Welcome to week 6 of the

THREE AMIGOS SUMMER READING CLUB

with Bloggers Mary Brown, Karen M. Owen, and yours truly!

Every Monday from now through August 28,

Mary, Karen, and I

will recommend some of our favorite cozy mystery titles in eleven (11) different categories!

Today our theme is 

Lighthouse Cozies!

We're recommending 3 books that feature a

Bed & Breakfast that really stands out to each of us.

My pick for favorite cozy with a Lighthouse is

DEATH BY CHOWDAH

#1 in the Shipwreck Cafe Mysteries

by Donna Walo Clancy

Jeremy Hallett leaves a flourishing law career in Boston to return to his hometown of Anchor Point on Cape Cod. He secretly purchases the local lighthouse and surrounding property to open The Shipwreck Café.

Rich in history, the lighthouse is rumored to be haunted by multiple ghosts and hiding a buried treasure worth millions. 

Robbie, Jay’s younger brother, surfs by day and bar tends at the café by night. He doesn’t like ghosts, but it’s okay, because they don’t like him either.

Stormy, an abandoned golden retriever, who has been living at the lighthouse is adopted by Jay. Together, they move in to the keeper’s cottage.

Two murders in as many weeks, transpire in Anchor Point. The town is thrown into a state of distrust. Who is killing the locals and why?

Jay, Robbie, and Roland Knowles, the ghost keeper of the lighthouse must work together to bring answers and peace back to Anchor Point. Will the murders be connected to the treasure that may or may not have been found in the last one hundred years? Only Roland knows.

I loved this book with the very first page.

Does it get much better than a light house with a beach?

Yes! Yes, it does get better! The handsome man that bought the property turned the lighthouse into a restaurant!

You get to sit in the lighthouse, eat a great meal, all with a view of the ocean! Seriously, I want to go there right now! 

Oh, one more thing . . . There are ghosts. Plural. More than one. And they haunt the property. All of it. My favorite is the lighthouse keeper. I have a bit of a crush on him. But the other spirits roaming around made me a little nervous.

DEATH BY CHOWDAH has a little of something for everyone. Great writing, wonderful characters, and a beautiful setting.

I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series. The waiting is so hard!

MY REVIEW

A spirited start to the Shipwreck Café Mysteries!

I was curious about DEATH BY CHOWDAH for several reasons, but the main one was the male protagonist Jeremy “Jay” Hallett. As readers of cozy mysteries know, male leads are few and far between. However, if they were more like Jay, I think we’d see more of them for sure. I truly enjoyed the freshness of having a guy be the one to turn his back on his big city career, and come back home to roost.

I loved everything about this book. The characters . . . Jay and his dog Stormy, Jay’s Mom, and brother, and all the folks who make up the cast of regulars for this series. The setting . . . The beautiful lighthouse and the surrounding grounds made me long to be stay by the water, and finding a place The Shipwreck Café. The ghosts . . . Roland Knowles is the ghost of the former lighthouse keeper. Now, I’m not one to go out of my way to fins a para-cozy to read, but I am happy I happened upon DEATH BY CHOWDAH. There are several ghost roaming the grounds of the lighthouse, but Roland is the main one, at least for now. Just between you and me, I have a bit of a crush on Roland. ;-)

The mystery itself was very well done. Readers will pretty much know the why of what’s going on, but the who, with each new occurrence I changed my mind about who was causing all the trouble.  Author Donna Walo Clancy gave us plenty of clues and suspects, and had me fooled until just about the end of the story, and I think you will be too.

The one thing about the story that readers may question is the easy acceptance the characters had of the ghosts. I did too at first. But then I realized that for years, decades, the residents of Anchor Point have all thought the lighthouse and grounds to be haunted. Some had even scene things in the past. So, even though it may seem to us that it should be a bit more unnerving, to the residents it was really just validation of what they already expected.

DEATH BY CHOWDAH was such an enjoyable read to me. Fast paced, easy reading, turning each page was a pleasure. I was so bummed when I finished it because there isn’t a second in the series yet. Please hurry with the next one, Ms. Walo-Clancy!

I almost forgot! There are some delicious recipes included! There are a couple I have got to try!

My Amigos Mary and Karen have also picked their favorite lighthouse cozies. 

Please head over to their blogs and check them out!

Mary Brown's blog

MJBReviewers

and

Karen Owen's blog

A Cup Of Tea And A Cozy Mystery

Make sure to check back next Monday for suggestions on a new cozy mystery theme!

Keep all of our great titles in mind for

Buy A Friend A Book Day 

on 

August 29!

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

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