Death Runs Adrift

We're back at the Gray Whale Inn, and Natalie and John are getting ready to get married. Their plans are stalled when Natalie finds a body drifting in a boat. The police investigation leads to suspicion of several of Natalie's near and dear.

This is generally a well-written series that provides good mysteries and likable characters. There were some elements of this one I found a little bit silly. First, Natalie, stay out of Smuggler's Cover. Seriously. If you wind up dead, you will be to blame. Second, did anyone not know what was going on at the farm? It seemed pretty obvious to me, especially when the black pepper and coffee showed up.

Hopefully the next in this series will be a bit less obvious. I do appreciate that the author moves show more the personal lives of her characters forward. I also enjoyed the priest side-plot. Again, I had a pretty good idea of what the priest was doing long before Natalie, but those with less history background may be surprised. show less

With her wedding plans in place and her future mother-in-law settling in at the Gray Whale Inn, it’s a rare patch of smooth sailing for innkeeper Natalie Barnes. Even Natalie’s guests—a mystery writer and a woman researching her grandfather’s decades-old disappearance from Cranberry Island—are interesting and enjoyable, adding a lively element to the dinner conversations. But while picking berries for her Lemon Blueberry Pudding Cake, Natalie makes a ghastly discovery — a dead man in a skiff adrift on the waves. With people she cares about on the hook for murder, Natalie must act quickly to bail out her friends and catch the killer.

Beautiful scenery, wonderful characters, a dead body, and a wedding.

Karen MacInerney has pinned another winner. This sixth book in the Gray Whale Inn Mystery series may just be the best in the series so far.

DEATH RUNS ADRIFT was a story that kept adding twists and turns like a winding county road. Each chapter bringing a new surprise. I never knew what was coming next. And that’s just how I like my mysteries.

This return trip to Maine’s Cranberry Island was a pleasure for me for sure and I look forward to my next visit.

I really like Death Runs Adrift, by Karen MacInerney! In fact, I really like this entire series — the Gray Whale Inn Mysteries. The main character, Natalie Barnes, and (most of) the other Cranberry Islanders are so likable, and their descriptions and characters are so well-written, that I feel like I've gotten to "know" them over the years. I now think of them as old friends that I am glad to visit with, during the course of each new book.

I have rated each of the previous books in the series Four Kitties (out of Five) on my blog. You can read my reviews of #3, Murder Most Maine, here and #4, Berried to the Hilt, here.

The books in this series just get better and better! I recommend reading them in order, so as to keep all of the show more "supporting cast" straight, but a reader new to the series could follow the plot of Death Runs Adrift easily enough.

I really like this book! (I seem to be repeating myself.) Death Runs Adrift is a very enjoyable "feel-good" kind of book — for a murder mystery, of course! It has romance, just the right amount, for Natalie and John, the handsome leading man. It has a mystery to be solved — several, in fact — and a few murders, but no gory descriptions. There are only two guests staying in the Gray Whale Inn, and even though they were strangers, wonder upon wonders, they are perfectly compatible, and are barely a bother to Natalie at all! (That doesn't seem to happen very often.)

My favorite part of Death Runs Adrift is the resolution of a major problem that had arisen. I think I may have been smiling while I read it. I can reveal no more without the risk of giving something away, and as this is a spoiler-free review and blog, all I can say is, Death Runs Adrift has earned Four Kitties!


Originally published at Jane Reads, with a Guest Post by Karen MacInerney! show less

4 STARS

Death Runs Adrift is a charming cozy mystery set on a beautiful Cranberry island, Maine. It is a small island that is close to the border of Canada.

Natalie Barnes owns Gray Whale Inn. She is a wonderful cook. Her future mother-in-law lives with them too. She is planning a wedding, taking care of her guests. When she is out berry picking she finds a dead body in a boat. She takes the boat back to her place.

John is the police on the island. But for this he has to call to the mainland. He is also a artist with driftwood craving.

There are two women guests staying at Gray Whale Inn. One is a writer of mysteries and the other is trying to find out if the bones dug up is her missing relative from the 1920's who lived on the island show more at the time and disappeared.

There are a lot of charming characters that live on the island. There are lobsterman is one of main industry.

It is a small island and even though she does not know the victim she does know the suspects and she is sure that her friend is innocent. There is also a growing drug problem on the island.

There are recipes in the back of the book that Natalie makes.

I liked reading Death Runs Adrift so much that I am now reading the first book in the series. I have now read Murder on the Rocks.

I was given this ebook to read for the purpose of giving honest review and being part of its blog tour. show less