A Storm of Suspicion: A Small Town Bed and Breakfast Cozy Mystery with Cat (The Buttercup Inn Mysteries Book 4)
By Maisy Marple
A blizzard brings death to the Buttercup Inn—and this time, the killer is trapped inside
When innkeeper Rosie Pemberton hosts a mystery writers’ retreat at her Victorian bed and breakfast, she hopes the weekend will help rebuild the inn’s reputation after three unfortunate murders. But when bestselling thriller author Maxwell Sterling is found dead in the library with an antique letter opener in his back, Rosie realizes her inn’s deadly curse has struck again. With a nor’easter trapping everyone inside and cutting off all communication with the outside world, Deputy Jake Morrison must investigate five writers who all had excellent reasons to want the victim dead.
As the storm rages and the power fails, dark secrets emerge from the shadows. Maxwell Sterling made a career of destroying other writers with his vicious reviews and exposés, leaving a trail of ruined lives in his wake. Each trapped guest has a painful history with the victim—the washed-up alcoholic whose career Maxwell destroyed, the anxious debut novelist he humiliated, the agent he falsely accused of embezzlement, and the romance writer hiding a tragic connection. Even the letter opener has its own mysterious past, linking multiple suspects to the crime.
With Chester the crime-solving cat uncovering crucial evidence and the suspects turning on each other, Rosie and Jake race to identify the killer before they strike again. But in a house full of mystery writers who craft murders for a living, anyone could be capable of turning fiction into deadly reality. As the walls close in and another threat targets Rosie herself, the snowed-in survivors must decide what justice truly means—and whether some secrets are worth killing for.
A blizzard brings death to the Buttercup Inn—and this time, the killer is trapped inside
When innkeeper Rosie Pemberton hosts a mystery writers’ retreat at her Victorian bed and breakfast, she hopes the weekend will help rebuild the inn’s reputation after three unfortunate murders. But when bestselling thriller author Maxwell Sterling is found dead in the library with an antique letter opener in his back, Rosie realizes her inn’s deadly curse has struck again. With a nor’easter trapping everyone inside and cutting off all communication with the outside world, Deputy Jake Morrison must investigate five writers who all had excellent reasons to want the victim dead.
As the storm rages and the power fails, dark secrets emerge from the shadows. Maxwell Sterling made a career of destroying other writers with his vicious reviews and exposés, leaving a trail of ruined lives in his wake. Each trapped guest has a painful history with the victim—the washed-up alcoholic whose career Maxwell destroyed, the anxious debut novelist he humiliated, the agent he falsely accused of embezzlement, and the romance writer hiding a tragic connection. Even the letter opener has its own mysterious past, linking multiple suspects to the crime.
With Chester the crime-solving cat uncovering crucial evidence and the suspects turning on each other, Rosie and Jake race to identify the killer before they strike again. But in a house full of mystery writers who craft murders for a living, anyone could be capable of turning fiction into deadly reality. As the walls close in and another threat targets Rosie herself, the snowed-in survivors must decide what justice truly means—and whether some secrets are worth killing for.