Much Ado about Nutmeg

Have you visited Wildwood Cove lately? Come to the Pacific Northwest and meet Marley, owner of The Flip Side, the local pancake house. You are on time for the annual statewide Golden Oldies Games, competitions in sports from tennis to horseshoes, ages 50 and up. It’s rumored that the oldest person this year is 96; he will be in the horseshoe competition. The next oldest will be 92, at track and field. I really like the well-rounded characters in this series, getting to know them better each time, and I think you’ll like them, too! Before the games begin, Marley meets two couples at The Flip Side; Easton and his wife Rowena will play doubles tennis. Pippa will play tennis, and her personal trainer is there to cheer her on. Ed, one of The Flip Side regulars, comes in the following morning with a woman for the first time since any of the ladies have worked there. Yvonne is probably a decade younger than Ed, a very pretty lady who is a sports reporter for the Seattle Insider, more of a gossip sheet than a newspaper. The opening evening ceremony brings out much of Wildwood Cove, along with athletes, their coaches, families, and friends. Marley and her fiancé, Brett, enjoy the ceremony; Marley sees the tennis players she met the day before. She also sees Yvonne, talking with one of her friends about Ed, and not in a flattering way. She also sees Yvonne arguing with the favorite racewalker in her age group, Claudia. Then a man mutters under his breath when he sees Yvonne, and he was absolutely not flattering her. The next morning on her way to the pancake house, Marley noticed what looked like a coast guard vessel running parallel to the shore. Shortly after opening, her best friend Lisa and her neighbor Joan came into the Flip Side. There was an early morning accident on the ocean. Easton and Rowena were out for an early morning ride on their yacht; while Rowena was making coffee down below, she heard a splash. When going to the deck, Easton was gone, and never came to the surface. That night, she and Brett are out walking and see Lisa and her boyfriend (and the Flip Side’s chef) Ivan. They have just found a body, still wearing the plastic press pass. It was Yvonne, the sports reporter. When Ed found out, he pleaded with Marley to find what happened to her. She was the first woman he was interested in for years, and now she’s gone, and she didn’t have the heart to tell her the kind of woman she might have been. For all the sadness in this story – Easton was a very well-known and loved man – there is also joy as Marley prepares for her and Brett’s wedding. Brett would never stop Marley from asking questions, but he also doesn’t want anything to happen to his bride. Plot twists and turns multiply the suspect list for Yvonne’s death when it turns out to have been murder, then someone tries to hurt Marley. Will they find the killer before the Games are over, since it could be someone who knew Yvonne before? I thought I knew who was involved with the murder, but was I wrong! Oh, was I surprised, and sad, to find whodunit and why! You can read this in order of the series, or as a standalone. I highly recommend it to those who enjoy well-executed cozy mysteries, the Pacific Northwest, and breakfast recipes! From a thankful heart: I received an eARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley, and this is my honest review.