cover image Murder Most Maine: A Gray Whale Inn Mystery

Murder Most Maine: A Gray Whale Inn Mystery

Karen MacInerney, . . Midnight Ink, $13.95 (277pp) ISBN 978-0-7387-1300-7

At the outset of MacInerney's entertaining third cozy (after 2007's Dead and Berried ), innkeeper Natalie Barnes is pleased to be hosting the Lose-It-All Weight Loss retreat at her Gray Whale Inn on Maine's Cranberry Island. Natalie hopes to shed some weight herself since the romance with her shipwright neighbor, John Quinton, is heating up. When the buff corpse of trainer Dirk De Leon, whose regimen included suspicious dietary supplements, turns up near Cranberry Point Lighthouse, the police discover Dirk was poisoned and, to Natalie's dismay, investigate her kitchen. Natalie receives further shocks after John becomes a suspect and another guest is murdered. Adding to the intrigue is the skeleton estimated to be 150 years old that surfaces during the lighthouse's renovation. MacInerney adds a dash of the supernatural, throws in some touristy tidbits and finishes with some tasty diet-right recipes. (Nov.)