Loosely inspired by Persuasion. Each chapter starts with a Austen quote. A cute cozy mystery. Pretty predictable. Emily's faith seems a little forced in at the end. I like where the relationship ends up. ( )

So much potential here. Loved the concept of a literary sleuth and the book tie-ins, but this was basically so predictable in the sense that the villains were clearly villains and the dark reasons behind the murder and mayhem seemed just pulled out of a hat at the end. Some have mentioned the Christian elements as an issue. I have to agree, not on the principle, but because there was a scene just thrown in near the end that did not fit at all. If you are going to use this theme, please make it integral not tacked on. The same thing happens at the end the protagonist visits the culprits- out of nowhere come the clarion trumpets. ( )

Emily Cavanaugh, an English Literature Professor on receiving an inheritance from her great aunt visits the town of Stony Beach, to stay at her aunt's home.
But she comes suspicious that her aunt's death was not an accident. Then another death occurs.
I like the Jane Austen quote's at the beginning of each chapter, and the attempts (only a few) by Emily to fit the characters to Jane Austen characters,
A NetGalley book. ( )

College English professor, Emily Cavanaugh is about to start summer vacation when a packet is received with her pile of mail informing her of the death of her great-aunt and requesting her presence at the funeral. Given it came from a law firm, she assumes she is to receive some form of inheritance, hoping it to be the Library contents she so loved while visiting as a child. Once she arrives at the attorney’s office, she is informed that along with said Library, she gets the rest of the mansion, the better part of the town’s buildings, more land and 6 million dollars. A few other buildings in town have been willed to Brock, the nephew of her aunt’s deceased husband. No relation to Emily and all too soon, no friendship... not without his trying.

The mayor, along with a tarty real estate agent, waste no time working on Emily to sell out to big development, of which Brock is fully on board with. Non of which is Emily’s intention, nor was it Aunt Beatrice’s. Their insistence gives way to questioning Beatrice’s death, presumably from eating lobster, of which she was prone gastric distress. Emily leans towards poison, and in finding her suspects to have gleaned information on poisonings, she set to do some investigating of her own.

Aided with the help of Luke, the local sheriff and the man who 30 years prior, stole and broke her 16 year old heart, they decide to do some deeper queries. But when Emily returns to her college home to retrieve more of her belongings, coming back to the mansion the next day hands her the death of the housekeeper who knew too much to leave be. Now Emily and Luke decide to dig even deeper and push to exhume the aunt’s body to check for poison. Problem is, the doctor who signed the original certificate seems to be in on the charade, ruling it accidental and reacting suspiciously when questioned by Emily.

Romance blooms, sleuthing ensues, characters switch suspicion, secrets find release, and more attempts on lives are made.

I enjoyed the book references and clean style of writing (once you get past that first, overwritten paragraph) and, as always, a main character that does not forget they are intelligent and do stupid, dangerous attempts to find the culprit when there are police on the trail.

Don’t read below if you don’t like spoilers!!!

I was really upset at the death of Agnes, the housekeeper. She was my favorite character from first introduction. ( )

When Emily's aunt dies unexpectedly leaving behind a large inheritance, Emily returns to Stony Beach for the first time in 20 years only to uncover that her aunt was murdered. I thought the concept behind this book was a good one, but overall I felt like it just couldn't decide what it was--a cozy mystery, a coming home story, or a prim romance. Think Cabot Cove meets Cedar Cove. Ultimately, the ending seemed too pat and easy while not really being set up well. ( )