfast foods, cookies, and brownies. Karen MacInerney must share my love of these foods since Murder on the Rocks is full of such dishes. Natalie Barnes owns a bed & breakfast inn on Cranberry Island off the coast of Maine. She spends a portion of each day baking up something wonderful for her guests' breakfasts, and the reader gets to stand alongside her in the kitchen while she mixes together the butter and sugar, and adds various fruits. And at the end of the book, the author kindly shares all these recipes. Over time I shall try them, and of course write about them in my letters. A few from this and other books in the series may be found here.

Natalie does a lot of her best thinking while she is whipping up something delicious, and she does a lot of it in this first in the series. She is worried about rumors that a giant resort may be built on the little island. Her finances are already fragile, and this could mean the death knell to her business. Not only would it probably ruin the inn she has put all her money into, but there is great concern that the nesting area of the black-chinned terns (not a real bird) will be destroyed. While walking on a footpath Natalie slips and falls down onto the rocks, and discovers the body of the developer himself, Mr. Katz. Later there are subtle, and not-so-subtle attempts on Natalie's own life, while she still has to keep things together at her inn, try to save the birds, and monitor the behavior of her niece who is working at the inn for the summer. She is, as you see, a busy woman. But she has a can-do attitude and cheerfully goes about her daily life in the midst of all her troubles. She has a bit of a crush on the local deputy (the island is too small for a real police force) though local gossip says that he has a girlfriend on the mainland.

There. All the elements of a cozy mystery. Locale, yummy sounding food, a potential love interest, and a great amateur sleuth. For the most part she doesn't commit the sin of getting herself into potentially dangerous situations, though there were a couple of occasions I wanted to call out and say, no. You don't want to do this.

I so enjoyed Murder on the Rocks and plan to read the next ones. And do some baking.

The Gray Whale Inn Mysteries page is here.





Murder on the Rocks is a perfect book choice for the Foodies Read 2 Challenge 2012.