Great story.

Luke Tremblay returns to the village of Crescent Cove where he spent happy Summers as a child. He hasn’t been back since his aunt told he not to, so he is kind of surprised that she has left him her cottage and her shop in her will. But before he can start sort through his aunt’s stuff and sell the cottage, a man tries to force his way in claiming Luke’s aunt kept something at the house she had sold to the man.

Luke manages to chase the man off, but finds him at the house again in the morning. Dead in the pond. A fine looking specimen of the RCMP is in charge of the investigation. This turns out to be Jack, a friend Luke hung out with in those childhood Summers. Jack is upset about the abrupt way their friendship ended, and Luke is afraid that because of this Jack won’t look too far to find a viable suspect.

So Luke investigates himself. He’s an investigative reporter (freelance) so he polishes up his people skills and starts asking questions here and there, making people - himself included - nervous.

The mystery is good and their are plenty of suspects to guess about. Luke doesn’t barges in or is overly nosey, and when he is he gets told off about it. Jack’s a competent police officer. And though it’s a cozy cliche that the investigating officer falls for the sleuth, I was curious how that worked out in this story.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.