Lindsey Bakewell has turned her whole life upside down. Actually, her fiancé Jeffrey Plank did that when he let himself get caught in a compromising position with his pastry chef. Lindsey quit him, quit her job and bought a lighthouse in a town she remembers from Summer holidays when she was a kid. She has dreams of opening a bakery in the lighthouse.

All’s going well. The renovation of the lighthouse (inside and out) is going smoothly, Lindsey has managed to hire an experienced baker (she herself is a confident amateur) and she’s even hit it off with her somewhat recluse of a neighbour.

I like the quirky and lighthearted tone of the narrative and am feeling a little bit of dread for the inevitable accusation of murder.

On Memorial Day weekend Lindsay has her grand opening. Unexpectedly, her ex and his new girl-friend show up. Apparently with an axe to grind. The girl-friend causes a scene, is escorted out and collapses on the lawn. She later dies. The last thing she ate was a donut made my Lindsey.

The moment I had been dreading. A young cop mentions it looks bad for Lindsey. She had opportunity and motive. Opportunity? Mia grabbed a random donut to stuff in her mouth (and spit out) and grabbed a random cup of coffee to wash away the taste. I guess the opportunity to kill someone was there, but that goes for all the people present at the bakery. It’s up to the police (or when the thing goes to trial, the DA) to prove that Lindsey had more opportunity than any of the other people, and more motive.

And they must prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.

I quite enjoyed this story. Not even the nineteenth century ghost that had mastered the skill of taking over a computer threw me. It’s the dumb police that bothered me. Suspicion that Lindsey did not like the woman and may have had reason to kill her, is not enough grounds for arrest. It may be reason to invited her to the station for another chat. But to make an arrest is premature. Suspicion is not a substitute for fact.

There are countries where you are entitled to compensation after a wrongful arrest.

Why is there not a lawyer present during Lindey’s questioning after her arrest? Was she not informed of her rights?

3.5 stars overall. For the longest time I didn’t know whether to round up or down. Until another cozy cliché I don’t have the patience for happened: when the sleuth is about to find out who the murderer is, the murderer pulls a gun. When at no time previously in the story a gun was used. And Lindsey channeled her inner New Yorker a few times too often. (None of these times she was crying on the subway and not caring what others think.)