Smile Beach Murder

In this perky series launch from Bessette (Simply from Scratch), Callie Paget, a single, 38-year-old journalist who loves Mary Higgins Clark novels, has reluctantly returned home to Cattail Island on North Carolina’s Outer Banks after being laid off at the Charlotte Times. She takes a job at the island’s bookstore, where she runs into high school pal Eva Meeks, who’s searching for books on Blackbeard’s treasure. Legend has it the treasure is somewhere on the island, and Eva believes she has dug up a clue pointing to Cattail Lighthouse. Callie demurs when Eva invites her to join her on the treasure hunt, so when Eva is found dead at the bottom of the lighthouse, Callie is devastated. Her death is ruled a suicide, but Callie can’t believe Eva would do that to her daughter, who’s only 12—the same age Callie was when her own mother fell from the top of the lighthouse 26 years to the day earlier. Bessette offers everything a cozy lover could possibly want: a charming setting with a host of quirky natives, a bookstore with a cat, a lighthouse, and a hunky potential boyfriend. With any luck, the appealing Callie will be back soon. Agent: Adam Chromy, Movable Type Management. (May)