Murder at the Lantern Regatta
(2026)(The third book in the Dead Letter House Cozy Mystery series)
A novel by Diana Beckett
At Blackbird Quay’s most beautiful summer tradition, glowing lanterns drift across the harbor, donors raise their glasses, and someone turns an old mail ferry into the perfect place for murder.
Elsie Harrow hoped the Lantern Regatta would bring a welcome rush of business to Dead Letter House and maybe one peaceful evening by the water. Instead, a wealthy shipping heir is found dead aboard the restored ferry Night Post, and the whole town is quick to call it a tragic accident.
Elsie knows better.
The victim had been asking dangerous questions about old ferry records, missing route books, and packets that were never meant to travel through ordinary hands. Now the harbor is full of suspects with polished smiles and very different reasons to keep the past buried: a trust treasurer guarding the regatta accounts, a ferry captain with invoices that do not quite add up, a maritime historian hiding lost manifests, a courier with a ruined name, and donor families who prefer their secrets to stay offshore.
When Quinn’s old notes point Elsie toward the regatta’s hidden paper trail, she realizes this murder is tied to more than one man’s greed. The lantern route itself may have been used to move money, records, and quiet lies through Blackbird Quay for years.
But the closer Elsie gets to the missing ledger, the clearer it becomes that someone is willing to sink her shop, ruin her name, and kill again to keep the harbor’s prettiest tradition from exposing its ugliest secret.
Perfect for readers who love seaside cozies, layered clues, slow-burn tension, and a smart amateur sleuth with a knack for finding the truth in other people’s paperwork.
Genre: Mystery
Elsie Harrow hoped the Lantern Regatta would bring a welcome rush of business to Dead Letter House and maybe one peaceful evening by the water. Instead, a wealthy shipping heir is found dead aboard the restored ferry Night Post, and the whole town is quick to call it a tragic accident.
Elsie knows better.
The victim had been asking dangerous questions about old ferry records, missing route books, and packets that were never meant to travel through ordinary hands. Now the harbor is full of suspects with polished smiles and very different reasons to keep the past buried: a trust treasurer guarding the regatta accounts, a ferry captain with invoices that do not quite add up, a maritime historian hiding lost manifests, a courier with a ruined name, and donor families who prefer their secrets to stay offshore.
When Quinn’s old notes point Elsie toward the regatta’s hidden paper trail, she realizes this murder is tied to more than one man’s greed. The lantern route itself may have been used to move money, records, and quiet lies through Blackbird Quay for years.
But the closer Elsie gets to the missing ledger, the clearer it becomes that someone is willing to sink her shop, ruin her name, and kill again to keep the harbor’s prettiest tradition from exposing its ugliest secret.
Perfect for readers who love seaside cozies, layered clues, slow-burn tension, and a smart amateur sleuth with a knack for finding the truth in other people’s paperwork.
Genre: Mystery
Used availability for Diana Beckett's Murder at the Lantern Regatta