There’ll Be Shell to Pay

A Haunted Shell Shop Mystery #2

By Molly MacRae

ISBN 9781496744302

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

Synopsis:

When she’s not selling seashells by the North Carolina seashore from her shell shop, Maureen Nash is a crime-solving sleuth with a ghost pirate for a supernatural sidekick . . .

Maureen is still getting used to life on Ocracoke Island, learning how to play the “shell game” of her business—and ghost whispering with the spirit of Emrys Lloyd, the eighteenth-century Welsh pirate who haunts her shop, The Moon Shell. The spectral buccaneer has unburied a treasure hidden in the shop’s attic that turns out to be antique shell art stolen from Maureen’s late husband’s family years ago.

Victor “Shelly” Sullivan and his wife Lenrose visit the shop and specifically inquire about these rare items. Not only is it suspicious that this shell collector should arrive around the time Maureen found the art, but Emrys insists that Sullivan’s wife is an imposter because Lenrose is dead. A woman’s corpse the police have been unable to identify was discovered by the Fig Ladies, a group who formed an online fig appreciation society. They’re meeting on Ocracoke for the first time in person and count Lenrose among their number, so the woman can’t possibly be dead.

But Lenrose’s behavior doesn’t quite match the person the Fig Ladies interacted with online. Now, Maureen and Emrys—with assistance from the Fig Ladies—must prove the real Lenrose is dead and unmask her mysterious pretender before a desperate murderer strikes again . . . (From Goodreads)

Review:

I was fully invested in this series while reading the first engaging mystery, Come Shell or High Water. This second mystery is even better! Maureen Nash returned to her recently inherited shell shop, Moon Shell, on Ocracoke Island. Maureen has studied mollusks, the soft, invertebrate creatures who live inside shells. Maureen (and the author!) is a storyteller, a wordsmith, using clever turns of phrases, and plays on words. Her word pictures of the island are like vintage artwork. Maureen inherited the shop from Allen. Recently widowed, Maureen was sensitive to his friends’ grief when they welcomed Maureen.

Maureen had been back in Tennessee for a special event held by the students of her late husband’s classes in his honor. That weekend, she received a letter from Emrys, the ghost pirate who lived in her shop in an extraordinary shell he intricately carved nearly three centuries ago. He wrote that she needed to return quickly, and that he had found Allen’s secret.

Each engaging character is colorfully described. Maureen and Emrys are my favorites, for their personalities, curiosity, intelligence, and wit. The village on Ocracoke is full of quirky year-round residents and tourists, and I enjoyed meeting many of them.

While Maureen was away, her neighbor, Glady, opened the store a few hours a week. Glady and her brother, Burt, cared for the shop cat, Bonny, until Maureen returned. Glady often seems gruff and grumpy, but underneath the bluster is a kind heart. She and Burt were friends with Allen for many years and knew much about the shop, with the exception of Allen’s huge secret.

Maureen learned that an unidentified woman’s remains were found on the island a few days earlier. Someone had left a note at Moon Shell for Rob Tate, the chief of local law enforcement. Glady had called him about it, so he came to pick it up. Maureen felt a little creepy about the eerily familiar handwriting. The note claimed that the victim’s name was Lenrose, and Maureen’s name was signed to it – was someone pranking her or Chief Tate? Later, she learned that Emrys had forged her writing and hoped the woman would be identified by her first name; Emrys had spent time talking with Lenrose’s ghost.

Glady told Maureen that a couple, Victor and Lenrose Sullivan, had come to see Allen last week, and Glady told them of his passing. I enjoyed looking up their special, collectible car!

Maureen’s former Tennessee neighbor and close friend, Kathleen, was visiting on Ocracoke. Kathleen’s family moved from Tennessee several years ago and they had not seen each other since. Kathleen was there with two of three other women who met on Facebook, bonded over their mutual love of figs, and called themselves the Fig Ladies. The fourth member, Lenrose, who Glady had met, was in the early stages of dementia. They had heard she was there and ran into her and her husband.

The body of the murdered woman was found at a stream near their rental cottage. In fact, Kathleen and her friends had found her! Lenrose was an uncommon name. Was it possible there were two women with the same name, their friend and the woman who was murdered?

Kathleen, Roberta, and Paula wanted to solve the mystery since one of them read many mysteries and was certain they could discover who the woman was and who killed her. Glady and Burt helped solve the murder in the first book and, Glady had written many mysteries, so they joined forces to solve the murder.

This mystery was challenging! There were red herrings and shells, theories and clues, and a very angry Lenrose who shut down the Fig Ladies Facebook page. Just when it seemed like there was no solution, a little girl asked a question that sent Maureen searching in another direction, and the killer was revealed. I hated the motive but found the solutions satisfactory. I am looking forward to the next in series and further exploration of Allen’s secret. I highly recommend this novel!