Murder on Kestrel Dunes
(2026)(The second book in the Brindlehook Inn Mystery series)
A novel by Claire Bessey
Cassie Vale thought life at Brindlehook Inn might finally be settling down. The historic inn on the Washington coast has reopened a few guest rooms, the town is preparing for the Harvest Lantern Festival, and Cassie is beginning to believe she might have a real future in Brindlehook Harbor.
Then a dead man turns up near Kestrel Dunes.
The victim, Ellis Vane, was a former property assessor with a talent for making enemies. He knew too much about old coastal access rights, disputed cottages, changed maps, and the kind of paperwork that can ruin a family while looking perfectly legal. When Ellis is found dead with a flask of spiced cider nearby, the town wants quick answers before the festival collapses into scandal.
The problem is that Cassie’s friend Theo Marsh becomes one of the main suspects.
Ellis had been threatening to expose something about Theo’s late father, and the accusation hits hard. Theo insists his father was honest, but old letters, missing maps, and altered dune-path records suggest the truth is not that simple. Cassie knows Theo is hiding something, but she does not believe he is a killer.
With Fig, her one-eyed tortoiseshell cat, causing trouble with lantern ribbons, wax, and anything small enough to steal, Cassie starts following the clues through festival routes, cottage maps, old family grudges, and the protected paths around Kestrel Dunes. But the deeper she digs, the clearer it becomes that Ellis’s death is not only about one hated man. It is tied to Brindlehook Harbor’s long history of stolen access, double-sold rights, and respectable families who used paperwork like a weapon.
As Deputy Wren Calder works the official case, Cassie must balance inn guests, festival pressure, small-town gossip, and her growing trust in restoration carpenter Miles Arden. But someone in Brindlehook is desperate to keep the old records buried, and the dunes may be hiding more than a body.
Murder on Kestrel Dunes is Book 2 in The Brindlehook Inn Mysteries, a clean coastal cozy mystery series filled with small-town secrets, old records, festival trouble, slow-burn romance, historic inn life, and a curious cat who keeps finding the clues people wish would stay lost.
Perfect for readers who enjoy clean cozy mysteries, coastal small-town mysteries, amateur sleuths, innkeeper mysteries, cozy mysteries with cats, festival mysteries, old family secrets, and character-driven mystery series with a continuing town mystery arc.
At Brindlehook Harbor, every path has a history, every map tells a version of the truth, and Fig the cat knows exactly where trouble has been hidden.
Genre: Mystery
Then a dead man turns up near Kestrel Dunes.
The victim, Ellis Vane, was a former property assessor with a talent for making enemies. He knew too much about old coastal access rights, disputed cottages, changed maps, and the kind of paperwork that can ruin a family while looking perfectly legal. When Ellis is found dead with a flask of spiced cider nearby, the town wants quick answers before the festival collapses into scandal.
The problem is that Cassie’s friend Theo Marsh becomes one of the main suspects.
Ellis had been threatening to expose something about Theo’s late father, and the accusation hits hard. Theo insists his father was honest, but old letters, missing maps, and altered dune-path records suggest the truth is not that simple. Cassie knows Theo is hiding something, but she does not believe he is a killer.
With Fig, her one-eyed tortoiseshell cat, causing trouble with lantern ribbons, wax, and anything small enough to steal, Cassie starts following the clues through festival routes, cottage maps, old family grudges, and the protected paths around Kestrel Dunes. But the deeper she digs, the clearer it becomes that Ellis’s death is not only about one hated man. It is tied to Brindlehook Harbor’s long history of stolen access, double-sold rights, and respectable families who used paperwork like a weapon.
As Deputy Wren Calder works the official case, Cassie must balance inn guests, festival pressure, small-town gossip, and her growing trust in restoration carpenter Miles Arden. But someone in Brindlehook is desperate to keep the old records buried, and the dunes may be hiding more than a body.
Murder on Kestrel Dunes is Book 2 in The Brindlehook Inn Mysteries, a clean coastal cozy mystery series filled with small-town secrets, old records, festival trouble, slow-burn romance, historic inn life, and a curious cat who keeps finding the clues people wish would stay lost.
Perfect for readers who enjoy clean cozy mysteries, coastal small-town mysteries, amateur sleuths, innkeeper mysteries, cozy mysteries with cats, festival mysteries, old family secrets, and character-driven mystery series with a continuing town mystery arc.
At Brindlehook Harbor, every path has a history, every map tells a version of the truth, and Fig the cat knows exactly where trouble has been hidden.
Genre: Mystery
Used availability for Claire Bessey's Murder on Kestrel Dunes