Murder at Blackwater Wharf: A Witchy Cozy Mystery of Tides, Lanterns, and Buried Harbor Lies

About Murder at Blackwater Wharf: A Witchy Cozy Mystery of Tides, Lanterns, and Buried Harbor Lies

Blackwater Harbor was supposed to be a quick goodbye. When Mara Vane returns to her storm-battered hometown for her aunt’s funeral, she plans to settle the estate, sell the old harbor shop, and leave the town that never quite trusted her family’s quiet tide magic. Then the harbor master turns up dead.

His body is discovered in a locked net loft during the harbor festival, posed beside an antique storm lantern marked with one of Mara’s family ward symbols. By morning, rumors are already spreading through the docks and markets. If the lantern came from her aunt’s shop, the witch family must be involved.

Determined to clear her name, Mara reluctantly reopens The Gull’s Lantern, the cramped chandlery and folk-magic shop her aunt left behind. With the help of Rook, the injured eagle she rescued years ago, Mara begins to notice details others overlook. A hidden ledger tube tucked into the rafters.

Missing harbor records. Quiet land deals disguised as safety improvements. The deeper she digs, the clearer the truth becomes.

The harbor master was about to expose a scheme siphoning money from harbor safety funds through fake restoration contracts. The obvious suspect may be the wealthy developer circling the waterfront, but the real killer is much closer to home. Someone desperate enough to protect the lie.

As Mara untangles the murder, she uncovers something far more dangerous than a single crime. For years, powerful interests have been quietly steering property, money, and influence through Blackwater Harbor’s docks. The murder was only the beginning.

Murder at Blackwater Wharf launches the Harbor Hex Mysteries, a witchy coastal cozy series filled with lantern-lit docks, buried secrets, small-town politics, and a determined amateur sleuth who refuses to let her harbor be stolen.