Book: A Death at Neptune Cove
Author: Emma Jameson
Pub Day: September 29, 2022
Buy Link: Amazon
Book Description:
A birthday beach party gone wrong, buried treasure and… a dead body? This might be Jemima Jago’s most baffling case yet!
When Jem knocks on the door of an isolated cottage overlooking beautiful Neptune Cove, she’s hoping for help fixing a birthday cake baking disaster. She’s not expecting to find the tenant dead on the tiled floor, specks of blood on the collar of his navy-and-red satin pajamas…
The victim is Arthur Ajax, a handsome and wealthy American businessman who arrived in the Isles of Scilly as a tourist ten months ago and never left. There have been rumors about him in town, as he was known for his extravagant lifestyle. Perhaps he’d gone overboard, or could his death be connected to an unpaid debt?
Later that same evening, Jem stumbles across a hoard of buried jewelry, dug up from the dunes by little dog Buck, and she immediately wonders if they could be connected to the rich man’s murder. It’s not every day you find expensive—and very real-looking—sapphire earrings stashed away in an antique biscuit tin!
Jem seeks help from a local jewelry expert to identify the gems. But when he suddenly goes missing, Jem knows someone is trying to cover their tracks. Can she catch the killer before he makes her walk the plank too?
A completely gripping cozy page-turner set in the beautiful Isles of Scilly, from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Emma Jameson. Fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Agatha Christie will be hooked by A Death at Neptune Cove.
My review:
I previously had the opportunity to review the third in Emma Jameson’s Jemima Jago series, A Death at Silversmith Bay. It was delightful, so I was pleased to have the chance to be on the blog tour for A Death at Neptune Cove.
Emma Jameson does not disappoint!
Jem is only trying to find help fixing a squashed birthday cake when she and Pauley let themselves into Neptune Cottage. Instead of a helping hand, though, they found the tenant, one Arthur Ajax, dead on the kitchen floor. The murder weapon? Apparently a loaf of pumpernickel bread. Clarence, a local amateur baker, handed them out to everyone. Jem realizes the police will take this to mean Clarence was the killer, so she and her friends jump into action to figure out who really dunnit.
And not only is there a murder. There’s also treasure! Rhys Tremayne’s little dog Buck unearths a cache of jewels. Are the jewels related to the dead man? Jem is determined to find out.
This is another fun read! Arthur Ajax is definitely not what he seems. Several things don’t make sense – a stash of letters addressed to someone else and a very expensive sewing machine found in the cottage don’t seem to fit what people know of Arthur. The more Jem digs, the more she realizes that several people might have wanted to see an end to him. As they unravel the clues, we get international intrigue, a yacht that Arthur may or may not have owned, and a line of hearts he trifled with that could wrap around the island. The twists and turns kept me guessing.
The island setting is, as always, delightful. I want to visit the Isles of Scilly now. Jameson uses the environment and the things associated with it, particularly boats, to good effect here.
And I was thrilled to see progress in Jem and Rhys’ relationship! I give nothing away, but they do make me smile.
This is another tremendously enjoyable read from Emma Jameson, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good cozy with a side of romance and a lovely British setting. Five stars from me!
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for a review copy. All opinions here are mine, and I don’t say nice things about books I don’t actually like.
About the author:
Emma Jameson writes mysteries that readers call witty, romantic, and full of surprises. An aspiring novelist since age seven, she took a long, twisty route to the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. After years of working at a major medical center, her first novel, cobbled together on nights and weekends, became a runaway e-book bestseller. Now she writes full-time and has sold over half a million books. A compulsive reader and information hoarder, Emma is always searching for that fascinating nugget or startling fact that will spark another novel. A lifelong Anglophile, she resides in the United States, where she enjoys swimming, yoga, and serving the needs of not one, not two, not three, but four cats.
