Frozen Truths
(2026)(The fourth book in the Paws and Portholes Mysteries series)
A novel by Hailey Hartley
Disgraced investigative journalist Claire Bennett boards the Azure Dream with one goal: disappear for a week and forget everything about her destroyed career. Armed with her curious Beagle Ace and a determination to avoid anything resembling an investigation, Claire is desperate for seven days where nobody recognizes her name or asks about the fabricated documents scandal that cost her everything. But when Ace's exceptional nose leads them to a familiar face at the ship's bar—a financial consultant Claire interviewed five years ago—her carefully planned escape starts to unravel. The man looks terrified, flees into the crowd, and by the next morning, Ace's relentless tracking instincts lead Claire to a horrifying discovery: a frozen body hidden inside a lifeboat.
Ship security wants Claire to stay out of the investigation, but the victim recognized someone aboard—someone with secrets worth killing for. As Claire digs deeper despite explicit warnings, she uncovers a trail of stolen identities, a fugitive living under a dead man's name, and a sophisticated con artist who's already setting up his next victim. With Ace's help tracking scents the security team missed, Claire discovers that the murder was meticulously planned: the victim lured to a walk-in freezer, locked inside to die from hypothermia, then moved to the lifeboat under cover of darkness. But the killer knows Claire is investigating, and he's not afraid to eliminate another threat to his new life.
Claire must race against time to prove the killer's real identity before the ship docks in San Juan and a murderer disappears into the crowd. Between threatening encounters in crew corridors, evidence hidden in supply closets, and a suspect who's spent years perfecting the art of deception, Claire faces an impossible choice: trust her investigative instincts again despite her past mistakes, or let a killer walk free. Can a disgraced journalist and her evidence-sniffing Beagle expose the truth before it's too late? Or will Claire's desperate attempt at redemption become her final investigation? One thing's certain: some mysteries refuse to stay frozen.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Ship security wants Claire to stay out of the investigation, but the victim recognized someone aboard—someone with secrets worth killing for. As Claire digs deeper despite explicit warnings, she uncovers a trail of stolen identities, a fugitive living under a dead man's name, and a sophisticated con artist who's already setting up his next victim. With Ace's help tracking scents the security team missed, Claire discovers that the murder was meticulously planned: the victim lured to a walk-in freezer, locked inside to die from hypothermia, then moved to the lifeboat under cover of darkness. But the killer knows Claire is investigating, and he's not afraid to eliminate another threat to his new life.
Claire must race against time to prove the killer's real identity before the ship docks in San Juan and a murderer disappears into the crowd. Between threatening encounters in crew corridors, evidence hidden in supply closets, and a suspect who's spent years perfecting the art of deception, Claire faces an impossible choice: trust her investigative instincts again despite her past mistakes, or let a killer walk free. Can a disgraced journalist and her evidence-sniffing Beagle expose the truth before it's too late? Or will Claire's desperate attempt at redemption become her final investigation? One thing's certain: some mysteries refuse to stay frozen.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Hailey Hartley's Frozen Truths