Shadows at Stormwatch Point
(2026)(The fifth book in the Paws on the Open Road Mystery series)
A novel by Hailey Hartley
Former wildlife photographer Cora Ashford has spent four years living out of her van with her loyal chocolate Labrador, Captain, trading the chaos of her former life for the quiet solace of remote coastlines and empty campgrounds. When she pulls into Harbor View Campground on the rugged Washington coast, she's looking for nothing more than a few peaceful days of silence and sea spray. But Captain has other ideas—the moment they arrive at the dramatic Stormwatch Point overlook, the chocolate Lab makes a beeline for the wooden observation platform jutting out over the cliffs, barking insistently at the base of the support beams as if something about the structure has set every one of his instincts on high alert. Cora dismisses it as typical Lab curiosity, but when the charismatic travel writer camped nearby is found dead at the base of the cliffs the following morning, she begins to wonder if Captain was trying to tell her something all along.
As the local detective investigates what initially appears to be a tragic accident, Cora can't shake the nagging feeling that something doesn't add up. Her photographer's eye catches details that others miss—the wrong camera settings left behind, a lighting setup that makes no sense for storm photography, and bolts that Captain led her to find scattered at the base of the platform. Between a gear shop owner with a polished reputation and dark financial secrets, a travel blogger desperately hiding a career-ending scandal, a climbing guide with expired certifications, and a suspiciously helpful campground host who knows far more than he's letting on, Cora finds herself drawn deeper into an investigation that someone very much wants her to abandon. When threatening messages appear on her phone and someone tampers with her van, it becomes clear that the killer is watching her every move.
With Captain's steady presence keeping her grounded and her sharp eye for detail refusing to let the truth go unexamined, Cora must untangle a web of defective equipment, buried injuries, and a cover-up that stretches across the outdoor gear industry before the killer decides that a nosy photographer asking too many questions needs to meet with her own unfortunate end. In a place where the Pacific storms rage against ancient cliffs and the fog hides more secrets than it reveals, sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do is refuse to look away. Can Cora and Captain expose a murderer before the next storm washes the truth out to sea?
Genre: Cozy Mystery
As the local detective investigates what initially appears to be a tragic accident, Cora can't shake the nagging feeling that something doesn't add up. Her photographer's eye catches details that others miss—the wrong camera settings left behind, a lighting setup that makes no sense for storm photography, and bolts that Captain led her to find scattered at the base of the platform. Between a gear shop owner with a polished reputation and dark financial secrets, a travel blogger desperately hiding a career-ending scandal, a climbing guide with expired certifications, and a suspiciously helpful campground host who knows far more than he's letting on, Cora finds herself drawn deeper into an investigation that someone very much wants her to abandon. When threatening messages appear on her phone and someone tampers with her van, it becomes clear that the killer is watching her every move.
With Captain's steady presence keeping her grounded and her sharp eye for detail refusing to let the truth go unexamined, Cora must untangle a web of defective equipment, buried injuries, and a cover-up that stretches across the outdoor gear industry before the killer decides that a nosy photographer asking too many questions needs to meet with her own unfortunate end. In a place where the Pacific storms rage against ancient cliffs and the fog hides more secrets than it reveals, sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do is refuse to look away. Can Cora and Captain expose a murderer before the next storm washes the truth out to sea?
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Hailey Hartley's Shadows at Stormwatch Point