Welcome to the Saltcliff Inn Mysteries!

Book 1 - Keeled Over at the Cliffside

Saltcliff by the Sea: The charming seaside village where nothing is quite what it seems.

When Dahlia Vale swaps algorithms for aprons to take over her late sister's inn, Dahlia expects life to follow a logical sequence: serve breakfast, make beds, repeat. But between misreading social cues, taking local legends at face value, and suddenly finding herself guardian to a tweenage niece (do parenting manuals come with flowcharts?), she's in over her head.

And that's before the peculiar deaths start piling up like dirty laundry on inn changeover day.

With her sister's knack for people now nothing but a bittersweet memory, Dahlia must rely on her own gift for seeing what others overlook—and her niece Diantha's eye-rolling expertise in all things "normal."

Can she connect the dots before the killer strikes again, or will her by-the-book approach to sleuthing and step-parenting leave her story with an unhappy ending?

In this charming seaside mystery, Dahlia will learn that some rules are meant to be broken, some family recipes hide deadly secrets, and raising a teenager might be the most perplexing puzzle of all.

Welcome to the town of Saltcliff on the Sea, a central coast village in California that’s the last place you’d ever expect there to be a… murder!

But this wouldn’t be a very interesting series of cozy murder mysteries without murder. So there will be some of that!

What else will you get?

• A former government contractor-turned-amateur sleuth named Dahlia Vale who crochets dog sweaters and stress bakes (and murder turns out to be pretty stressful!)

• A spunky tween girl (Dahlia’s niece) who didn’t realize just how much she needed some investigative excitement in her life

• A brave service dog name Taco who helps sniff out allergens for our heroine (and helps solve mysteries too!)

• An quaint bed and breakfast (The Saltcliff Inn) you’ll wish you could visit.

• A charming town full of quirky characters (and also suspects. And a murderer. Or two.)

Dahlia Vale is finding her rhythm in small-town life, balancing inn management and unexpected guardianship with growing confidence. She's even volunteered to head the Saltcliff Festival's annual bake sale, turning her stress-baking hobby into a community asset. But just as Dahlia thinks she's got everything under control, the festival takes an unsavory turn.

Dorothy Withers, the cantankerous English teacher and festival organizer, goes missing on the day of the event. Even Dahlia's ever-observant service dog, Taco, senses something's amiss. When Dorothy is found dead, apparently outsmarted by her own apple pie, Dahlia's precise mind starts connecting dots others might miss.

As suspects pile up like day-old pastries, Dahlia finds herself assisting Detective Sanderson once again. Can her unique perspective and attention to detail help sift through the town's half-truths? And as they work closely together, will Dahlia realize that not all puzzles have clear-cut solutions—especially matters of the heart?

In this charming sequel, Dahlia discovers that the recipe for a happy life often requires improvisation. Between managing a sullen teenager, baking the perfect scone, and catching a killer, she'll learn that sometimes the most important ingredients are the ones that can't be measured.

Join Dahlia for another helping of mystery where the only thing sweeter than solving the crime is finding unexpected connections in a world that doesn't always make sense.