Murder Most Eastern

Great Maine Mysteries, #1

by

Nellie H. Steele

Fun start to this new Maine-set cozy mystery series.

Murder Most Eastern is the debut book in author Nellie H. Steele’s new cozy mystery series set in Maine and aptly named Great Maine Mysteries. It introduces the main character and soon-to-be amateur sleuth, Emily Harper, and her unusually helpful and perceptive feline companion, Grayson. I enjoyed this fun cozy mystery from its vividly colorful cover art to its gothically atmospheric, rainy opening, all the way to its very final page. 

Struggling artist Emily Harper moves to the Maine coast when her sister Becky dies suddenly in what appears to be a household fall, leaving her the sole beneficiary of her estate, which includes a renovated Victorian home, a considerable amount of money, and a precocious gray and white cat named Grayson. However, the inheritance comes with a clause: Emily must occupy the home for a full year before it all becomes hers. 

Once installed in the house, Emily naturally wants to explore her new surroundings and, in particular, is drawn to the iconic West Quoddy Head Lighthouse. With Grayson, a very doglike cat, in tow, she visits the historic site where she meets Dr. Richard Bennett, a local historian who claims to have been collaborating with Emily’s sister on unraveling a legend of buried treasure out of the famed lighthouse’s past. According to Bennett, Becky had uncovered some new clues about the rumored treasure that indicated it was more than just a myth. But now someone unknown wanted that information and would stop at nothing to get it. 

This cozy series debut is an intriguing and suspenseful blending of mystery and magic, featuring the regretful, brokenhearted Emily, an overly intuitive (and always hungry) cat, pirates’ treasure, and murder. I enjoyed the main character, who, not initially a cat person, comes to treat her new feline best friend like a human, and the reference to the Dark Shadows character in the cat’s naming. Something of a fish out of water, more comfortable in bustling Boston than rural Maine, I enjoyed reading about her getting to know her new home state: the scenery, the people, the food, and the famous sights. West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, the site of much of the action and speculation in the book, is the easternmost point of the continental United States. 

The action moves at a steady if not spritely pace, with Emily’s discovery of her sister’s cryptic, handwritten journal, noting her research into the rumored treasure, and her beautiful but mysterious silver and tourmaline bracelet that, when worn, gives Emily an odd electrical tingling and short, vivid visions of the near future. Becky’s attorney and friend, Bill Anderson, is helpful but suspicious, as he pops up at unexpected moments, but later becomes the sounding board Emily needs to process all that is going on, even as she continues to wonder if he’s a friend or foe. 

I recommend MURDER MOST EASTERN to cozy mystery enthusiasts. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.