Dead Men Don't Salute
(2026)(The eighth book in the Carolina Teal Cozy Mystery series)
A novel by CC Trace
A full inn. A packed parade route. And a visitor who won't be singing the anthem.
Fourth of July week hits Pine Haven, Maine, with flags on every porch, geraniums in every window box, and the Blueberry Hill Inn booked solid. Angela’s blueberry lattice is entered in the bake-off. Goldie Finch has volunteered for float duty. Carolina Teal has one assignment: shoot the sunrise for the festival program.
But her loyal German Shepherd, Kahlua, sniffs out a wallet fat with cash on the granite ledge. A few feet away, a dead man in the ferns.
Two hundred years of bad blood between the Whitmores and the Caldwells, and suddenly every neighbor in town is looking sideways at the next one. The suspect list runs longer than the parade route. Sheriff Nolan has zeroed in on the wrong man. Ranger Jack Morrison would love the woman he's dating to sit this one out, and Carolina would love to oblige him. She won't.
Because somebody in this town smiles, waves, and knows exactly what happened on that ledge. Come Saturday, that somebody has a spot in the parade. Carolina has until the first rocket goes up, or Pine Haven's big day ends at half-staff.
Dead Men Don't Salute, Book 8 in the Carolina Teal Cozy Mystery Series. Cut yourself a slice of blueberry pie. This year the fireworks start early.
If you love Joanne Fluke and Barbara Ross, you'll feel right at home in Pine Haven.
From the award-winning Carolina Teal Cozy Mystery Series. Book 1, Dead Men Don't Ski, is a 2026 PenCraft Seasonal Book Award winner in Mystery/Sleuth.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Fourth of July week hits Pine Haven, Maine, with flags on every porch, geraniums in every window box, and the Blueberry Hill Inn booked solid. Angela’s blueberry lattice is entered in the bake-off. Goldie Finch has volunteered for float duty. Carolina Teal has one assignment: shoot the sunrise for the festival program.
But her loyal German Shepherd, Kahlua, sniffs out a wallet fat with cash on the granite ledge. A few feet away, a dead man in the ferns.
Two hundred years of bad blood between the Whitmores and the Caldwells, and suddenly every neighbor in town is looking sideways at the next one. The suspect list runs longer than the parade route. Sheriff Nolan has zeroed in on the wrong man. Ranger Jack Morrison would love the woman he's dating to sit this one out, and Carolina would love to oblige him. She won't.
Because somebody in this town smiles, waves, and knows exactly what happened on that ledge. Come Saturday, that somebody has a spot in the parade. Carolina has until the first rocket goes up, or Pine Haven's big day ends at half-staff.
Dead Men Don't Salute, Book 8 in the Carolina Teal Cozy Mystery Series. Cut yourself a slice of blueberry pie. This year the fireworks start early.
If you love Joanne Fluke and Barbara Ross, you'll feel right at home in Pine Haven.
From the award-winning Carolina Teal Cozy Mystery Series. Book 1, Dead Men Don't Ski, is a 2026 PenCraft Seasonal Book Award winner in Mystery/Sleuth.
Genre: Cozy Mystery