Seffi Wardwell Mysteries Series: Book 1
Publication Date: August 31, 2023
Just what the doctor ordered: fresh salt air, a garden to tend… and a fresh corpse behind the dahlias?
Retired science teacher Seffi Wardwell has moved to coastal Maine looking for peace, fresh air, and an accepting community. So far, she’s enjoying the sea air.
When a corpse turns up in Seffi’s flower garden, she can’t help asking questions about the victim and his death. Police officer Miah Cox doesn’t want her assistance, but Seffi’s curiosity is what made her a scientist.
The more she learns about the dead man’s background, the more she wants to know. Estranged from his wealthy family, and a village pariah for something that happened years before, the dead man had plenty of enemies. At least one wanted to make him disappear forever, and they’re all eager to see this case wrapped up and forget about him.
The way Seffi sees it, somebody has to care about him, and as a fellow outsider, she’s it. But all of her poking around is stirring up trouble in the village. It’s up to Seffi and Miah to figure out whodunit before they strike again, and before the locals decide the handiest scapegoat is Seffi herself.
A Coastal Corpse is the first book in Rebecca M. Douglass’ Seffi Wardwell Mystery series. It sets the stage for subsequent books and can be read as a standalone.
The story takes place in a small coastal town in Maine where most locals don’t like new people and are not very friendly. Seffi Wardell is a retired science teacher looking for peace and quiet, and fresh sea air. She didn’t expect to discover a dead body.
As a science teacher, Seffi has more questions about the corpse than the townies are comfortable with, and the local police officer doesn’t appreciate her curiosity and probing questions, which are riling up the locals. One doesn’t read many stories about Maine. The townspeople seemed to be pretty narrow-minded and stuck in their ways.
As the story progressed, Seffi and Nikka became friends, and Seffi made more friends and was more accepted in her new community.
The story had several interesting twists and turns, focusing on science and evidence that Seffi was able to assist the police with. In the end, Seffi finds a home and makes friends in her new community while solving a murder.
A Coastal Corpse is an entertaining read starring a tenacious retired teacher using science to solve the whodunnit.
Rebecca M. Douglass has lived and worked around the American West for more years than she’ll admit, while raising two children to adulthood and dreaming up interesting ways to bump people off. Thanks to good friends in Maine, she has also spent time on the other side of the country and has fallen in love with that coast. Since retiring from work at the library, the author of the Ninja Librarian series for younger readers and the Pismawallops PTA mystery series now lives in Seattle, where she is writing the Seffi Wardwell mysteries. She has also had short stories published in a variety of magazines and anthologies. When she isn’t writing, Ms. Douglass likes to go hiking and backpacking or to travel to discover new places or revisit old favorites, including the Grand Canyon and of course Maine, where so many of the best cozy mysteries are found.
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