cover image The Light Keeper%E2%80%99s Legacy: A Chloe Ellefson Mystery

The Light Keeper%E2%80%99s Legacy: A Chloe Ellefson Mystery

Kathleen Ernst. Midnight Ink (www.midnightinkbooks.com), $14.99 trade paper (360p) ISBN 978-0-7387-3307-4

Ernst%E2%80%99s leisurely third Chloe Ellefson mystery set in 1982 Wisconsin (after 2011%E2%80%99s The Heirloom Murders) takes museum curator Chloe to Lake Michigan%E2%80%99s Rock Island, a state park, to do research on restoring the island%E2%80%99s lighthouse. This excursion also gives her time to think about her relationship with her policeman boyfriend, Roelke McKenna, who gave her Sue Grafton%E2%80%99s A Is for Alibi before she left Eagle, Wis. Soon enough Chloe is involved in a mystery of her own after she stumbles on a dead body wrapped in fishnet on the island%E2%80%99s beach. An account of a 19th-century Danish settler, net maker Ragna Anderson, alternates with Chloe%E2%80%99s adventures, providing a rich, if confusing, historical background. The discovery of a second body (also wrapped in fishnet), narrow escapes from the lighthouse, and a kayak battle add to the suspense. Natural descriptions abound, though often at the expense of pace. Agent: Andrea Cascardi, Transatlantic Literary. (Oct.)